Kelloggsville Shines in First Title Run
June 1, 2013
By Geoff Mott
Special to Second Half
COMSTOCK PARK – Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Division 3 Boys Track and Field Finals just kept getting better and better for Wyoming Kelloggsville senior T.J. Burnett.
First he won the 400-meter dash title in 48.59 seconds, a mark he thought was well short of the LP Division 3 meet record.
“Coach had told me that 47.9 was the record, and when I got that time, I was pretty disappointed,” Burnett said. “Then I’m getting my medal, and I found out that I set the record.”
Then Burnett went out and helped his team win the 800 relay in 1:31.10 and close the meet with a title in the 1,600 relay (3:24.27).
And then Burnett found out the Rockets had captured their first-ever team title in track and field.
Wyoming Kelloggsville scored 52 points to easily outdistance runner-up Mason County Central (31) and third-place Standish-Sterling (28).
“The individual medals feel great, but nothing is better than winning that team title,” said Burnett, who immediately celebrated with family that numbered more than 10, including his sister from Texas.
Kelloggsville coach Tom DeGennaro has coached for 27 years, including the last three with the Rockets. It’s his first MHSAA title and a gratifying one at that.
“This group is special and full of outstanding kids,” DeGennaro said. “I can think of a lot of kids over the years that have helped build into this. But these kids are just awesome. They are gifted, but they also have great attitudes.”
DeGennaro pointed to athletes like Dionte Williams, who finished fourth in the 800 and ran legs for both relay title teams.
“He’s capable of competing in anything,” DeGennaro said. “He filled in for an injured kid in the 400 relay. He competed in the long jump this year.”
DeGennaro also was pleased to see Burnett come out on top.
“I saw something special in him the moment I took over the team,” DeGennaro said. “This has been a wonderful four-year journey for him. He’s a bulldog on the track and in the classroom, where he’s a 4.0 student.”
After a second-place finish in the 1,600 run last year, Mason County Central junior Chase Barnett wasn’t coming home without hardware this year. He won the race with a 4:15.97 finish, then added another win in the 800 run in 1:57.41.
“All the glory to God because I’m feeling pretty blessed right now,” Barnett said. “I really felt stronger this year. There was weird weather that kind of shortened up the season, but we figured out new ways to train and get the job done.
“I put in a lot of miles in the winter for this.”
Barnett brought home three championship medals, anchoring a Mason County Central title in the 3,200 relay – the team crossed with a 7:57.04 finish, nearly 17 seconds better than its qualifying time of 8:14.
“Now it’s time to go home and relax,” Barnett said.
Warren Michigan Collegiate senior Teo Redding glanced at the qualifying times heading into Saturday’s 110 hurdles and wasn’t sold on the 15.5-second time that had him seeded 19th in the event.
“I took second last year, and I’ve had better times than that,” Redding said. “Seeing that time made me even more hungry. I’ve been waiting all year for this. I was ready to go.”
Redding won his first MHSAA title and claimed the first title in school history, finishing the race in 14.65 to clip Burnett’s 14.77 finish. Redding took second in the long jump, clearing 6-8 on his first attempt, and also took second in the 300 hurdles with a 39.7 finish. Bangor’s Jesse Ring won the event in 39.17.
“I ran a really clean race,” Redding said. “I took off fast and wanted to leave (the field) as far behind as I could. It still came down to a photo finish.”
Redding, 18, will play football and hopes to run track next year at Bowling Green University.
Morley-Stanwood senior Travis McCuaig claimed back-to-back titles in the high jump, clearing 6-9 to edge Redding. McCuaig finished with three medals on the day, finishing fifth in the 300 hurdles (40.39) and eighth in the 110 hurdles (15.95).
“It’s funny because I’ve been down in the high jump and I changed some things this week,” McCuaig said. “I’m a power jumper, not a speed jumper. I’ve found I was running too hard and running into the pole. So I slowed it down today and got 6-7 on my first jump.
“Then Redding hit 6-8 on his first attempt, and I thought I was in trouble. I finally got it on my last attempt and then nailed 6-9 on my first attempt. I peaked at the right time this week.”
The 100 meter dash was decided by one hundredth of a second, and the third-place finisher was just three hundredths of a second from the top spot. In fact, one tenth of a second is all that separated the winner from fifth place.
But prevailing as champion was Southfield Bradford Academy senior Alize Champion. His 11.03 finish edged runner-up Jonathan Fife of Flint Southwestern and Carrollton’s Landon Lyons.
“Once I hit 50 meters, my long strides started to kick in,” said Champion, who placed eighth in the event last year and was seeded 22nd heading into Saturday. “I just had to give it my all because I knew this race was very competitive. There was a little pressure.”
The most interesting title went to Watervliet senior Jake Cowsert, who won the long jump with a 21-foot-1½ inch leap. He edged Pewamo-Westphalia’s Andy Pung by a half inch.
Cowsert didn’t compete in track and field until this season. After setting the long jump school record in middle school, all Cowsert wanted to do this year was set the high school record in the event and continue playing with the baseball team.
While his baseball team competed in Districts, Cowsert found a way to win a Finals championship.
“This is unbelievable,” said Cowsert, who’ll play football at Olivet College. “Our school doesn’t like us to compete in multiple sports in a season, but I really wanted the record.
“I didn’t even know what it took to win a state title or what the marks were. I broke the school record in the fourth meet of the season and just kept going. I graduated last night, and now I’m a state champion. Unbelievable.”
Bath senior Jeff Dempsey improved his pole vault by nearly a foot, winning the event with a 14-foot, 7-inich vault after qualifying with a 13-9 in the event. He finished third in 2012.
“I couldn’t be happier right now,” said Dempsey, who next heads to Pensacola Christian College (Fla.) to major in pastoral studies. The school doesn’t have pole vault. “It’s a great way to end a career. It feels great for the personal accomplishment, but I love for God. He gets the glory.”
Dempsey also credited pole vault coach Jerry Sessions from Maple Valley. Dempsey started training with the coach as a sophomore, improving his vault from 12-6 to 14-7.
“He did a tremendous job and gave me a lot of confidence to compete at this level,” Dempsey said. “He brought me a pole that worked very well.”
Niles Brandywine’s Evan Hartman won the discus with an LP Division 3 Finals record of 187-1, while Standish-Sterling’s Clayton Walderzak won the shot put with a toss of 55-2½.
Saginaw Nouvel Catholic Central’s Tyler Hendricks bounced back from horrible injuries a year ago to win the 200 dash in 22.82, while Lansing Catholic’s Rebera Keenan won the 3,200 title in 9:32.46.
Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard won the 400 relay in 43.99.
PHOTO: Wyoming Kelloggsville won the 800 and 1,600-meter relays on the way to claiming the overall team championship at Comstock Park. (Photo by Jackie Gomez. Click to see more photo coverage from RunMichigan.com.)
Lober Begins 50th Year On Track at TC Central
March 29, 2019
By Chris Dobrowolski
Special for Second Half
Traverse City Central boys track & field coach John Lober has a seemingly endless number of stories about athletes he convinced to come out for the sport.
The collection of pictures from teams of the past and championship trophies that adorn his office deep in the recesses of Central High School are just as impressive as the anecdotes. All are the byproduct of a legendary career coaching track that has spanned 55 years.
Lober is adding yet another milestone to his legacy this spring as he has started his 50th season of coaching at Central — a half-century of impacting runners and churning out successful teams at the school.
“If you would’ve told me I was going to be some place for 50 years when I started out here (I wouldn’t have believed it),” said Lober. “Nobody does that. I just feel very blessed that I’ve been able to do now what I’ve been doing all these years.”
Lober has maintained the same formula for coaching his teams — work hard, be responsible, do the right thing and treat others with kindness — principles he learned at a young age and the basic tenets for how he’s lived his life.
“I told the kids, ‘We don’t have any rules,’” he explains. “We could have 10 pages of rules, but I’m not going to do that, so we don’t have any rules. We have expectations, though. If you can’t meet those expectations this is the wrong place to spend your afternoons.
“Everything is a choice in life. You choose to be here, you choose how hard you work, you choose your attitude when you get up in the morning.”
The results have been unmistakable. One MHSAA Finals championship in 1992, 10 times finishing in the top 10, 11 Regional championships, 15 Big North Conference titles — including a current streak of 10 in a row — and five Lake Michigan Athletic Conference crowns. He has coached 54 athletes who reached an all-state level and 10 who were state champions. Six state record holders have come from Lober’s program.
Lober joined Joe Neihardt’s staff in 1969 at Traverse City High School after stints at Bellaire and in Sylvania, Ohio. He took over as head coach in 1977 and has been a fixture in the position. His focus has always been on the track & field teams at Central, but he’s been a major proponent for the sport no matter the school. He takes pride in the running successes of the athletes and coaches at the other high schools in Traverse City — Lober was right there when Central and West split into two schools in 1997 — and around the northern Michigan region.
“I’ve advocated for the sport and the student,” said Lober. “This isn’t about me. It’s about kids walking off that stage with an experience. It’s a positive experience, and we’re using our sport to educate.”
Lober has certainly done his share of work to generate increased participation in track & field. The Trojans regularly have 100-plus members, a reflection of the time he spends recruiting students to the team.
Traverse City Central junior Nathan Hullman had never run track before this season, but he had friends on the team and elected to join the program after Lober showed up in the weight room one day and started detailing all the benefits of the sport. Hullman will be a sprinter for the Trojans.
“He’s been doing it for 50 years. He seems like he knows a lot. He sounds like he’s coached a lot of good teams. I have faith in him,” said Hullman. “I hope to just learn how to run better, to get faster.”
Lober retired from teaching in 2000, but he is a familiar face around school and at sporting events. His affable personality and longevity as a coach have made him a popular icon in the community.
“He was the first person to call me when I took the job,” said Central athletic director Zac Stevenson, who came to the school in October from Battle Creek Lakeview and is the ninth AD since Lober started at Central. “The principal asked if she could share my information with everyone. Then within minutes he reached out to me via text message and welcomed me to the community, introducing himself. He is so super supportive. I have seen him at home games — boys basketball, girls basketball, wrestling meets. He’s there supporting kids and supporting staff all the time. It’s so exciting to watch.”
Lober coached cross country at Central for 28 years, too, but retired from that position two years ago. That freed him up to spend more time golfing, or watch his grandsons play football. He thought he was going to hang it up as a track & field coach last season as well, even telling then-athletic director Mark Mattson that 2018 was going to be his last year. But one day in his office, as he watched his veteran coaching staff of Don Lukens, Chris Ludka, Konrad Visser, Tim Donahey, John Piatek, Bryan Burns and Tony Moreno get ready for practice, he realized he wasn’t ready to give it up.
“I was sitting down here and the coaches are all down here and I’m seeing them talking back and forth and I thought, ‘I’m not ready to give this up,’” said Lober. “I can’t get that anywhere else in my life. If I didn’t have these guys, who are all veteran coaches, it would be hard for me to come back. We’ve had a lot of talks about that. They know what to expect from me. I know what my expectations are for them.”
The students also brought Lober back. He likes the group he has, and he looks forward to seeing how the 2019 season transpires. He likens this time of year to holding a ball of clay, then molding it into a cohesive unit that comes together and competes at a high level at meets.
Last year’s finished the season tied for seventh at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals, with then-senior Cassidy Henshaw winning the high jump.
“I really like taking a group of guys, bringing them together, teaching them all something and they all have their jobs, so to speak,” said Lober. “You go into a meet, and when it’s all done, we’ll see how we did. As we get into the championship part of the schedule, the first three weeks of May, let’s see where we are. Let’s see where the chips fall.”
Chris Dobrowolski has covered northern Lower Peninsula sports since 1999 at the Ogemaw County Herald, Alpena News, Traverse City Record-Eagle and currently as sports editor at the Antrim Kalkaska Review since 2016. 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) Traverse City Central boys track & field coach John Lober talks things over during a practice last spring. (Middle) Lober keeps an eye on his watch during a race. (Photos courtesy of WPBN.)