State's Fastest Aiming for Record Finish

May 24, 2017

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half

KENTWOOD Khance Meyers is widely regarded as the fastest sprinter in the state.

The East Kentwood senior track star will attempt to live up to that billing next weekend when he competes in the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals.

Meyers is the reigning champion in the 100 and 200.

“I feel amazing going into the state meet as a 100 and 200 runner and defending my title,” Meyers said. “I’m just really excited, and I’m planning on trying to take the state meet record in the 100 and going back for the 200 record and dropping that even more.”

Meyers made a sparkling debut last season at the Finals as a junior, becoming a dual champion while also setting a new meet record in the 200.

He clocked a 21.24, eclipsing the previous mark of 21.30 seconds.

Although he had never competed in the Finals until last season, Meyers had lofty expectations for himself.

He had spent the previous two seasons watching and waiting for his time to shine.

“Last year was just like, ‘wow,’” Meyers said. “I’m here, and it’s time to show them what I have. It’s my time to show them what I can do, and that’s where all the pressure came from. My coaches explained to me how big it was and how important it is to be a state champion and to try my best.”

Meyers also ran the first leg on the victorious 800 relay team.

For Meyers, his final Finals meet is expected to be special for a couple reasons.

Not that he needed extra motivation, but he will be running on his home turf as the Division 1 Finals will be held at East Kentwood High School.

“Being able to run my last year with my team and to run at East Kentwood is making me feel so amazing inside,” he said. “To have that feeling that I have that advantage to run in my home territory.”

Meyers has the top times in the state this season in both of his signature events (10.55 in the 100, 21.29 in the 200), but he knows the competition will be stiff at the Finals.

He isn’t taking anything for granted.

“You get everybody at their best level and everybody is battling for a title,” Meyers said. “There is just going to be a lot of pressure on not only me, but everyone else to get a state championship.

“I’m always looking at other people because someone who isn’t ranked can come out of nowhere. You have to be prepared for that, and being number one in the state you can’t slack off or take your time. You have to be fully alert that anybody can just come up and do anything.”

Falcons boys track coach David Emeott said Meyers remains humble despite his past accomplishments. He doesn’t rest on his laurels, and instead displays a work ethic that is unmatched.

“He’s a pretty amazing athlete, there’s no doubt about that, but he’s an incredible worker and no one outworks him,” he said. “He puts the time in on the track more than anybody and he spends time watching film and studying the sport.

“He does what he needs to do to get better, and it’s pretty rare. Usually you get a kid that talented and he doesn’t necessarily want to put in the time. He comes with some natural ability, but he just trusts the process.”

Meyers didn’t know he was gifted on the track until he was in middle school. As an eighth-grader, people began taking notice of his raw speed.

“I came from nowhere in seventh grade to somewhere the next year,” Meyers said. “I became pretty fast, and everyone was telling me that. I was happy and excited to become better for myself and also help people around me get better.”

Meyers also has displayed his prowess at the national level. He took part in the New Balance Outdoor Nationals and placed second in the 200 with a time of 20.78 seconds.

He said competing against the top runners in the country was beneficial.

“Running in the 200 open on the big stage at the national level was amazing,” he said. “That experience gave me a different thought process. I just wanted to run my race, and do what I can do to get better.”

Meyers, who next will attend Hinds Junior College in Mississippi (which finished fourth at junior college nationals this past weekend), has a ritual before the start of every race.

“I pray before I go, and I try to channel everything,” Meyers said. “I just have my mind go blank and just focus on the race. As soon as I get off the blocks, I know it’s just a straight shot from the starting line to the finish.”

Meyers will be the catalyst of an East Kentwood team that will vie for a team Division 1 title. The Falcons placed third last season.

“I feel good about where we’re at,” Emeott said. “All of the guys who made it through have the opportunity to score. If we step up and do our jobs and focus on what is important, then we have a real opportunity to maybe win another state title. I have no reason to think that we’re not definitely in the conversation.”

Dean Holzwarth covered primarily high school sports for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years and more recently served as sports editor of the Ionia Sentinel and as a sports photojournalist for WZZM. Contact him at[email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.

PHOTOS: (Top) East Kentwood's Khance Meyers breaks away from the field during last season's 200-meter preliminaries at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals. (Middle) Meyers stays a step ahead of Oak Park's Miles Daniel (left) and Saginaw Heritage's Sean Beckom II during last season's 100 championship race. (Photos by Carter Sherline/RunMichigan.com.)

Busy Block Does it All During 3-Sport Spring

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

May 3, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

LANSING – Dawson Block has his seven varsity letters earned over the last 2½ years piled on a table in his bedroom.

They aren’t in any particular order or out for display. In fact, they’re probably the most disorganized part of an incredibly organized guy’s impressive high school sports career.

As sports teach lessons, it’s obvious what the Lansing Christian junior is learning most this spring. Time management is a must when you’re playing three sports in one season, with competitions usually four or five days a week and one day to practice for all of them.

But he’s pulling it off – and then some.

In fact, the main downside – not counting the busy schedule – is that he can’t dedicate more time to all three. He’s run a personal-best in track in the 800 meters and is only a few seconds from his best in the 1,600. He’s a regular scorer for a golf team that’s in serious contention for its first league title and could make the MHSAA Finals for the first time. His return to the pitcher’s mound has included two solid outings – not bad for someone who hasn’t played baseball since middle school. And on top of it all, he’s carrying a 3.95 grade-point average as he makes academic lessons a priority while picking up more on the track, course and diamond.

“I’m a big fan of sports,” Block said. And it’s just that simple, even when scheduling gets complicated.

“I like running. I like being outside, playing golf, trying to get the swing down. And baseball is something (where) I have a decent throw, so it makes it a lot easier. I just like pitching.

“I’ve done track for a long time, and I feel I’m pretty good at it and I can’t see myself not doing it. The past few years I’ve fallen in love with golf, and I have a drive to want to be good at it and potentially play in college if I get good enough. Baseball, I’m more just there to help the team out; they need arms, so I do it for that reason.”

A spring day in the life of Block looks like this:

On days when he doesn’t have a game/match/meet, he’ll go to golf or track practice after school. If he goes to track, he’ll get done at 4:30 or 5 p.m., then head over to the driving range by himself to hit balls. Or, he could go from golf or track practice after school and catch the end of baseball practice, where coach David Miranda will work with him on pitching. Or, Block will hit track practice, then the golf range, and as happened last week, pitch to his dad Jason in their yard until it’s too dark to see the ball. If Dawson goes to golf and baseball practice, he’ll finish his sports night with a running workout.

And then from about 8 p.m. until he’s done, Block takes care of his homework.

“I’ve never met a kid – and I’ve been coaching for 12 years or more at Lansing Christian in baseball, golf, basketball and soccer – Dawson is just, ever since I can remember, over the top,” said Jason Block, who in addition to being Dad is also the Pilgrims’ boys golf coach. “Whatever he’s in, he’s going to try to within reason be the best he can be. When we’d play flag football, he’d do practice and then run with a parachute after practice; he always does the extra mile.

(But) if anyone can do it, it would be Dawson. His work ethic is off the charts. It basically became a situation of we got the calendar out, (said) here’s a track meet, here’s a golf match, where are the holes? Is there any way without killing ourselves that we can make this work?”

Track and golf always were sure to be part of Dawson’s schedule. He’s competed in both all three years of high school so far. But he hadn’t thrown since middle school – although he pitched well enough back then that Miranda, who had coached against some of Block’s teams when Dawson was a kid, approached him in church a few times to ask him to join on – if only to lend another left-handed option to the pitching staff.

“I told him no for a long time,” Block said. “But then I was like, maybe this wouldn’t be bad. Maybe I can do this with the other things, just come when I can and pitch. I just decided that one day at church.”

It no doubt helped that Block had done similar juggling before. In addition to two previous years of spring dual sporting, Block was the second-fastest finisher on the cross country team that placed 13th at the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals in the fall, coming in 45th with a time of 17:29.6 – and balanced that sport with playing on the junior varsity soccer team.

During the winter, Block was on the junior varsity basketball team – but then also ran every night after practice to keep his mileage up for spring.

Block has run the 800 this spring in 2:13.87, his career best, and his 4:55.23 in the 1,600 at a tri-meet April 18 was fewer than three seconds off his personal record for that race. On the golf course he’s averaging 45 strokes for nine holes and shot an 86 as Lansing Christian won last week’s Duane Blatt Invitational hosted by Pewamo-Westphalia. He threw one inning Saturday in his second baseball outing after allowing only one run over multiple innings during his first.

From the Dad point of view, Jason can be impressed with Dawson’s organization; his son always has his clothes laid out for the next day and hand-writes his schedule in a calendar he keeps handy. At the same time, Jason said occasionally he wishes Dawson would find time for more fun and going out with friends. But Block’s parents have made sure not to push any of these athletic opportunities on him, and the fact he continues to be a model student in the classroom is a good sign he’s making everything fit.

Anticipating three varsity letters this spring and at least four over his senior year, Block could graduate with 14 after playing more than 20 sports seasons. That pile in his room is going to get a little higher.

And so will that stack of benefits from playing so much. Along with time management, Block quickly points to patience – especially on the golf course – as a lesson he’s derived from athletics. There’s something there about bouncing back as well after a bad shot or other mistake.

And he got an interesting history lesson from one of his teachers, Eric Thomas, who told Block the story of Jim Thorpe, who won Olympic gold medals and played Major League Baseball and in the National Football League a century ago. 

As noted above, the main downsides to this spring for Block have been less sleep – he’s staying up a little late getting that homework done and has to talk himself into a second wind sometimes – and the inability to be everywhere at once. He doesn’t like feeling like he’s letting any of his teammates down – and he does his best to be with all of them as much as possible.

But he’d also tell anyone interested to give three sports in one season a try.

“It can be a lot of work, a lot of struggle,” Block said. “But if you’re willing to work hard and have some determination, you can do it.”

Geoff Kimmerly joined the MHSAA as its Media & Content Coordinator in Sept. 2011 after 12 years as Prep Sports Editor of the Lansing State Journal. He has served as Editor of Second Half since its creation in Jan. 2012. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Barry, Eaton, Ingham, Livingston, Ionia, Clinton, Shiawassee, Gratiot, Isabella, Clare and Montcalm counties.

PHOTOS: (Top) Lansing Christian’s Dawson Block races down the straightaway during a race this spring. (Middle) Block lines up a putt during a golf competition. (Below) Block throws during a baseball game Saturday, May 7. (Photos courtesy of Jason Block.)