'Field & Track' Earns Falcons' Latest Title

Boys Track & Field

By Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com

June 2, 2018

EAST KENTWOOD – Dave Emeott is making some changes to his East Kentwood boys track & field team this summer.

After the Falcons’ field events put on a dominant display Saturday to lead the team to a second straight Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship, Emeott feels it’s time for a new name.

“Officially now, for at least one year, we’re going to be East Kentwood Field & Track from now on,” Emeott said. “Everything changes, the Twitter page, the Facebook page, T-shirts will be made. The field events guys took a lot of pride, and it was fun because those were the first events of the morning. We came out of the morning with 40 points, or whatever they ended up scoring.”

East Kentwood finished with 61 points, well ahead of second-place Ann Arbor Pioneer, which had 39. Saline and Grand Blanc tied for third with 37 points, while Rockford was fifth with 35.

Logan Brown (shot put), Trevor Stephenson (pole vault) and Job Mayhue (110-meter hurdles) won individual titles for the Falcons, who have won seven of the last 10 team championships in the division. By the time Mayhue won the hurdles, the third running final of the day, his team already had 46 points, which would prove enough to clinch the title.

“When you look at where we won, it wasn’t just that we were overwhelmingly more talented than everybody; where the points were scored was in the technical events – shot put, long jump, pole vault – those three events alone we scored with seven guys in those events,” Emeott said. “Then the hurdles and the relays, that was really our day. It’s cool to do it in a different way.”

Stephenson’s pole vault title came after a head-to-head battle with Saline’s Eric Harris that featured multiple MHSAA Finals records. Stephenson won with a height of 16 feet, 9½ inches, a new all-division meet record. Harris took second at 16-6½, which also broke the previous record.

“I was surprised that I cleared that,” Stephenson said. “I was coming in thinking 16 feet might be the winning height, then Eric Harris from Saline just kept pushing the bar up and I just kept going with him. Eventually it got to 16-9½, and I just didn’t feel like it was there, and I got over and it was an amazing feeling.”

Mayhue won the hurdles with a time of 13.99 seconds, while Brown won the shot put with a throw of 57-1½.

Rockford’s Cole Johnson pulled off an impressive double in the 800 and 1,600, winning both with strong finishes. In the 800, he ran past a tight pack in the final 50 meters to win in 1:53.11, edging out Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Netunji Paige who finished in 1:53.41.

In the 1,600, Johnson took an early lead, then had to surge over the final lap to overtake a strong field and win in 4:08.47, less than two tenths of a second ahead of Pioneer’s Nick Foster who was second in 4:08.64.

“My race plan in the beginning (of the 1,600) was to try and push the pace to try and beat our school record held by Dathan Ritzenhein, a 4:05.9,” Johnson said. “The first lap, I knew I was going to go out fast, and I just tried to keep pushing it the second and third lap, but I fell off a little bit. Then the race plan was just kind of holding form a little bit that last lap to try and get the win. I found a lot of energy from all the people supporting me and all the fans; it is packed here today. Winning the mile in Michigan is very prestigious, so that’s kind of what kept me going as I got passed on that last lap.”

Oak Park’s Donnie James pulled off a double of his own, and was four hundredths of a second away from pulling off a triple. James ran 47.14 to hold off a strong field in the 400 meters, and 21.2 to squeak out a win in the 200. He finished second in the 100 with a time of 10.7, just edged by Eric Labonte of Traverse City West, who won in 10.66 seconds.

In the 400, James won from an outside lane, holding off charges from Saginaw Heritage’s Marcus Montgomery (47.65) and Ypsilanti Lincoln’s Matthew Moorer (47.79), who were chasing him from the inside.

“I had that mentality that I know I had to run at full speed because I had Matthew Moorer and Montgomery (behind me),” James said. “It was a lot of competition during that time, so I had to get my head geeked because I knew I had to run this to get first place for our team. My coach said catch the dude off the turn and to just run it like you did indoors.”

Lansing Waverly’s Keshaun Harris won the 300 hurdles in 37.81 seconds. Pioneer’s Foster won the 3,200 in 9:07.93. Grand Blanc’s Aidan Martini won the discus with a throw of 167-2. Traverse City Central’s Cassidy Henshaw won the high jump with a height of 6-9. West Bloomfield’s AJ Abbott won the long jump with a distance of 23-7¼.

Ann Arbor Pioneer (Foster, Paige, Aldo Pando-Girard and John Florence) won the 3,200 relay in 7:45.64. Detroit Martin Luther King (Jaeveyon Morton, Dylan Brown, Dequan Finn and Jalen McGaughy) won the 800 relay in 1:26.74. Farmington Hills Harrison (Moet Andrews, Alfred Hollie, Joe Stevens and Ben Williams) won the 400 relay out of the second heat with a time of 42.39. Grand Blanc (Austin Rippee, Victor Zarour, Jo Coleman and Jeronn Body) won the 1,600 relay in 3:20.48.

Click for full results.

PHOTOS: (Top) East Kentwood’s Job Mayhue, middle, hurdles to the lead on the way to winning the 110 race. (Middle) Oak Park’s Donnie James, right, holds off Ypsilanti Lincoln’s Matthew Moorer in the 200. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)

Boys Track & Field

Dunn Ends with Memorable Finishes

By Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half

June 1, 2019

JENISON – The Dunns are done.

Brad Dunn is the last of nine children, four of them boys, to go through Saugatuck High School – and he more than held his own on the last day of competition.

His father, Bill Dunn, is the football coach and athletic director at the school, and it’s been a successful ride for him and his family. Will and Nick are the two oldest boys, but it was Blake Dunn who caught the attention of fans statewide. Blake led Saugatuck to the MHSAA Division 7 Football Final before the team lost to Pewamo-Westphalia, 21-0. He set just about all the school records in football and is in the top 10 of a number of MHSAA all-time record lists including points scored in a season (323, good for third place), career points (827, good for second) and career touchdowns (113, food for fourth).

Brad is no slouch. His 43 touchdowns this past season places him in a tie for 10^th and is one better than his brother had in 2016.

On Saturday at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Track & Field Finals at Jenison High School, Brad Dunn placed first in two individual events to end his career on a high note.

He took first in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.63 seconds and then later first in the 300 with a time of 40.06.

“It’s crazy being the youngest,” he said. “I usually got blamed for everything. (My older brothers) set the example for me. They told me what to do and what not to do.”

Blake is playing baseball at Western Michigan University and Brad, who played four sports in high school including also basketball and baseball, will attend Grand Rapids Community College and plans on being a pitcher for the baseball team. He’s a lefthander who possesses an 83-mph fastball and three other pitches.

“You know, I’ll miss all the sports I played,” Brad said. “I’ll miss the community. I looked up to Blake when I was growing up. He was awesome.”

Disappointment turns into a positive

Giovanni Weeks of Kent City thought he had won the 100 dash but was edged at the finish line by Aiden Harrison of New Lothrop. Harrison won with a time of 11.07 to 11.09 for Weeks.

No matter. Weeks placed first in the long jump (21 feet, 5¼ inches) and then won the 200 dash (21.93).

All of this took place as the Grand Rapids area was inundated with thunderstorm after thunderstorm. There were three weather delays during the meet with the shortest, taking place in the middle of the meet, lasting just 30 minutes but featuring dime-sized hail.

“It was pretty hectic,” Weeks said. “I had my jump just near the prelims of the 100 and I really just had one good jump. I didn’t have to think about it, and that probably helped. Winning was a thought but it just depends on the day. You can’t plan on this thunder and stuff.”

Northern exposure

Jeremy Kloss of Harbor Springs trailed Ransom Allen of Ithaca nearly the entire 1,600 run. Allen took the lead from the start and looked unbeatable until the last 100 meters.

“(Allen) ran an awesome race,” Kloss said. “He took the race by the horns.

“I felt he was tiring a little with 300 to go. That momentum came to me in the last 110. I just went back to the drills, lifting my legs up. It was amazing. To have the lead all that way is crazy.”

Kloss nosed in front with about 50 meters left and won by four hundredths of a second. His time was 4:15.59. Allen was second at 4:15.63.

Kloss was runner-up last year, sixth in Division 4 as a freshman and won the title in Division 4 as a sophomore.

Allen gained some payback by taking first in the 3,200 run with a time of 9:19.70.

Ready after the delay

Sal Tranchida of Marine City showed patience throughout the day. With the rain causing a wet surface as he approached the bar in the high jump, he just waited for his opportunity.

“It was weird,” he said. “I was jumping 5-9, 6-1, then the long delay happened. Then after the (second) delay the track was better and I got to 6-3 and higher. I saw the other guys jumping 6-5 and it got me going.”

Tranchida won the high jump with a leap of 6 feet, 7 inches, two inches higher than second-place Sam Spaulding of Berrien Springs.

“I told my coach before the meet,” Tranchida said. “I knew I was ranked high, and I was going to try to win it.”

His jump also was a personal best.

Close call

In one of the more closely-contested Finals, Ithaca won the team title with 45 points, one more than runners-up Pewamo-Westphalia and Saugatuck. Harbor Springs placed fourth with 43 points and New Lothrop and Kent City each had 33 to finish in a tie for fifth.

Ithaca did not score any points in the meet’s final event, the 1,600 relay. Harbor Springs won that event to garner the 10 points and make a final move up the standings. Pewamo-Westphalia placed third in the 1,600 relay and missed an opportunity to win the team competition. Had the Pirates placed second, they would have earned eight points and won the title by one over Ithaca.

In addition to Allen’s fine finishes in the two distance races, Ithaca received valuable points in the field events. Alex VanDeWeghe won the shot put at 59 feet, 7 inches, and placed fifth in the discus. Ithaca’s Baylee Chaffin placed second in the discus with a throw of 161 feet, 1 inch.

Winners all

Detroit Edison senior Brian Taylor and Morley Stanwood junior Aiden McLaughlin earned championships in the 400 and 800, respectively. Harrison also anchored New Lothrop's winning 400 relay.

Warren Michigan Collegiate won the 800 relay, and Harbor Springs took the 1,600 and 3,200 relays with Kloss leading off the former and anchoring the latter.

Constantine junior Wyatt Alwine won the pole vault, and Pewamo-Westphalia junior Nathan Spitzley claimed the discus title.