Record Falls, Goals Attained at LPD1 Final

By Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half

May 30, 2015

ROCKFORD – Jaron Flournoy had his mind set on winning an MHSAA Finals this season.

In order to do so, the sprinter from Westland John Glenn knew he had to do two things: train harder and make a change.

Flournoy finished third in the 200-meter dash last season and failed to make the final in the 100. But he started Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Track and Field Final with a burst as he won the 100 with a time of 10:56. In the 200, his best event, Flournoy won with a time of 21.25.

Flournoy had to fend off a charge from friend Skyler Bowden of Saline to win the 200.

“I worked hard this year to get here,” Flournoy said. “I expected (to win the 100). A lot of guys I train with ran with me today. I knew what to expect.

“It’s just a friendship,” Bowden added. “He was going to win the 100. I won the 400. It came down to this.”

Last summer, Flournoy worked with Stanley Edwards, a former track and football star at Detroit Kettering and the University Michigan, and then with Ann Arbor Huron boys track and field coach Rad Greaves.

“The workouts had more intensity (with Greaves),” Flournoy said. “I got stronger. I’m more flexible. Speed-wise, coming out of the blocks, I’m faster.”

Flournoy also quit competing in the 400 to concentrate on the other two sprints. The changes and the hard work paid off. Flournoy, who also played football at John Glenn, signed with Louisiana State University for track.

Bowden had the last laugh, however. Saline won the MHSAA team title, its second and first since 2006, with 71 points. East Kentwood, champions in five of the previous six seasons, was second with 52½ points. Monroe was third with 36, Ypsilanti Lincoln fourth with 27 and Grand Blanc took fifth with 26 points.   

“It’s been about team total all year,” Saline coach Al Leslie said. “Skyler Bowden worked hard to get here. He was a baseball player as a freshman. 

"I have so much respect for the East Kentwood program. We try to pull all of our best athletes from the other programs to compete. We had 200 kids in the program last year and we have 165 this year. I’m the defensive line coach, and we got three football players to come out for the first time.”

Saline reached the MHSAA Finals (Division 1) in football for the first time this past season.

For Grant Fisher, his final day competing for Grand Blanc will be something for the record books.

Fisher won the 1,600 run with an all-Finals record time of 4:00.28, which also will place him second all-time nationally. For much of the race Fisher seemed to be running by himself, and indeed the last half he was five to six seconds ahead of his nearest competitors. Logan Wetzel (4:08.04) of Saline finished second with a time of 4:08.04, leaving Fisher to finish the race all by himself.

The 3,200 run held more drama. Senior Ryan Robinson of Waterford Mott set the pace and Fisher stalked, conserving energy by drafting. With 220 meters remaining, Fisher made his move and passed Robinson. Fisher raced down the final straightaway as if he was finishing a 200 dash, winning easily with a time of  8:53.41. Robinson was second with a time of 9:00.65.  

“I felt really good,” Fisher said of his fabulous kick. “It was tough on Ryan. (Running) into the wind it, helped me tremendously to follow him. He’s a great runner.

“The plan was to kick whenever necessary. I just had to gauge it.”

Last week, Robinson won the Oakland County meet with a time of 8:56.6.

Fisher’s time in the 1,600 crushed the previous all-Finals record held by fellow Grand Blanc graduate Omar Kaddurah. Kaddurah ran 4:07.67 in 2010.

“I never raced against Omar,” Fisher said. “I thought it was incredible he ran a 4:10. It’s nice to keep it in Grand Blanc. He was someone I looked up to.”

Next up for Fisher, who signed with Stanford University, is a mile run in New York City in two weeks. It’s a race he’s competed in before, and he said it should be fun because “there’s a rabbit” in the field.

Robie Webster of Ypsilanti Lincoln won both hurdles events,  the 110 with a time of 14 seconds and the 300 with a time of 38.03. Webster missed qualifying for the 110 final as a junior, then increased his offseason training to reach his goals.

“I actually hit a few hurdles (in the 110) today,” he said.

Webster signed with Boston University and is looking forward to even greater challenges.

“My mom and I talked about colleges,” he said. “And she wanted me to look at schools with high education and athletics. My first option was BU. I went there on two visits and knew it was the place for me.”

Two more all-Finals records were broken, but by those who already held them. Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills' Donavan Brazier lowered his 800 record time to 1:48.98. Saline's 3,200 relay, made up this season of Logan Wetzel, Josiah Humphrey, Austin Welch and Kevin Hall, lowered its all-Finals record to 7:38.97.

Both records previously were set last season; Wetzel was the only Saline 3,200 relay runner who also was part of that record performance in 2014.

Click for full results.

PHOTOS: (Top) Jaron Flournoy (middle) stays ahead of the field during a championship-winning sprint Saturday. (Middle) Grant Fisher set an MHSAA all-Finals record in the 1,600. (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com. Photos by John Brabbs.)

Hackett '6' Claim 1st Title Since 1930

By Wes Morgan
Special for MHSAA.com

June 2, 2018

HUDSONVILLE – One day, when a Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep track championship team reunion is in order, it won’t require much effort rounding everyone up.

With only six young men representing the Irish on Saturday at the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals at Hudsonville, head coach Simon Cholometes’ squad scored 51 points to win it all — the program’s first championship since 1930, when it was part of predecessor St. Augustine High School before boys began attending the newly-built Hackett High School in 1964.

All six Irish athletes made the all-state team, with junior Heath Baldwin leading the way with a pair of individual titles in the 110-meter hurdles (14.83 seconds) and the long jump (personal best 22 feet, 2½ inches).

After winning the hurdles, Baldwin paced around the infield with very little emotion.

“I kind of tried to come in with a cool and calm mindset,” he said. “I knew what I was capable of in the long jump and knew what I had to do for the 110s to win it. I’m just trying to stay relaxed. I know when I get too tight, good things are not going to happen.

“I came out and didn’t jump the way I wanted to. On my third jump, I really got my hips up and got the height I wanted.”

Sand Creek finished second with 36 points, and Breckenridge rounded out the top three with 33.

Hackett teammate Gus Magnell, a sophomore, was third in the 110 hurdles (15.14), and he ran a leg on the fifth-place 800 relay along with Christian Bartholomew, Eric Smith and Wade Poling. The quartet ran a time of 1:33.89. Bartholomew, Smith, Eric Wenzel and Magnell also placed fifth in the 400 (44.71).

Baldwin then nabbed a fourth-place time of 40.75 in the 300 hurdles, and Magnell secured the final all-state spot in eighth with a time of 41.20.

Magnell credited Cholometes for a drastic improvement in technique and the motivation to put in the extra work, and Baldwin for being, well, Baldwin.

“I would not be anywhere without my coach,” Magnell said. “To have a state champion you’re racing against every race, it really pushes you to keep getting better and better.”

“Those guys have a great relationship and they really feed off each other,” Cholometes added. “It’s very healthy competition with those guys, and they want to see each other do well.”

In the discus, Hackett sophomore Henry Zimmerman recorded a third-place toss of 145-10, and he made it a double all-state day with a sixth-place distance of 46-3 in the shot put.

Cholometes is in just his second year at Hackett after serving as an assistant coach at Sturgis, where he oversaw a sprint group that set several school records. 

“It has been a quick turnaround for us,” Cholometes said of the culture shift for the program. “I did think it was possible. I knew we had to go out and perform to our potential, and we did that. These guys put a lot of work in last summer and this winter leading up to the season. It was all that work coming together today.

“Heath is a pretty big-time performer, and he showed that today. Our sprint relays did well, as did Henry, scoring in both the throws. To win by [15 points] at a state meet, I was really pleased with that. Typically, it is pretty close.”

Sand Creek’s Alec Muck was the only other double winner Saturday as the junior claimed titles in the 100 (10.98) and the 200 (22.02). He ran the same time in the 100 as he did when he won in 2017. Muck also was the reigning champion in the 200 after running a 22.14 last year.

The rest of the meet offered quite a variety for fans that packed the stadium. Fulton captured a title in the 800 relay after Tristan Johnston, Jon Baker, Adam Duflo and Nate Alwood combined for a time of 1:31.15. In the 3,200 relay, Hillsdale Academy’s Nick Rush, John O’Connor, Connor Oakley and Ian Calvert clocked a winning time of 8:14.88. The 400 relay title belonged to Breckenridge’s Lukas Ebright, Caleb Hurt, Hunter Collins and Caden Foster (44.00) and the 1,600 team from Concord comprised of Zeavion Jones, T.J. Kessman, Vincent Giuliano and Bryan Smith produced a first-place time of 3:30.96.

Also topping the podium were Ubly’s Alex Grifka in the 1,600 (4:27.90), Hale’s Patrick Harris in the 400 (50.04), Derek Flory, of Marcellus, in the 300 hurdles (39.49), Deckerville’s Stephen Barker in the 800 (1:56.82) and Wyoming Potter’s House Christian’s Nathan Stout in the 3,200 (9:44.08).

In the field events, Coleman’s Cody Finney won the discus (151-1), Sand Creek’s Cole Hallett cleared a winning height of 13-6 in the pole vault, Carson City-Crystal’s Daniel Smith had the best shot put of the day with a toss of 52-9, and Hillsdale Academy’s Peter Kalthoff was first in the high jump (6-5).

Click for full results.

VIDEO: Alec Muck Runs To Double Wins – Again! 

PHOTOS: (Top) Hackett’s Heath Baldwin and Gus Magnell, second and third from left, respectively, break through for two of top three places in the 110 hurdles. (Middle) Sand Creek’s Alec Muck pushes toward the finish line for one of his sprint championships Saturday. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)