Fisher Goes the Distance at LP D1 Final
May 31, 2014
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
ROCKFORD — Grant Fisher wasn't going to get snuck up on again.
As a sophomore last year, Fisher came down the final stretch with the lead in the 1,600-meter run at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Track and Field Final, only to be caught from behind by Lake Orion's T.J. Carey and lose by sixth-thousandths of a second.
The Grand Blanc distance star made up for it later in the day by winning the 3,200, then went on to win the MHSAA Division 1 and Foot Locker national cross country championships in the fall.
The one title he still lacked was the MHSAA 1,600 crown, which he took care of Saturday by jumping out to the lead and never looking back.
Fisher won in 4:10.82, having built a sizable cushion over fast-finishing Traverse City Central sophomore Anthony Berry, who took second in 4:12.64.
"Last year in the last 100 meters I got caught by T.J.," Fisher said. "That was a really disappointing one, because I was so close. This year, I wanted to get a victory this time and I didn't want to leave it too close to call. Usually, I sit and kick, but today it's about winning. I'll do what it takes to win."
With a 1,600 victory under his belt, Fisher took a different approach a couple hours later in the 3,200. He sat behind Royal Oak's Ben Hill until 200 meters remained, then won a sprint to the finish with a time of 9:07.11, covering the final lap in 59 seconds. Hill took second in 9:09.34.
Fisher became only the second boy in the last 12 years to sweep the distance events in LP Division 1, the last being Monroe's Justin Heck in 2008. Of seven runners who have swept the 1,600 and 3,200 in LP Class A or Division 1, only future Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein of Rockford had a faster combined time. Ritzenhein posted times of 4:08.08 and 9:00.63 in 2000.
"My plan going into the race was with 150 (meters) to go to make a move," Fisher said. "That's what I did. I had to wait like that, because I was pretty tired from the mile. That was a huge goal of mine to win the mile and two mile."
Fisher wasn't the only boy to turn in elite-level performances.
Junior Donavan Brazier of Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills set an MHSAA all-Finals record in the 800 with a time of 1:50.24. He broke the mark of 1:50.63 set by Rick Gledhill of Mt. Clemens Chippewa Valley in the 1988 LP Class A meet. Brazier was pushed down the stretch by Waterford Mott's Brennan Munley (second in 1:51.79) and Milford's Brian Kettle (third in 1:52.39).
"A 1:50 was pretty surprising," Brazier said. "I was hoping for a (personal record) from 1:52. I just hung on until the last 200 and gave it all I've got."
Saline's 3,200 relay team of John Davis, Ryan Gauche, Ryan Wilkie and Logan Wetzel set an all-Finals record with a time of 7:40.54, breaking Saline's mark of 7:41.27 set in 2004. Victory wasn’t even a given until Wetzel overtook Okemos on the final lap after the Hornets were in third place for much of the race. Wetzel ran a 1:50 closing leg.
"It's really hard to press in that last 200, 300 meters when you're all alone," Wetzel said. "Definitely having a guy to battle with made all the difference."
Oak Park senior Maurice Allen had the stamina to complete a difficult double, winning the 400 in 48.13 seconds and coming back three events later to take the 200 in 21.36. Earlier, he ran on a second-place 800 relay team.
"You're tired, but the thing is to get out in the lead in the first part of the race," Allen said. "If you can start, you can finish."
The only other athlete to win two individual events was Swartz Creek senior thrower Kevin Weiler. Weiler won the discus at 176 feet, 5 inches and the shot put at 60 feet, 4.5 inches.
East Kentwood won its fifth team championship in six years, scoring 71 points to beat Oak Park by 21. Saline was third with 37 points.
"It's one of those things where we're not necessarily winning everything, but we're taking seconds and thirds and scoring twice in events," East Kentwood coach Dave Emeott said. "It's a very special group of kids who worked crazy hard."
Antoine Lloyd, Kevin Smith and Devin McKinney each scored in four events for the Falcons. Lloyd had a hand in 27 points, winning the 110 high hurdles, taking second in the 300 hurdles, taking fourth in the high jump and running on a fifth-place 1,600 relay team. McKinney scored 25 points, taking third in the 110 hurdles; running on the winning 800 relay team with Smith, Ashley Bailey and Michael Catching; running on a sixth-place 400 relay team; and taking third in the 200. Smith had a hand in 23 points. He was on the winning 800 relay team.
PHOTO: Grand Blanc’s Grant Fisher leads a pack around a turn during the 1,600 at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final on Saturday at Rockford High School. (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com.)
Frankenmuth Takes Championship Surge Through Final Race
June 5, 2021
ZEELAND – The Frankenmuth boys track & field team knew it had a chance Saturday to win its first MHSAA Finals championship since 2011 – but only if everything went right.
Not everything did – but plenty went better than planned as the Eagles won for the first time in Lower Peninsula Division 2, outpacing runner-up Flint Powers Catholic by 3¾ points to add a third championship to those won in Division 3 in 2005 and 2011.
Frankenmuth’s power in relays paid off in the final event, as the Eagles finished second in the 1,600 relay to Yale, scoring eight points while Powers came in eighth to add only one point to its team total.
That runner-up finish matched another in the 800 relay, and Frankenmuth also won the 400 relay with senior Daniel Barger joining junior Ian Stephens and sophomores Sam Barger and Andrew Braman. Those four ran the 800 together as well, with senior Ryan Brenner and junior Seth Malmo joining Sam Barger and Stephens on the 1,600.
“We knew it came down to the mile relay, and I was pretty easy going the entire time – and then the mile relay hits and we knew Powers had to do something and we knew we had to do something, and I had to be alone for a little while,” Frankenmuth coach Luke Sheppard said. “I just had to sit and soak it all in, but it was a lot of fun – it’s a lot of fun to watch these kids run. They always compete. They always do what they’re supposed to.”
The Eagles’ lone win came in the 400 relay, but they picked up other points throughout the day in the 100 and 200 dashes, 300 hurdles, high jump and discus.
Powers, meanwhile, got a first in the 100 and third in the 200 from junior Austin Hamlin and placed in all four relays among a variety of scoring performances.
Powers had entered seeded first in the 400 relay and Frankenmuth third based on Regional times, but the Eagles crossed the finish line 41 hundredths of a second faster than the runner-up Chargers.
“We always know coming into meets we’ve got to up-seed – be better than what we’re seeded, be better than what we’ve been doing,” said Brenner, who in addition to his 1,600 relay leg contributed a sixth place in the 300 hurdles and seventh in high jump. “That was our mindset through this whole meet, knowing we had to perform at the best of our capabilities to do what we just did.”
Motivation was not in short supply anywhere this weekend, or throughout the season, after COVID-19 led to 2020 spring sports being canceled.
Fremont senior Nathan Walker capped his senior year Saturday by adding wins in the 1,600 (4:16.12) and 3,200 (9:34.30) to the cross country championship he earned in the fall. Edwardsburg junior Luke Stowasser also was a double champion in Division 2, claiming the long jump in 21-10 and high jump in 6-6 after also winning the former two years ago as a freshman.
Hudsonville junior Ryan Shinabery edged Monroe Jefferson junior Alex Mansfield by 15 inches to win the discus with a toss of 163-7, but Mansfield won the shot put by more than eight feet ahead of the field with a toss of 59-2½. Allendale junior Cam Battjes rounded out the field event champions with a pole vault of 14-4.
Romulus junior Troy Cranford won the 200 in 22.84, pacing a race where the top three finishers were separated by a tenth of a second – after he was third and Berrien Springs junior Jamal Hailey second to Hamlin in a 100 decided by less than two hundredths of a second between those three. Orchard Lake St. Mary’s senior Edward Watkins won the 400 in 49.1 seconds, and Marysville senior Evan Woodard won the 800 in 1:55.25. Allendale junior Patrick Adams won the 110 hurdles in 15.19 seconds, then finished second in the 300 as Vicksburg senior Levi Thomas edged him in 40.10.
Fruitport won the 800 relay in 1:29.64, while Yale won the 1,600 in 3:25.85 and Holland Christian won the 3,200 relay by less than a second, in 8:01.26.
PHOTOS: (Top) Frankenmuth’s Daniel Barger, middle, crosses first in a close 400 relay finish Saturday. (Middle) Fremont’s Nathan Walker finishes one of his two championship runs. (Below) Flint Powers Catholic’s Austin Hamlin, middle, edges Jamal Hailey of Berrien Springs (far left) and Romulus’ Troy Cranford in the 100. (Photos by Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)