Hackett '6' Claim 1st Title Since 1930
By
Wes Morgan
Special for MHSAA.com
June 2, 2018
HUDSONVILLE – One day, when a Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep track championship team reunion is in order, it won’t require much effort rounding everyone up.
With only six young men representing the Irish on Saturday at the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals at Hudsonville, head coach Simon Cholometes’ squad scored 51 points to win it all — the program’s first championship since 1930, when it was part of predecessor St. Augustine High School before boys began attending the newly-built Hackett High School in 1964.
All six Irish athletes made the all-state team, with junior Heath Baldwin leading the way with a pair of individual titles in the 110-meter hurdles (14.83 seconds) and the long jump (personal best 22 feet, 2½ inches).
After winning the hurdles, Baldwin paced around the infield with very little emotion.
“I kind of tried to come in with a cool and calm mindset,” he said. “I knew what I was capable of in the long jump and knew what I had to do for the 110s to win it. I’m just trying to stay relaxed. I know when I get too tight, good things are not going to happen.
“I came out and didn’t jump the way I wanted to. On my third jump, I really got my hips up and got the height I wanted.”
Sand Creek finished second with 36 points, and Breckenridge rounded out the top three with 33.
Hackett teammate Gus Magnell, a sophomore, was third in the 110 hurdles (15.14), and he ran a leg on the fifth-place 800 relay along with Christian Bartholomew, Eric Smith and Wade Poling. The quartet ran a time of 1:33.89. Bartholomew, Smith, Eric Wenzel and Magnell also placed fifth in the 400 (44.71).
Baldwin then nabbed a fourth-place time of 40.75 in the 300 hurdles, and Magnell secured the final all-state spot in eighth with a time of 41.20.
Magnell credited Cholometes for a drastic improvement in technique and the motivation to put in the extra work, and Baldwin for being, well, Baldwin.
“I would not be anywhere without my coach,” Magnell said. “To have a state champion you’re racing against every race, it really pushes you to keep getting better and better.”
“Those guys have a great relationship and they really feed off each other,” Cholometes added. “It’s very healthy competition with those guys, and they want to see each other do well.”
In the discus, Hackett sophomore Henry Zimmerman recorded a third-place toss of 145-10, and he made it a double all-state day with a sixth-place distance of 46-3 in the shot put.
Cholometes is in just his second year at Hackett after serving as an assistant coach at Sturgis, where he oversaw a sprint group that set several school records.
“It has been a quick turnaround for us,” Cholometes said of the culture shift for the program. “I did think it was possible. I knew we had to go out and perform to our potential, and we did that. These guys put a lot of work in last summer and this winter leading up to the season. It was all that work coming together today.
“Heath is a pretty big-time performer, and he showed that today. Our sprint relays did well, as did Henry, scoring in both the throws. To win by [15 points] at a state meet, I was really pleased with that. Typically, it is pretty close.”
Sand Creek’s Alec Muck was the only other double winner Saturday as the junior claimed titles in the 100 (10.98) and the 200 (22.02). He ran the same time in the 100 as he did when he won in 2017. Muck also was the reigning champion in the 200 after running a 22.14 last year.
The rest of the meet offered quite a variety for fans that packed the stadium. Fulton captured a title in the 800 relay after Tristan Johnston, Jon Baker, Adam Duflo and Nate Alwood combined for a time of 1:31.15. In the 3,200 relay, Hillsdale Academy’s Nick Rush, John O’Connor, Connor Oakley and Ian Calvert clocked a winning time of 8:14.88. The 400 relay title belonged to Breckenridge’s Lukas Ebright, Caleb Hurt, Hunter Collins and Caden Foster (44.00) and the 1,600 team from Concord comprised of Zeavion Jones, T.J. Kessman, Vincent Giuliano and Bryan Smith produced a first-place time of 3:30.96.
Also topping the podium were Ubly’s Alex Grifka in the 1,600 (4:27.90), Hale’s Patrick Harris in the 400 (50.04), Derek Flory, of Marcellus, in the 300 hurdles (39.49), Deckerville’s Stephen Barker in the 800 (1:56.82) and Wyoming Potter’s House Christian’s Nathan Stout in the 3,200 (9:44.08).
In the field events, Coleman’s Cody Finney won the discus (151-1), Sand Creek’s Cole Hallett cleared a winning height of 13-6 in the pole vault, Carson City-Crystal’s Daniel Smith had the best shot put of the day with a toss of 52-9, and Hillsdale Academy’s Peter Kalthoff was first in the high jump (6-5).
VIDEO: Alec Muck Runs To Double Wins – Again!
PHOTOS: (Top) Hackett’s Heath Baldwin and Gus Magnell, second and third from left, respectively, break through for two of top three places in the 110 hurdles. (Middle) Sand Creek’s Alec Muck pushes toward the finish line for one of his sprint championships Saturday. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
Machiniak Sets Pace as Berrien Springs Edges Corunna in Matchup of Recent Champs
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
June 1, 2024
HAMILTON – After a rainy afternoon Saturday, the precipitation let up long enough for Berrien Springs’ boys track & field team to put the finishing touches on another MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals championship.
After Shamrocks head coach Jon Rodriquez collected his program’s second team title in three years, rain fell again at Hamilton High School’s Hawkeye Stadium, only heavier this time.
The reign returned for Berrien Springs.
“It feels great, man. It’s hard to say what it feels like,” said Shamrocks senior standout Jake Machiniak, who sprinted to first-place finishes in the 100- and 200-meter dashes plus anchored winning 400 and 800 relays.
“This team, they worked all offseason. This is the hardest group of workers I’ve ever had. All these guys, all the guys that scored, they’ve all come year-round. The relays, we performed. I performed in the opens. It’s great. It’s a great feeling, man. Two times, man. Two times. Second time winning the state. It’s fantastic, man.”
Machiniak, a Grand Valley State University commit, repeated in the 100 with a time of 10.74 seconds. He won the 200 in 21.76 seconds in addition to running the closing leg on Berrien Springs’ first-place 400 relay (42.13) and victorious 800 relay (1:28.24).
Machiniak powered Berrien Springs to 40 points as a team, allowing the Shamrocks to edge runner-up Corunna (38 points), the 2023 champion. DeWitt was third (34) and Charlotte fourth (28), followed by Pontiac Notre Dame Prep and Parma Western tied at fifth (26).
Last year, Berrien Springs tied for seventh, which fueled the Shamrocks’ hunger all offseason.
“Jake was on that team two years ago. He ran the 4x100 for us,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve kind of had our eyes on this the last two years. Last year we fell short a little bit, and this year the kids were hungry. They worked their butts off all year long, running in the summertime, running in the hallways in the wintertime, just getting ready for this moment. It’s awesome. It’s awesome to see.”
In the 400 relay, Machiniak was joined by Zander White, Samuel Magesa, and Kameron Autry. In the 800, it was Magesa, White, and Noah Jarvis.
Notre Dame Prep senior Zachary Mylenek took first place in the 400, finishing nearly a second better than his personal-record time of 48.49 seconds, and he was runner-up in the 200 (with a personal season-record 21.92).
Bound for Purdue University, where he plans to study mechanical engineering and perhaps walk on to the Boilermakers’ track team, Mylenek also anchored Notre Dame Prep’s seventh-place 1,600 relay team.
He adapted to his circumstances and performed at a high level.
“The rain sucked, but I’ve been fortunate enough because we’ve been running in the rain a lot this year and I ran last year in it,” he said. “I just ran my race and other guys, I was listening, they don’t like running in the rain. It’s a mindset thing, and I just dialed in.”
Grosse Ile junior Sam Vesperman repeated in pole vault with an effort of 14 feet, 7 inches.
Vesperman was not expected to win last year, and he pulled it off. Being ranked No. 1 in pole vault coming into Saturday’s meet created more pressure for him.
“It was definitely different because I was projected to win it (this season),” Vesperman said. “Last year I was the second guy, right – I wasn’t the big name. It was definitely different having everybody (saying), ‘Oh, that’s the guy to get, so … .’”
Vesperman’s official personal record in pole vault is 15-3. On Saturday, he was pushed by Whitehall senior Ca’Mar Ready, who turned in a PR effort of 14-4, but Vesperman was able to execute when needed.
“Yeah, it’s really nice to win, but we just keep chasing that next bar, that next height. That’s definitely the motivational factor,” Vesperman said.
Other event winners included: Clio’s Elliott Sirianni in the 800 (1:55.09 PR), Freeland’s T.J. Hansen in the 1,600 (4:11.31), Pinckney’s Paul Moore in the 3,200 (9:07.53), Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Mill Coleman in the 110 hurdles (14.49), Charlotte’s Cutler Brandt in the 300 hurdles (38.48), Coopersville’s Gabe VanSickle in the shot put (61 feet, 2 inches), Wayland’s Adam Huff in discus (172-0), and Stevensville Lakeshore’s Declin Doroh in high jump (6-7) and Kaden Griffiths in long jump (22-9.25).
Hamilton won the 1,600 relay (3:23.40), while Marshall took first place in the 3,200 relay (7:48.49). Chelsea senior Jacob Nelson won the 100, 200 and 400 adaptive events.
Rodriguez started coaching at Berrien Springs in 2012, and he became head coach in 2014.
He said the Shamrocks improve in practice because there’s a lot of competition. Everybody is chasing Machiniak.
“I mean, we have Jake Machiniak, one of the top sprinters in the state, in practice and the kids want to beat him. They don’t just want to just, like, run with him; they want to try and beat him, so that competition in practice has been huge,” Rodriguez said.
“I’m just very proud of them. We showed up on the days that were important. On a big meet like this, it’s about being your best today – we had our best on the best day.”
Like Vesperman, Machiniak entered the 2024 season with a lot of pressure. He noted, however, that the only way to improve is to put oneself in pressure situations.
Machiniak said this team title feels better than the one won in 2022 because he played a bigger role. There’s strength in numbers, though, and Berrien Springs has been known to possess depth, especially in the sprints.
“That’s all Coach Rodriguez. Best coach in Michigan – it’s not even close,” Machiniak said. “He has us training in the offseason. He has us training winter, summer, spring, fall – all the time, man. We have a lot of guys at the state meet that come (put in the work) in the offseason, all year round. Year-round athletes that do speed training. As far as the sprints, that’s all Jonny Rodriguez – best coach in the nation.
“This group, I’ve grown up with this group, man. I’ve known these guys for a while. I’ve grown with them, I’ve trained with them, I’ve cried with them. You know, these are the guys that I’ve grown up with.”
PHOTOS (Top) Berrien Springs’ Jake Machiniak, second from left, crosses the finish line first in the 100 during the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals on Saturday. (Middle) Pontiac Notre Dame Prep’s Zachary Mylenek, left, and Corunna’s Wyatt Bower race to the finish in a 200 prelim. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)