Preview: Memorable Finishes Guaranteed at LP Boys Track & Field Finals
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 30, 2024
A few storylines immediately jump off the page when glancing at this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Boys Track & Field Finals lineups:
- All four of the fall’s Lower Peninsula cross country individual champions are stacking up as favorites in one or more distance races across their respective divisions, three as reigning champions on the track as well.
- Another set of magnificent seniors will be finishing their high school careers, led by three-time individual champion Shamar Heard of Clinton Township Chippewa Valley.
- And the Division 2 team championship pursuit could be another classic as last season’s top finishers contend again.
All four LP Finals will be contested at Grand Rapids-area schools, with pole vault and long jump beginning at 9 a.m., race semifinals and the 3,200 relay at 10 a.m. and the rest of the running finals starting at noon. Tickets cost $11 and are available digitally only via GoFan.
MHSAA.tv will live-stream all four meets beginning at 10 a.m., viewable with subscription. Check out the Boys Track & Field page for meet information for all four sites and lists of all qualifiers. Those described as "seeded" below have received those seeds based on Regional performances.
Below is a glance at team contenders and individuals to watch in all four divisions:
LP Division 1 at East Kentwood
Team forecast: Belleville may be in line to claim its first Finals team title in boys track & field with potential contenders in at least four races, with opportunities to place three in both hurdles championships and contend in the 800 relay. Annual contender Rockford has all four relays running – with three seeded among the top four in their respective races – plus a contender in the long jump among other events. Northville’s distance strength – and presence in all four relays as well plus four field events – could put it in position also to claim a team title for the first time.
Andrew Harding, Ann Arbor Huron senior – Last season’s high jump champion at 6-7 edged 2022 winner Nathan Levine from Canton by an inch and likely will have to outlast him one more time. Harding’s LPD1 Regional-best 6-8 this season was two inches higher than Levine and four others’ Regional jumps.
Shamar Heard, Clinton Township Chippewa Valley senior – He owns four Finals championships having won the 100 and 200 as a sophomore and the 400 and as part of the 800 relay last year. He’ll run the 200, 400 and on the 800 and 1,600 relays this time, and his 200 (21.49), 400 (46.80) and 1,600 relay (3:16.88) times ranked fastest for all LPD1 Regionals.
Brandon Herger, Northville senior – He anchored the all-Finals record-setting 3,200 last season, finished second in the 800 and also anchored the fifth-place 1,600 relay. He’ll run on the same relays this weekend, and his 800 (1:52.47) and 1,600 (4:12.86) times are top-seeded.
Quincy Isaac, Canton senior – The reigning LPD1 long jump champion had the best Regional jump in this division by more than a foot at 24-3¼ and also will high jump and run the 200 and on the 400 relay.
Seth Norder, Grand Haven senior – Last season’s 3,200 champion and last fall’s LPD1 cross country winner (and the runner-up in the 1,600 in 2022) is set to run the 800, 1,600 and on the 3,200 relay. He defeated Herger in the Elite Mile at the Romeo Barnyard Invitational with a 1,600 time of 4:04.81.
Will Jaiden Smith, Belleville junior – He finished sixth in the 200 and eighth in the 400 last season, but enters this weekend with the second-seeded 200 (21.61), fifth-seeded 110 hurdles (14.27) and top-seeded 300 hurdles (38.03) times and running on the fourth-seeded 800 relay.
LP Division 2 at Hamilton
Team forecast: Familiar star power will be everywhere this weekend. The Bower twins will try to lead Corunna to a repeat championship after combining to contribute to 36 of the Cavaliers’ 41 points last season. Mason has a similar one-two punch and tied for second a year ago. Whitehall last won in 1996 and is back after finishing fourth in 2023, bringing top seeds in two individual races and the 1,600 relay. Wayland is seeking its first team title since the first Track & Field Finals in 1925 and has a top hurdler and contenders in multiple field events.
Trannon Aylor, Whitehall senior – The reigning champion in the 400 was also eighth in the 200 in 2023, and among his four events this weekend he has the top-seeded 400 (48.49) and will run on the top-seeded 1,600 relay (3:25.36).
Tyler Baker, Mason senior – He won the 110 hurdles, was second in the long jump, third in the high jump and ran the 300 hurdles last season, and he’ll compete in all four again with his 110 hurdles time of 14.71 second-seeded.
Tarick Bower, Corunna senior – He ran on the winning 400 relay, runner-up 800 relay and was third in long jump last season, and enters this weekend second-seeded in the 100 (10.78), top-seeded in the long jump (22-7½) and running on two second-seeded relays.
Wyatt Bower, Corunna senior – He ran on the same relays as his brother last year, won the long jump and was seventh in the 100, and enters this weekend again on the same relays as Tarick, second-seeded in the long jump (22–¼) and second-seeded in the 200 (21.93).
Jacoby Dunlap, Alma senior – The returning high jump champion will compete in that event again and run on two relays.
TJ Hansen, Freeland junior – The reigning 3,200 champion is another fall cross country champion, and he’s set to run the 1,600 and 3,200 after posting the top LPD2 Regional time in the former (4:15.33).
Jake Machiniak, Berrien Springs senior – He’s the reigning 100 champ and ran on the first-place 800 relay last season as well, and he’s top-seeded in the 100 (10.56) this weekend, third-seeded in the 200 (21.99) and running on the sixth-seeded 800 relay and top-seeded 400 relay (42.40).
AJ Martel, Mason senior – The Bulldogs swept hurdles last season with Martel winning the 300, and he’s seeking a repeat while also running on the 400 and 1,600 relays.
Sam Vesperman, Grosse Ile junior – The reigning pole vault champion posted the best vault of LPD2 Regionals this season by seven inches with a 14-6 after winning last year’s Final by a foot.
LP Division 3 at Kent City
Team forecast: Hillsdale strung together three straight runner-up finishes from 2015-17, but may emerge this weekend with its first team title. The Hornets have potential point scorers in nearly every race and two second-seeded relays, plus contenders in both jumps. Detroit Edison is another hopeful seeking a first team championship, featuring contenders in the 200 and 400 and the top-seeded 800 relay. Reigning runner-up Pewamo-Westphalia has three top seeds and entries all over the meet as it seeks its first team since 2008 in Division 4.
Collin Farmer, Pewamo-Westphalia senior – He finished eighth in the 1,600 and 3,200 last season, but won the LPD3 cross country title in the fall and enters this weekend seeded first in both distance races at 4:25.56 and 9:37.80, respectively.
Sawyer Moloy, Sanford Meridian senior – The reigning high jump champion is seeded first at 6-7 and will also long jump and run on two relays.
Gavin Nurenberg, Pewamo-Westphalia senior – He’s the reigning champion in shot put and runner-up in discus and is seeded first in shot (60-0) and third in disc (169-3).
Tryce Tokar, Ovid-Elsie junior – The two-time champion in the pole vault has the top seed (14-6) and also will run on three relays.
Holden Van Poppel, Napoleon senior – He’s another returning champion, seeking to repeat in the 110 hurdles and seeded sixth (15.36).
Jerry Wiegers, North Muskegon senior – After winning the 200 and 400 last season, he’s seeded first in the 400 (48.24), second in the 200 (22.01) and will also run the 100 and on the third-seeded 1,600 relay.
LP Division 4 at Hudsonville Baldwin
Team forecast: Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep has won the last two team championships but will face strong challengers again in its three-peat pursuit. The Irish do have the top-seeded 3,200 runner and 3,200 relay, entries in the other three relays and contenders in at least two more individual races. But Reading, last season’s team runner-up finishing six points back, has all four relays running and three seeded fourth or higher with multiple individual contenders as well as it seeks its first team title since 1991. Fowler is seeking its first team championship since 1988 and like Reading is strong in sprints and hurdles (with junior Brady Feldpausch seeded first in both hurdles races), but also with top-seeded 800 and 1,600 relays and competitors in all five field events.
Landon Bennett, Athens senior – He’s seeking a repeat in the 300 hurdles and also finished third in the 110s last season; he has the second seed in the 300 (39.93) and third in the 110 (15.14) this time.
Tayshawn Bester, Reading senior – He’s the reigning 110 hurdles champion and is second-seeded in that race (15.08) while running as well on two top-four seeded relays.
Nathan Feltner, Caseville senior – The reigning 400 champion and fifth-place finisher in the 200 will run those races plus the 100 and as part of the 400 relay.
Tyler Lenn, Marine City Cardinal Mooney senior – Another cross country champion from the fall, Lenn also is the reigning LPD4 title winner in the 1,600 and seeded second in that race (4:21.92) while also running the 800 and on the fifth-seeded 3,200 relay.
Owen Patton, Vestaburg senior – After winning the 800 by nearly four seconds last season, Patton is the top seed in that race (1:58:09) and also the fifth seed in the 1,600 and running on the 3,200 relay.
Bradley Richards, Fruitport Calvary Christian junior – The reigning high jump champion missed the meet record last year by half an inch at 6-10. He should approach that again – with 2022 champion Braden Prielipp from Marion also making a push – and also will long jump.
PHOTO Corunna, including twins Tarick and Wyatt Bower, celebrates its LPD2 team championship last season. (Photo by Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)
Ovid-Elsie Running Legend Darling Seeking to 'Win the Day' on Trading Floor
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
August 13, 2024
Maverick Darling’s competitive running days have been behind him for nearly a decade, but the eight-time MHSAA Finals champion from Ovid-Elsie isn’t done competing.
Darling, who was also a five-time All-American at Wisconsin, is now fighting for wins on the Viking Forest Products lumber trading floor in Minnesota.
“Our trading floor is very unique,” Darling said. “We have 60 traders, and probably 30-35 of them are former student-athletes in college. It’s very competitive, but kind of like a locker room. It’s kind of a unique way for me to still be competitive even though I’m not in athletics. I really love it.”
Darling is a commodity trader at Viking Forest, trading mostly OSB, plywood and dimensional lumber to buyers throughout the United States. He lives with his fiancé Danielle and their two dogs in Plymouth, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis.
Lessons learned while working toward Finals titles on the dirt roads of Ovid and national goals on the trails of Madison, Wis., are helping him find success again.
“My lessons I learned from running and the reward, whether good, great or OK, is that no matter the day, you have to go put in the effort and work, and it carries over to my work,” he said. “I now literally start over every day. We had a saying: ‘Win the day.’ And ‘Win the day’ kind of means something different for every day. I try to apply that to my life. It’s motivating to be successful every day.”
Friendly competition between teammates leading to greater success also carried over from cross country and track to the trading floor.
“We have a department where it feels almost like my cross country team in college,” he said. “One guy will put up 30 orders that day, and we’re all happy for that person. The synergy between the group is awesome. But it motivates me to be like, tomorrow that’s going to be me.”
Darling had spent his first three years out of Wisconsin running professionally and had coaching stops at Iona and Cal-Berkeley after that. But when the pandemic hit, he stepped away from coaching and made the move to trading.
That ended a spectacular career in the sport, which was actually second choice for most of Darling’s childhood.
Growing up, he was a top snowmobile racer, along with his brother.
“My first (high school) cross country race, I took seventh,” Darling said. “I didn’t know better, but that’s pretty good. My mom was like, ‘Seventh? You know, we’re used to first or second (in snowcross).’ We’re not a running family. I started at about 18 minutes in the 5K, and at the state meet I finished eighth and ran 16:13. I was like, ‘OK, maybe this is something I can really be good at.’”
It was at the end of his junior year, after winning his heat at the Nike Outdoor Nationals, that Darling turned his entire focus to running. By that time, he had already won two Division 3 cross country titles, two 3,200-meter titles and one 1,600 at MHSAA Finals.
He was training often, but knew he was undertrained because of the limitations on where and when he could run during mid-Michigan winters. Colleges knew it, too, and that led to a barrage of communication as soon as they were able to reach out.
“I probably had 150 of those (hand-written letters) sent to the house,” Darling said. “I would get two to three phone calls a night after July 1. It wasn’t like overwhelming, because I was pretty confident at that point where I wanted to go to school.”
Darling committed to Wisconsin on the day of the Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals his senior year. He also won his third Finals title that day with a then-Division 3 record time of 14:52. At the time, it was the third fastest time ever run in Michigan.
He would later win his second straight 1,600/3,200 double at the Track & Field Finals, running 8:58 in the 3,200 during the season, which was the 12th-best high school time in the country that year.
The choice to go to Wisconsin was based on his drive to be challenged as much as possible.
“I thought, ‘If I come into this room, I’m probably the eighth or ninth best runner in this room – maybe,’” Darling said. “I had such a great recruiting trip. I grew up in Ovid, and everything I ran there was pretty much dirt roads. Wisconsin has a lot of dirt trails, and I kind of loved that. I could run from our locker room and be on a trail in a mile, mile and a half.”
Darling’s collegiate career proved he had made the right decision. He was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year for the 2009 cross country season, and an All-American in 2010 and 2012. He was a three-time All-American in track, as well.
The Badgers also had massive team success during Darling’s tenure, winning a cross country national title in 2011, four Big Ten cross country titles and two Big Ten track & field titles.
Darling was surrounded by great runners throughout his time in Madison, including close friend Mohammed Ahmed, who finished fourth in the 10,000 meters at this Olympics, one spot behind another Michigan distance star, Grand Blanc’s Grant Fisher.
Watching the results of a distance boom he was a big part of has been a joy for Darling this summer.
“I thought I was pretty good, then watching these guys – it’s jealousy,” he said with a laugh. “And also, it’s just cool to see. Michigan is one of the best distance states men’s and women’s-wise. It’s great to see them not only be on the international level, but to have that success.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Maverick Darling crosses the finish line during a race as an Ovid-Elsie senior in 2007; at right Darling poses with fiancé Danielle. (Middle) Darling rounds a turn during a high school race. (Below) Darling and Danielle enjoy a sunset over the water with her parents. (Photos courtesy of Maverick Darling.)