Moment: Noeker Hurdles into Elite Club

April 24, 2020

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Tyrone Wheatley is as heralded a legend as any in MHSAA track & field history.

On June 5, 2010, Pewamo-Westphalia’s Cory Noeker joined the former Dearborn Heights Robichaud star in an accomplishment no other Lower Peninsula runner has matched.

Noeker closed his high school career by becoming the second to win four titles at an LP Boys Track & Field Finals, claiming the 110 (14.70) and 300 (38.95) hurdles and 100 (11.16) and 200-meter (22.6) dashes at that year’s Division 4 meet.

“I always knew I could do it, but I always had this nervousness. ... The whole year I didn't lose in those big meets. I felt confident that I could pull it off,” Noeker told the Lansing State Journal the following week.

His feat came 20 years after Wheatley’s in 1990, and the four titles gave him six total in individual events to go with three in relays won during his sophomore and junior seasons. Five Upper Peninsula athletes also have won four titles at a boys Finals meet, making for seven total to achieve the rare accomplishment. Noeker went on to compete for Central Michigan.

See below for his four 2010 championships from the NFHS Network. (Photo courtesy of the Lansing State Journal.)