With Fast Fall Finish, Alpena's Day Arrives
April 13, 2016
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
ALPENA – Mitchell Day, who had a breakout second-place finish in the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Cross Country Final last November, is gearing up for what he hopes will be an equally strong track season.
The Alpena junior is one of the state’s top returning 3,200-meter runners. He finished 10th in LP Division 1 a year ago, and followed that up with a second-place finish at the Michigan Indoor Track Series state meet in late February.
“I feel very confident going into spring,” the 16-year-old said. “But I know there’s a lot of work to do, and I’m prepared to do it.”
Day started focusing on track during the winter with workouts designed to build base and improve strength. He said he hopes the results will translate into a faster, stronger kick.
Joe Donajkowski, who coaches the team’s distance runners, said Day is in a good spot, especially when it comes to his endurance.
“He knew he had to put the miles in to get better, and he’s certainly done that,” Donajkowski said. “He has a good base right now. I expect we’ll see some good performances from him throughout the season, as long as he stays healthy.”
Staying healthy is a key. An illness almost cost Day a spot in the MHSAA Final last June.
“I got sick a week or two before the Regional, and missed four or five days of training,” he said. “We were thinking it was walking pneumonia. Thankfully, it wasn’t, but I couldn’t train (properly). I remember the first mile went well, we went through at 4:40, then it hit me like a wall. I struggled to finish and qualify (for the championship meet).”
Day placed fifth at the Regional in 9:38.65, which earned him the 28th seed at the Final. Given time to recover, Day came back and ran nearly 17 seconds faster in a school record 9:21.76 to take 10th in LP Division 1.
That time came as no surprise to coach Bob Bennett, who called Day a “driven” athlete who once he focuses on a goal “gets after it.”
Day also runs the 1,600 meters, as well as relays, but it’s the 3,200 that he enjoys most.
“The 1,600 is too short for my liking,” he said. “The 3,200 gives me a little bit more time to wear out my opponents.”
Day was a dual-sport fall athlete as a freshman and sophomore, splitting his time playing varsity soccer and running cross country. He also played travel soccer during the summer.
But he decided to give up soccer to focus on running.
“We’re happy he went that way, although I don’t know if our athletic director/soccer coach (Tim Storch) was that happy about it,” Bennett said with a laugh.
Day won two of the three Big North Conference cross country jamborees, claimed the Regional, then took second at the MHSAA Final.
Despite that success, he was second team all-conference. In the third and final league jamboree, which counted 50 percent in the team and individual standings, Day was tripped and lost his balance with about a mile to go.
“I was already dealing with an Achilles problem, and I got hit in the Achilles,” he said.
Down he went – and he didn’t get up right away, which proved costly. He finished back in the pack.
“It was frustrating, but it (motivated) me heading into the state meet,” he said.
Day’s training for the Final went well, so well “we knew I was in for a huge PR,” he said.
Initially, Day was hoping to run close to 15:05, but the wind that day made for a slower race.
“The mile splits were 4:50, and then 5:03-5:05, and then back down to 4:47-4:49,” he said. “The wind played a huge factor. A lot of us had to just hide behind a few of the guys and wait for the last three-quarters of a mile to duke it out.”
When it came to the three-quarter mile mark, the lead pack had whittled to include Rockford’s Isaac Harding and Cole Johnson, Grand Rapids Northview’s Enael Woldemichael, Traverse City Central’s Anthony Berry and Day.
Sizing up the leaders, Day didn’t necessarily like his chances.
“Cole Johnson is a 4:10 miler, Anthony is a 4:08, Isaac’s outstanding, so is Enael,” he said. “I was surrounded by some really good talent and I was like, ‘Shoot, I don’t know if I can keep up with these guys the last 1,200 meters. I don’t know if I have that kind of kick in me.’”
Harding eventually surged, and Day went with him.
“I had another gear I didn’t know I had,” he said. “It was second nature to take off with him.”
Harding won in 15:10.4. Day was three seconds back.
“I was happy with how that turned out,” he said. “I realized there was more in me than what I had shown in the past.”
His time of 15:13.4 was 13 seconds faster than his previous best – and it’s helped attract more interest from college recruiters.
Now, Day’s attention is on track, as a lingering winter finally seems to be giving way to spring.
Alpena’s first meet, last week’s Freeland Invitational, was canceled, but once the season finally gets underway, Day said his goal will be fairly simple.
“I just want to make sure I give it my all,” he said. “I’ll be satisfied if I can do that. I don’t really have any times I would like to hit. Sure, I would like to PR, but it’s more about knowing that I put it all out there and had no regrets.”
Bennett expects nothing less from his star runner.
“We just want him to run as well as he can,” Bennett said. “Physically, he’s a little bigger, more mature. Mentally, he’s right on course. We’re hoping he’s going to have a breakout year.”
Just like he had in cross country.
Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Alpena’s Mitchell Day competes during the fall’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Cross Country Final at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Day, far left, emerges from the pack during the 3,200-meter championship race at last spring’s MHSAA LP Division 1 Track & Field Final at Rockford. (Photos courtesy of the Day family.)
Parchment Enjoys Exchange of Experiences
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
May 23, 2016
PARCHMENT — Pecan pie and snow are just two surprises Khaled Bukhamseen found as an exchange student at Parchment High School.
“Pies are not as famous back home,” he said. “I actually learned how to make them so I can do that back home.
“My favorite is pecan pie. Oh my gosh.”
The Dammam, Saudi Arabia, native, who played soccer in the fall and competed on the track & field team this spring, had never seen snow.
“It was pretty sweet the first couple times, but then I got sick of it,” he said, grinning. “It was like, ‘OK, we had fun, you can leave now.’
“I had to buy actual winter clothes.”
Another surprise was organized sports.
When Bukhamseen decided to try out for the Parchment track team, he figured he would just drop in for practice whenever he felt like exercising.
He got a reality check when he realized what a commitment he had to make.
“They told me about track and the activities you can do, like races,” he said. “I thought I would give it a try. I was pretty sure I would like it because I’m fast.
“I like the competition. Sometimes you do so good and you get first place and you feel like you’re the best on the team. That’s the good part about it.”
Parchment’s track season is over for all but the six individuals who qualified last week for the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals. The exchange student is not one of them – but will finish his year in the United States with an experience valuable not only to him but his teammates and coaches as well.
The only high school sports at Bukhamseen’s school in Dammam are in physical education classes.
“I played soccer, but it was just a PE class where they try to vary the sports,” he said. “That was pretty much the only thing I did, and it was like once a week for 45 minutes.”
Once Bukhamseen showed interest in joining the track team, coach Matt Hodgson evaluated him for his strengths and weaknesses along with what the team needed.
“Khaled appeared to us to be stronger in the sprints than long distance,” Hodgson said. “I don’t think running five miles a day out on the road is something that interested him.”
The coach also made sure the sprinter knew what was expected.
“Organized athletics (in Saudi Arabia) are not like they are in America,” Hodgson said. “In fact, one day we talked about it and he said when he first came out for track he thought it was something you kinda showed up for and practiced when you wanted to and made a meet when you wanted to.
“He said, ‘You don’t allow that, coach, do you?’ I said no; when you commit, you commit and you’re expected to be here every day.”
Bukhamseen competed in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, 400 relay and long jump.
Hodgson said Bukhamseen brought a lot of energy to the team.
“We always expect something quite hilarious to come out of his mouth daily,” the coach said. “He’s a good teammate who has really bonded with a lot of the kids on the team.
“Because he’s not used to this organization of athletics, he’s oftentimes running around saying ‘Coach, when’s my event, what am I doing?’ We always expect him to be a little frazzled at times at meets, and it’s quite comical.”
Bukhamseen wasn’t the only one benefiting from the exchange program. Members of the track team did, too.
“He’s given us a different perspective on the world, and he’s told us about the people of Saudi Arabia,” said Donavan Hodgson, the coach’s son, who runs anchor on the 400 relay team. He’s a really funny guy and a really cool guy, too.”
Students also are getting a lesson in culture.
“I think in the United States, especially, there’s a really bad rap on Muslims and people from those areas,” Donavan Hodgson said. “Khaled’s the exact opposite of what (some may) think. He’s the most passive-aggressive guy ever. He’s a really good guy.”
Bukhamseen started the school year with the Kellay Fall and Bill Evans family and for the last few months has lived with the Kira and Franz Griggs family.
Kira Griggs was an exchange student in Paraguay when she was 15 years old and sees hosting a student as paying it forward.
“They really integrate into your family much more than you think,” she said. “You adapt to each other; he’s just another family member.
“He’s a typical teenager; always on his phone, out with friends. His English is so perfect. He’s a great kid, a great student. He has a lot of friends.”
Bukhamseen said it is not unusual for Saudis to study in the United States, especially for college, and his two brothers are currently studying in Seattle.
Although his native language is Arabic, Bukhamseen speaks excellent English.
“In Saudi Arabia it’s mandatory to learn English in first grade,” he said. “My dad has kept it up with me. My dad went to Houston to college.”
Bukhamseen takes most of his class notes in English, but, “If I have a note to the side, I’d write it in Arabic quick, especially a vocab test every Friday,” he said. “I would write the equivalent of the word in Arabic so I wouldn’t forget it.”
Track wasn’t his only sport at Parchment.
When he first came to the United States in August, he integrated himself by joining the soccer team.
That also was an awakening.
“Having a team and a coach and practices, it’s way different than having it just once a week,” he said.
“I had to work out a little extra. They started earlier than me because I came a little late (August) to start the season.”
Soccer coach Matt Streitel has had exchange students on his teams before and said that each boy brings something different to the team.
“It’s cool,” he said. “You get that culture you might not get from other students.
“Khaled had a little bit of skill and was excited to be there.”
Bukhamseen had to go through a rigorous workshop before being accepted into the AFS Intercultural Program.
“Khaled has a great sense of humor,” said David Person, co-coordinator for the West Michigan chapter. “He had to go to Riyadh for orientation and he said it was from 7 to 8, so he thought he’d be in and out in an hour but it was a 13-hour orientation.
“What he had to go through to get here was very stringent. He’s the cream of the crop.”
Bukhamseen is also part of the YES Program, a government-sponsored youth exchange and study, Person said.
“He’s here under U.S. government scholarship,” he said. “They go out and choose the best students ever, the future leaders.
“The YES Program works with programs that have large Muslim populations. He’s one of three YES students in this (southwest Michigan) area.”
The others are at Kalamazoo Central and Battle Creek Central.
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Khaled Bukhamseen rounds a turn during a recent Parchment track practice. (Middle top) Bukhamseen, Parchment coach Matt Hodgson, teammate Donavan Hodgson. (Middle below) Bukhamseen trains in the long jump. (Below) David Person, Kira Griggs. (Photos by Pam Shebest.)