Kozisek's Rare Feat Helps Pickford to Impressive Rise & Title Repeat
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
June 4, 2023
KINGSFORD – The Pickford boys moved up a division after winning last year’s Upper Peninsula Division 3 Track & Field Finals title. And it didn't faze them a bit.
They dominated the field Saturday, finishing with 151 team points. Manistique was second with 90, Ishpeming third with 87 and St. Ignace fourth with 73.
In the process, Pickford ended the Hematites' four-year run on top of Division 2.
The Panthers won nine of the 17 events. Hayden Hagen won all of the distance events and David Kozisek won both of the hurdle races along with the high jump and long jump to become just the ninth male athlete to win four individual events at an MHSAA Finals. Brayden Altoft took home a first in the shot put as did the 400 relay team (Cole Warner, Kendrick Brace, Altoft and Owen McConkey).
One of the more exciting finishes of the day came in the 200-meter dash when Bark River-Harris’ Kavin Fredrick dove for the win ahead of Manistique’s Wyatt Demers.
Demers was Fredrick’s biggest concern. Why? He’s really fast, and he usually beats him in the 200.
Fredrick led until about 50 meters to go, and he could see Demers’ arms coming up.
“So I thought to myself, ‘Well, I mean I’ve got to dive if I want this,’” he said.
And so he did.
“I took a big dive and I won by a hundredth of a second,” Fredrick said. “I’m a little cut up, but totally worth it if you ask me.”
No, he hadn’t tried that before.
“It’s my first time ever diving and it worked, so I’d recommend it,” Fredrick said. “It feels great. I went in thinking it would be a tough race against a couple people that I was up against. And I actually did it, so that’s a good feeling.”
Demers picked up a Finals title in the 100 dash.
The Broncos also the 800 relay (Justin Bergquist, Fredrick, Cristian Spear and Vincent Martin). Manistique won two relays, the 1,600 (Grant Mason, Dillon Hayes, Carter Miller and Demers) and the 3,200 (Mason, Brenden Mead, Ben Gilroy and Austin Hinkson).
The Emeralds’ Mason was first in the 400.
In the field events, Ishpeming’s Brayden Martin won the discus and St. Ignace’s Owen Lester repeated in the pole vault.
PHOTOS (Top) Pickford’s David Kozisek crosses the finish line first in the 300 hurdles Saturday. (Middle) Bark River-Harris’ Kavin Frederick and Manistique’s Wyatt Demers race for the finish line, with Frederick crossing first by one hundredth of a second. (Below) Runners begin the 1,600, including eventual winner Hayden Hagen (1) of Pickford and runner-up Alex Korpela (4) of Ironwood. (Photos by Cara Kamps/RunMichigan.com.)
St. Joseph Boys Make Every Point Count in Clinching 1st Finals Since 1997
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 3, 2023
ROCKFORD – Entering the final event of Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final, the 1,600 relay, St. Joseph was in first place – but by the slimmest of margins.
St. Joseph had 35.75 points, while Rockford had 35, Clinton Township Chippewa Valley had 32, and Ann Arbor Huron had 30.
Bears head coach Todd Rose knew his team was in the second heat before faster teams after, but his for sure needed to be faster than Rockford.
“I don’t teach them to worry about who they are running against,” Rose said. “Just run within themselves and run how we teach them.”
St. Joseph did that behind the team of Shay White, Will Fiesbeck, Eli Toney and Alex Moyer, finishing fourth in the event with a time of 3:21.50 to earn a meet-best 40.75 points – clinching the program’s first Finals team championship since 1997.
Chippewa Valley was runner-up with 38 points, while Rockford was third at 36 points.
St. Joseph senior Gerald Capaccio scored 18 precious points for his team, most notably winning the discus with a winning throw of 167-2. Capaccio said he was in second going into his last throw.
“I just had the mindset that everyone can have a big throw, and it just has to be me that gets the big throw,” Capaccio said. “It happened on my final throw.”
Capaccio also was second in the shot put with a throw of 56-11¼.
In addition to Capaccio earning big points in the shot put and discus, Rose gave credit to high jumper Joshua Scott for finishing in a tie for seventh in that event. That gave the Bears two points, and they proved to be especially important as the team won by less than one.
It’s rare when a runner does something that hasn’t been achieved since before automobiles were invented, but Ann Arbor Huron senior Braxton Brann had that distinction.
Brann won the 110 hurdles and the 200 dash, becoming the first athlete to win those two events at the same state meet since 1895 – three decades before the MHSAA was formed.
“It’s great to be in that kind of conversation,” said Brann, who will run in college at Ohio State.
First, Brann won the 110 hurdles in a time of 13.77. He said that was the event he was most concerned about.
“I haven’t really been consistent, so I just wanted to be that,” Brann said.
Feeling much more comfortable and at home in the 200 dash, Brann ran a winning time of 21.12.
“Everybody comes in looking at the stats of everybody else,” he said. “I saw I was in the best position to win. But I knew I had to run by butt off against this great field and come out with a win.”
Just about everyone in the stadium did a double-take when Northville’s 3,200 relay time was posted. The team of Brandon Latta, Brock Malaikal, David Whitaker and Brendan Herger set a new all-Finals record with a blistering time of 7:35.32, which was the best time in the nation this year.
Herger said when he got the baton on the anchor leg, he knew his teammates set him up incredibly well. But even he and Northville couldn’t have foreseen this.
“I had to run 1.54 to get it, and then I ended up running a bit faster than that,” Herger said. “I was so happy. I love my boys so much. It was great to share the moment together.
Herger also ended up finishing second in the 800 meters with a time of 1:52.19 behind Utica’s Trent McFarland.
Detroit U-D Jesuit senior Jaiden Reed won the 100 (10.74), and Clinton Township Chippewa Valley junior Shamar Heard won the 400 (47.78). Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills senior Benne Anderson won the 1,600 (4:05.44), and Grand Haven junior Seth Norder won the 3,200 (9:04.68). Kalamazoo Central senior Kayenn Mabin won the 300 hurdles (38.31). Rockford in the 400 (42.01), Chippewa Valley in the 800 (1:26.41) and Oak Park in the 1,600 (3:18.90) also won relay titles.
Battle Creek Lakeview senior Andrew Berryhill was champion in the shot put (58-¼), and Saline senior Dolan Gonzales won pole vault (16-0). Ann Arbor Huron junior Andrew Harding won the high jump (6-7), and Canton sophomore Quincy Isaac won the long jump (22-11). New Baltimore Anchor Bay sophomore Luke Bowman competed in the adaptive 100 (19.65), 200 (35.66) and 400 (1:14.39).
PHOTOS (Top) St. Joseph celebrates its LPD1 championship Saturday. (Middle) Ann Arbor Huron's Braxton Brann finishes one of his two race wins. (Below) Northville makes the final exchange of its record-setting 3,200 relay. (Photos by Jamie McNinch [top two photos] and Carter Sherline/RunMichigan.com.)