Performance: Houghton's Clayton Sayen
May 14, 2018
Clayton Sayen
Houghton senior – Track & Field
Sayen added another night of highlights to an incredible senior campaign, winning a rare race combination of the 100, 400 and 3,200 meters at the Ontonagon Invitational on May 4 to earn the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week” for April 30-May 6. He ran the 100 meters in 11.14 seconds to set a school record and the 400 in 49.76 to break another record he already held; Sayen also owns school records in the 200 (22.63) and 800 (1:56.83) and as part of the 1,600 and 3,200 relays.
Also a standout runner in the fall, Sayen capped his final high school cross country season by leading his team to the Upper Peninsula Division 1 championship and claiming the individual title by a tenth of a second with a time of 16:25.7 – the fourth fastest in U.P. Division 1 Finals history. During the winter, he moved on to hockey and helped the Gremlins to a No. 3 ranking in Division 3 during the regular season. He entered this spring as a three-time U.P. Track & Field Finals individual champion coming off last year’s wins in the 200 and 400 and as part of the 3,200 relay. He’s broken his two goals for this season – to go under 50 seconds in the 400 and 1:57.5 in the 800 – and the fastest meets are coming up with his Regional on Thursday at Negaunee and the Finals on June 2. This season also has provided a chance for Sayen to run with his brother Tyler, a freshman on the team.
Clayton carries a 3.9 grade-point average and will be sticking close to home after this spring, studying and running track and cross country at Michigan Tech. He plans to pursue a degree in engineering management, diving into his interests in science and also business, as he’d like to follow some of the footsteps of his father, a local business owner. But for a few more weeks of high school, Sayen will continue setting the pace – with his trademark headband and sunglasses he’s become known for around the U.P., and also with the speed that should put him in line to contend for a few more championships.
Coach Daniel Junttila said: “I’ve been coaching 38 years and I’m an outgoing guy, and you meet hundreds of coaches and you talk – and I’ve never spoken to anyone, let alone seen it where somebody will run the 3,200 that well, be a Division 1 champion (and then the 100) … that range of athleticism blows me away. And he just keeps bringing it. … I coached him in eighth grade football, so I knew him really well. He’s a special athlete with such will and drive. I could tell honestly when I saw him in eighth grade, and then I watched him in middle school track, and already as a freshman he was doing things that were very uncommon.”
Performance Point: “My primary focus for the day was the 100,” Sayen said of the Ontonagon meet. “I wanted to break our school record in the 100, which was an 11.23. I ended up getting it with an 11.14, and that was my first real event of the day; I ran the (3,200) relay at the beginning, but that was kinda just a cruise. There wasn’t a whole lot of competition there, so I used that as my warm-up. The 100 was to get the day going … and I won, and I was like, ‘Cool, I got the school record. That’s what I was going for today. So mission accomplished.’ It was a nice day overall, and I decided my next event the 400, I was going to push that one too because it was my goal sometime this season to go sub-50. At 49.76 I ran sub-50 and I met that goal, so the day was just excellent as it was. (Then) I’ve got the 2-mile left, so I’m going to see what I have left. I went out and I pushed myself in that one – not a phenomenal time, but I ended up winning. And it was just cool to have a meet under my belt where I won the shortest and the longest events.”
Run ’em all: When I first started in middle school, I was a distance runner. But growing up, I’ve always been a pretty fast sprinter. Way back in elementary school I was always the fastest kid in my class. It wasn’t until this year where I started doing them both, distance and sprints. My freshman year of high school, I was a strict 2-mile, 1-mile guy. And now I’m more of a 200, 400, 800 kind of guy. So I’ve kinda worked my way around the whole spectrum a little bit. This year I’m going to just try to combine the two and have a little fun with it. Because that was my main goal for the season, to have as much fun as I can.”
What a finish: “Cross Country was unbelievable – U.P. champions, I was the Division 1 individual winner. Cross country was so much fun, everything about it. I had a lot of fun in hockey too. We had a pretty successful season, had a lot of highlights there. And to wrap it up with track, how this season is going … senior year, athletically, it would be hard to beat.”
Brotherly bond: Having (Tyler) on the team with me, it’s a lot of fun. He’s a 400/800 runner, just like me, so before he runs I give him my strategy. He’ll go out and do the best he can – he’s a freshman, so he’s not going to put down some crazy times. … Having him on the team with me, it’s good bonding between the two of us.”
Signature style: “The headband, it started back about eighth grade with my buddy Seth (Helman) one day in practice. In middle school, my hair was kinda long, kinda in my eyes, so I told him, ‘I’m going to wear a headband.’ It just carried through high school, and then I decided to grow my hair really long. It’s not anymore; it’s short now. (But) as the years have gone on, the two of us, the headband has become our thing. That’s what we’re known for – head bands and sunglasses – that’s a thing we do together.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2017-18 school year, Second Half and the Michigan Army National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2017-18 honorees:
May 3: Autumn Roberts, Traverse City Central tennis - Read
April 26: Thomas Robinson, Wyoming Lee track & field - Read
March 29: Carlos Johnson, Benton Harbor basketball - Read
March 22: Shine Strickland-Gills, Saginaw Heritage basketball - Read
March 15: Skyler Cook-Weeks, Holland Christian swimming - Read
March 8: Dakota Greer, Howard City Tri-County wrestling - Read
March 1: Camree' Clegg, Wayne Memorial basketball - Read
February 23: Aliah Robertson, Sault Ste. Marie swimming - Read
February 16: Austin O'Hearon, Eaton Rapids wrestling - Read
February 9: Sophia Wiard, Muskegon Oakridge basketball - Read
February 2: Brenden Tulpa, Hartland hockey - Read
January 25: Brandon Whitman, Dundee wrestling - Read
January 18: Derek Maas, Holland West Ottawa swimming - Read
January 11: Lexi Niepoth, Bellaire basketball - Read
November 30: La'Darius Jefferson, Muskegon football - Read
November 23: Ashley Turak, Farmington Hills Harrison swimming - Read
November 16: Bryce Veasley, West Bloomfield football - Read
November 9: Jose Penaloza, Holland soccer - Read
November 2: Karenna Duffey, Macomb L'Anse Creuse North cross country - Read
October 26: Anika Dy, Traverse City West golf - Read
October 19: Andrew Zhang, Bloomfield Hills tennis - Read
October 12: Nolan Fugate, Grand Rapids Catholic Central football - Read
October 5: Marissa Ackerman, Munising tennis - Read
September 28: Minh Le, Portage Central soccer - Read
September 21: Olivia Theis, Lansing Catholic cross country - Read
September 14: Maddy Chinn, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Houghton’s Clayton Sayen carries the baton down the stretch during a relay this season. (Middle) Sayen, right, and teammate Seth Helman lead the pack during the U.P. Division 1 Cross Country Final last fall. (Top photo courtesy of the Houghton track & field program; middle photo by Kara Camps.)
Saginaw's Martin Leaps Into All-Time Elite
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
May 1, 2019
Sometimes greatness can come from random circumstance.
One spring day after having their basketball taken away during lunch, then-Saginaw High sophomore Tony Martin and his friends improvised by playing the game without a ball. With one of his track coaches looking on, Martin received a “pass” from a teammate, ran to the free-throw line and took off, touching the rim before returning to the ground.
“You’re long jumping at our next meet,” the coach said, introducing a new event to the sprint specialist, and a star was born.
In the two years since that fake basketball game, Martin has become arguably the best long jumper in Michigan history. He recently leapt 26 feet, 6 inches, which according to michtrack.org smashed the previous record by a Michigan high schooler of 25-2½, set by Lansing Everett’s Marcel Richardson in 1988.
“I felt it when I hit the board, and when I was in the air, because I had more time in the air to move my legs and reach,” said Martin of his record-breaking jump, which he achieved April 25 in a home dual meet against Saginaw Arthur Hill. “I had more of a fold in my legs when I was landing. I felt it in my spine when I was stretching. My reaction was, I looked at it and it said 26-6, and I had to look again because it’s an unbelievable jump. I had to look at it again and again when they marked it.”
Martin, who opened his senior season at Saginaw by breaking the school’s 45-year-old long jump record, came into the year looking to set school and state records. As the calendar turns to May, he’s setting his sights farther.
“Right now, it would have to be me breaking the national record,” Martin said. “It has to be the national one now, because really there’s no other one. The only other thing I could think about is actually hitting the Olympic standard.”
The national high school record as regarded by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) is 26-4¾, jumped by Tulane Union, California’s James Stallworth in 1989. Others consider the national record to be 26-10, set in 2009 by current San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Marquise Goodwin while a high schooler at a USA Track & Field junior championships meet. The Olympic standard is 8.22 meters, which is a little more than 26-11½.
The MHSAA record book includes only Finals performances, and the MHSAA generally confirms records to the National Federation record committee that have occurred only during Finals, where officials are on hand to certify results and conditions including wind speed. (The MHSAA Finals record of 24-2¾ was set in 2017 at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 meet by Salem’s Mason Phillips.) However, an official will be on hand at Friday’s Bay City Western Invitational to monitor the long jump and certify the national record if Martin breaks it.
Martin’s 26-6 would tie for seventh all-time nationally, with only four people ever jumping farther at the high school level. Among them is United States Track & Field legend Carl Lewis, who had an official high school best of 26-8¼.
“I’ve watched him jump against Mike Powell every day,” Martin said of the epic 1991 showdown between Powell and Lewis at the 1991 World Championships, where Powell broke the world record. “That’s what I study, that video of Mike Powell breaking the record. That’s like my favorite track video ever (along with) videos of Usain Bolt. It’s definitely an honor joining somebody that I’ve watched.”
Saginaw coach DeEddie Sanders believes Martin can reach those goals.
“He’s got the potential, if he keeps working hard, to make the Olympic team,” Sanders said. “That’s what he wants, and I know he’s going to keep working hard.”
Martin, who has signed to compete for Michigan State University, came into this season plenty accomplished. He is the reigning Division 2 MHSAA Finals champion in the long jump, and a returning state placer in the 100 (fourth) and 200 (third) meters. He was also part of Saginaw’s fifth-place 400 relay team.
Last season’s Finals were a high point for his career, but also something he saw as just the beginning.
“It was pretty exciting,” Martin said. “It was emotional, because I was really tired at the state meet my sophomore year from jumping. I was not ready for the state meet at all (as a sophomore), so I had to win something (as a junior). That’s my goal (this year); I have to win all three for me to be satisfied, really. That is my goal, and I feel like I really have a chance this year.”
Martin has official personal bests of 10.71 seconds in the 100 and 21.71 in the 200, although he’s been hand-timed at 10.25 and 21.5. He said his goal is to get under 10.5 and 21 officially (fully automatic time), which would certainly put him in the running for a sprint double at this year’s Finals.
He should be a heavy favorite in the long jump, of course, and a lot of that can be attributed to taking a longer approach. After lining up about 80 feet from the pit in past years, Martin was urged to move backward to about 100 feet by the coaches he spoke with on his college visits. That allows him to build up more speed before takeoff.
“Ever since I changed my mark from indoor to outdoor, because I got faster, every time I jump is a (personal record), or over my best from last year,” Martin said.
In his first meet of the season, Martin showed that off, jumping 24-¼ to eclipse his previous best of 23-4¾, and the Saginaw High record of 23-7¾ set by Larry Foster in 1974.
“That was something that I cherished for a long time,” said Foster, who went on to play football and basketball at Northern Illinois, and now lives in Atlanta. “I’m glad I was alive to see him break it. I didn’t think it was going to last 45 years. I thought maybe in the 80s or 90s, somebody would break it. But my daughter, she was born in ‘74, and when she turned 45, I realized that was a long time. I’m so proud of that young guy. He did a fantastic job.”
Foster, who said he went to school with Martin’s grandmother, said he was able to speak with Martin and congratulate him after the record was broken.
“In a way, I was hoping it would (last) a little longer,” Foster said. “But 45 years, that’s long enough for me. When he goes to college, I’m going to follow him. I’m very proud of him.”
What Foster will be following is an athlete who believes he can further tap into his potential at MSU – a potential that even amazes Martin himself.
“To me, it’s unbelievable, because I’m only in high school and I’ve only been jumping since my sophomore year,” Martin said. “I’m kind of surprising myself every meet. It’s kind of unreal.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Saginaw High sprinter and long jumper Tony Martin prepares to launch. (Middle) Martin is taking aim this spring at MHSAA Finals and national records. (Photos by Scott Keyes.)