Storms Can't Squash Inspired Performances
June 1, 2019
By Matt Schoch
Special for Second Half
ZEELAND – From great-grandparents and former coaches to a mother and a son, athletes at the MHSAA Boys Track & Field Finals became champions in honor of their loved ones on Saturday.
Take senior Emari O’Brien of Harper Woods Chandler Park, who became the 100-meter Division 2 champion at 10.97 seconds at Zeeland Stadium in honor of former coach Paul Zelmanski, who died in January.
“This whole time I’ve been running, he told me I was going to win it one year,” said O’Brien, a Ferris State football signee who wrote “For Z” on his shoes. “Last year when I (took second place), he said next year when you come back, you’re going to win it for sure.
“I’ve been waiting on this for the longest time, so I have to win that for my coach.”
Athletes like O’Brien endured a three-and-a-half-hour delay and then another of 45 minutes as storms crept off Lake Michigan. Then, a final delay of more than two hours pushed the event to a 12-hour affair.
On the heels of three event wins, Zeeland West earned the team title with 53 points, topping Yale (37), Fruitport (33), Dearborn Divine Child (27) and Corunna (26).
“That means we have won every meet we have been to,” said Zeeland West’s Ethan Brooks, the only individual champion for the Dux. “It is awesome.”
Zeeland West won the 400 relay at 43.51 seconds, and the 800 relay at 1:29.29.
Brooks won the 300 hurdles at 39.38, edging Fruitport junior Ethan Flores by one hundredth of a second in his quest for a second title on the afternoon. Meanwhile, Flores said he had his family, in particular his great-grandmother, on his mind in the starting blocks for the 110 hurdles, which he won at 14.53 seconds. This, despite a slow start to his spring after basketball season leaked longer than usual.
“I didn’t have time to be at the track like I should’ve,” Flores said. “I worked by myself over Memorial Day. I wanted it, and I worked really hard for it.”
Saginaw senior Tony Martin, who is headed to Michigan State, jumped 22-11.25, winning his second straight Division 2 title. That distance came, he said, despite missing the whole board on the championship jump.
Martin credited his mother, Kishon, for pushing him through hard times this year, including a pulled hamstring that hampered his season. He also said his son, Isaiah, has been an inspiration.
Before the injury, Martin had a regular-season jump of 26-6, which is among the top all-time national jumps.
“For me to come and do what I did is pretty amazing,” Martin said. “I’m just happy that I’m back and healthy.”
Junior Dylan Targgart of Coldwater continued his decorated career with two more titles, repeating in the discus at 187-7, a personal record, and the shot put at 66-7.50, a Division 2 Finals record, breaking former Detroit Lions defensive lineman Anthony Zettel’s 2011 mark for Ogemaw Heights (61-8).
“I had thrown my PR before the delay, so I think maybe it was a good thing since other people had to sit and wait and try and PR after that,” Targgart said. “So it might’ve worked to my advantage that way.”
Targgart is probably just being modest though – he won that competition by 14 feet and then the shot by more than six.
Rounding out the field events, junior Matt Veneziano of Parma Western won the high jump at 6 feet, 6 inches, and senior Josh DeVries of Grand Rapids South Christian won the pole vault at 15 feet.
On the track, junior Luke Brenner of Ada Forest Hills Eastern won the 200 at 22.02 seconds. Yale senior Justin Kudera won the 400 at 48.74 seconds, edging last season’s champion Jacob Denison of Tecumseh by six hundredths of a second.
Otsego junior Hunter Hartman won the 800 at 1:55.56; and Corunna senior Ben Jacobs won the 1,600 meters at 4:19.79.
Jacobs also overcame a Zeeland West runner to give Corunna a win in the 3,200 relay at 7:53.20.
After the final weather delay, Dearborn Divine Child junior Anthony Hancock won the 3,200 at 9:06.65.
Yale closed the long day with the 1,600 relay win in 3:23.42 to earn second overall.
PHOTOS: (Top) Zeeland West completes a relay hand-off during its team championship run Saturday. (Middle) Runners take off to start a race at Zeeland Stadium. (Photos by Kevin Fowler. Click to see more from RunMichigan.com.)
Performance: Oxford's Connor Bandel
June 1, 2016
Connor Bandel
Oxford senior – Track & Field
Bandel could’ve been a selection most weeks this season; the spring has included that many highlights for the reigning Lower Peninsula Division 1 champion in shot put and discus. He was perhaps most dominant at his Regional on May 20 at Lake Orion, winning shot put by 16 feet with a toss of 63, 7 inches, and discus by nearly 28 feet at 189-2 to earn the Michigan National Guard Performance of the Week for May 16-22.
Bandel went on to win the Oakland County Championship titles Friday in both at 67-2½ and 192-0, respectively, and his top throws this spring are that shot put and a discus toss of 204-2 on April 23 at the Oxford Invitational. He will compete in the LP Division 1 Finals this weekend with opportunities to break the all-Finals records in shot put (Todd Duckett, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix, 64-0½, 1999) and discus (Cullen Prena, Walled Lake Central, 210-1, 2012). Prena is among those Bandel has consulted for advice as he’s improved significantly over the last few seasons; his top throws in 2016 are six feet better in shot put and 11 in discus from a year ago.
The 6-foot-4, 230-pound senior also played goalkeeper for Oxford’s varsity soccer team the last four seasons and will be the second sibling from his family to play at the Division I college level; he’s signed for track & field with the University of Florida, while his older sister Darien plays volleyball at Oakland University. Connor also played basketball as a freshman and carries a 3.3 grade-point average; he’s considering majoring in chemical or biomedical engineering.
Coach Matt Johnson said: “The number one thing Connor brings is (his example) that track and field is a year-round event, from conditioning to weight training to building camaraderie with his teammates around the track. … He’s a dedicated athlete, he sets goals for himself, and that would be a value set that I’d say could be passed on to another level of student. He’s not just setting benchmarks for things within reach; he’s setting dreams he’s going to work toward. Early on last year, he told me he’s aiming not for the state record, he’s aiming to become an international competitor, and that raises the bar right there. Most high school kids are not even thinking (about that) at that point.”
Performance Point: “I’m trying to improve every meet; that’s always the goal. But this past week I started to improve more. I’m constantly moving the benchmark forward a bit. … Sometimes I just can’t really explain how much emotions I'm feeling when something (like a personal record) just happened. When you PR something that you’ve never reached, it’s just so satisfying to actually do that.”
Expert advice: “The biggest thing with (my sister) was her type of dedication and trying to do the same thing as her. Another big thing was the recruiting process; it was nice to have a sibling because not only did I get to learn from her but my parents got to learn a lot from her about the questions to ask coaches and that kind of deal. (From Prena), I learned definitely technique from him; it’s nice to have him having worked with his college coach, because … then he could teach me a lot of what he had learned. I always ask him about summer track, nationals and international competition. Even though he hasn’t gone to an international competition, he went to meet qualifiers for those, and if I have questions about what the atmosphere is like, things like what I need to bring, he’s always a good resource.”
The mental game: “For me, it’s not to get really tense. If I get really tense, really focus on trying to throw as far as I can, I’m not going to throw as well. The more relaxed you are, the longer you’ll be, the more comfortable you’ll be. Not getting tight and seized up and that sort of deal, that’s the biggest thing to me, to really relax … and trust what I’ve been doing the last couple of years, be comfortable and have fun with it. If you have a smile on your face, you’ll probably throw farther … (and) I’m just trying to throw farther than I did before.”
Final countdown: “I’d definitely, now that I’ve won (in 2015), I would like to re-break the shot put record, and I would like to break the discus record for the first time. I really want to hit my goals; I wrote them down before the season, and I’m still on pace. I feel like breaking 79 (feet in shot put) and 215 (in discus) before the season is over, that would be absolutely fantastic.”
Create and explore: “I’ve always really been into math and science, always really liked the engineering aspects of creating and exploring new ideas. I thought with how much petroleum that the United State is using, and with how many athletes have injuries, I thought it would be cool to create new ways to produce energy, or for athletes the fastest ways to recover.”
– Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2015-16 school year, Second Half and the Michigan 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 protecting lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2015-16 honorees
May 18: Kalyn Breckenridge, Birch Run girls soccer - Read
May 11: Morgan Beadlescomb, Algonac boys track & field - Read
May 4: Abby Krzywiecki, Farmington Hills Mercy softball - Read
April 27: Mike Mokma, Holland Christian baseball - Read
April 20: Abby Divozzo, Cadillac girls soccer - Read
March 30: Cassius Winston, Detroit U-D Jesuit boys basketball - Read
March 23: Kierra Fletcher, Warren Cousino girls basketball - Read
March 16: Jacob Montague, Grosse Pointe South swimming & diving - Read
March 9: Kyle Tuttle, St. Charles boys bowling - Read
March 2: Brittney Schnicke, Caledonia girls bowling - Read
Feb. 24: Kamari Newman, Detroit East English boys basketball - Read
Feb. 17: Jason Whitens, Powers North Central boys basketball - Read
Feb. 10: Rachel Hogan, Grand Ledge gymnastics - Read
Feb. 3: Nehemiah Mork, Midland Dow swimming & diving - Read
Jan. 27: Mardrekia Cook, Muskegon girls basketball - Read
Jan. 20: Sage Castillo, Hartland wrestling - Read
Jan. 13: Rob Zofchak, Dexter swimming & diving - Read
Jan. 6: Tyler Deming, Caro wrestling – Read
Dec. 15: Jordan Weber, East Jordan boys basketball – Read
Dec. 8: Kaitlyn Geers, Kent City girls basketball – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Oxford's Connor Bandel unloads a shot put during a meet this season. (Middle) Bandel is the reigning champion in both the discus and shot put in Lower Peninsula Division 1. (Photos courtesy of Connor Bandel.)