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.)
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.)