Hurdling toward lofty goals
April 24, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Jake McFadden has become familiar with the number 1 over the last four years as one of Michigan’s elite high school hurdlers.
But he’s got his sight set on three more numbers in this, his final Clare season – 37, 21 and 13.
Running the 300-meter hurdles in 37 seconds has been a goal for a few years, and would further lower his school record in that race. Finishing the 200 in 21.9 would set another school record – and he’s come within nine hundredths of a second of doing so.
Breaking 14 seconds in the 110 hurdles would be another level of significant. McFadden is expected to win the races he runs this season, especially against many of the schools and competitors he already has defeated during his career. But hitting 13 seconds and change in the 110 would put him in elite company, regardless of which division he runs in and whoever he might be facing.
“It’s one of those benchmarks. If you break 14, you’re in a special kind of club,” McFadden said. “That would be more important than winning, personally. No one could take that away. … It would show we can run fast in Division 3 too. You don’t have to be from a big school.”
McFadden gets one of Second Half’s High 5s this week after another dominating performance. He won the 110-meter hurdles (14.9 seconds), the 300 hurdles (39.3) and the 200 dash (22.3) on Saturday at the Remus Chippewa Hills Invitational as Clare scored 174 points to finish first as a team.
He's also the reigning MHSAA Division 3 champion in both hurdles races and helped Clare to a third-place team finish at the 2011 Final.
McFadden has big things ahead. He’s signed to run next season for Michigan State University, and will study biomedical engineering.
But the best part of his story might be the beginning.
By his description, McFadden was “a little bit chubby” in junior high. He shot put and ran on the 800 relay, and as a freshman nearly played baseball instead.
But following the lead of older brother Mike, a 2010 Clare grad and sprinter who had switched to track from baseball, Jake gave track another try.
The Pioneers had a tradition of exceptional hurdlers before McFadden. And before high school, he’d never tried those events. But coach Adam Burhans told his now-slimmer freshman that he’d be the team’s next intermediate hurdler – and the decision proved one of genius.
“He had me try out the high hurdles, and I succeeded,” McFadden said. “I was a little nervous, and he kinda put pressure on me to follow that tradition.”
McFadden qualified for the Division 3 Finals in the 300 race as a freshman, then finished third at the 2010 Final in the 110 hurdles. He won the 110 at last season’s Final in 14.36 seconds and the 300 in 39.15.
This winter he ran on the indoor circuit, and finished second in the 60-meter hurdles at its championship meet just six hundredths of a second behind Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Drake Johnson – the two-time defending 110 champion in Division 1.
It's been an incredible run, literally, regardless of whether or not McFadden hits this season's sought-after times. At Clare High, he’s already certain to be remembered as arguably the best in a long line of record-setting standouts.
“People can look up there and see that I was the best,” McFadden said of his school records. “And they can shoot for that goal also, and break that.”
Click to read more about McFadden and this week's other High 5s.
PHOTO: Clare's Jake McFadden won both hurdles races at last season's MHSAA Division 3 Final.
Ishpeming Adds to Near-Decade Reign Atop Upper Peninsula Division 2
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
June 5, 2022
KINGSFORD — The Ishpeming boys have allowed very little to stand between them and the Upper Peninsula Division 2 track & field championship in recent years.
They added another trophy to their collection Saturday by scoring 116 points.
The Hematites, who won three of the last four titles outright and shared the fourth, were followed by Iron Mountain with 102 points and St. Ignace at 63.
Senior Jonny Matson scored 36 points for the Hematites, who also have either won or tied for the title six of the last seven seasons.
That string was interrupted only in 2017 when they were runners-up to Newberry and three years later by COVID-19.
Last year, the Hematites shared the title with Norway.
Matson won the 400-meter dash in 53.58 seconds and long jump at 18 feet, 11¾ inches and was runner-up in the 100 (11.73) and 200 (23.77).
“Jon has been a great leader for us, and Parker Gauthier and Hunter Smith picked it up,” said Troy Smith, who shares Ishpeming’s coaching duties with his wife Trisha. “We greatly appreciate the effort of our coaching staff (Morgan Kangas, Khora Swanson and Hailey Smith). They’re a big part of our success.
“Our numbers have been a little low, but we have a great group of kids.”
The Hematites won the 3,200-meter relay in 9 minutes, 4.42 seconds, and Tramon Gauthier added a first in the 110 hurdles (16.67) and second in the 300s (43.0).
Smith was runner-up in high jump (5-11), and Parker Gauthier placed third in the 3,200 (11:44.6).
Iron Mountain’s Matt Colavechhi won the 100 (11.56) and 200 (23.71), and senior Luke Ruble added victories in the 1,600 (4:54.69) and 3,200 (10:52.05).
The Mountaineers also won the 400 relay (45.31) and 800 (1:34.42).
Bark River-Harris was runner-up in the 400 in a school-record 45.34
“Nick (Anderson) started real good and got us in a good spot,” said BR-H junior Vincent Martin, who ran the second leg. “We were seeded fourth. We knew the other three teams were good in the first and anchor legs. We mixed up our lineup a little and were in first going into the third leg.”
St. Ignace got a first from junior Reese McLean in the 800 (2:09.06), and Owen Lester took pole vault (10-0).
“That was a PR by three seconds,” said McLean. ‘With this being the last meet, I decided I might as well put everything into it. I think I started out all right. I wanted to get to the front right away.”
West Iron County’s Landon Sundelius won the 300 hurdles (40.56) and placed second in the 110s (16.74), and Nathan Hochstein of L’Anse was high jump champion at 5-11.
Manistique earned a victory in the 1,600 relay (3:43.99).
PHOTOS (Top) Ishpeming's Tramon Gauthier leads West Iron County's Landon Sundelius and they take first and second in the 110 hurdles. (Middle) Iron Mountain's Matthew Colavecchi edges Bark River-Harris's Vincent Martin by three hundredths of a second to seal the win in the 400 relay. Other members of Iron Mountain's winning relay were Max Jayne, Joey Colavecchi, and Kurt Adiano Ryan. (Click for more from Cara Kamps/Run Michigan.)