Zingsheim's Story an Award-Winner
May 31, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Zack Zingsheim’s career highlight is an easy pick.
It was just a few months ago, at Michigan International Speedway, when he stunned even himself by winning the MHSAA Division 3 cross country championship.
He can describe in vivid detail being the last to come out of the chute at the finish, looking into the grandstand and telling himself to always remember the moment. He can see again his teammates further down the chute, chanting his name. The goose bumps he felt. How they jumped the fence, lifted him to their shoulders and carried him off the course.
It was the greatest day he could remember. And it ended with a pie in the face.
“I remember how surreal the moment was,” he said. “Since I was a little kid, I thought it would be so cool to win the state meet for cross country; the atmosphere is so amazing.”
Nearly as amazing is he doesn’t remember the flavor of the pie.
Zingsheim tells a story with the best of them – thanks in part to a keen photographic memory and attention to detail.
But he gets a Second Half High 5 this week because of his status as one of the state’s top high school runners – and what a tale he’s spun over the last year.
Zingsheim has the top-seeded Division 3 time in the 800 meters (1:55.30) heading into Saturday’s Finals at Comstock High School, and also runs on the top-seeded 800, 1,600 and 3,200 relays. He and his teammates won the 800 relay at last season’s Finals, and he has or is part of school records in all four of those races, plus the 400. He’s also the fastest in Cougars cross country history.
Another of his favorite stories to tell explains why.
Diamond in the rough
He remembers seeing the Corunna baseball diamond in the distance. That’s key to this story.
Zingsheim was a freshman in 2009, running the second leg of the 800 relay, and had just taken the baton. His right hip had been feeling tight and then painful over the previous couple of weeks, but he felt great at that point as he glanced ahead and saw the baseball field.
The next step, he felt like he got hit with a baseball square in the right hip. But there was no baseball.
He tried to bring the leg forward, and couldn’t. He dragged his leg the next 100 meters to complete his handoff, and then collapsed.
Zingsheim did see a “flabby piece of bone just laying there.” He started crying. His parents immediately drove him to the hospital as he screamed the lyrics to whatever was on the radio to try to forget the pain. (And yes, he remembered one off the songs: “Boom Boom Pow” by the Black Eyed Peas.)
The flexor muscle that connected his hamstring to his pelvis had torn and taken the top of that part of his pelvic bone with it.
Next came months of therapy and changes. He’d started on the freshman basketball team, but decided to stop that sport and focus on running. Still, he couldn’t get in shape that summer because he couldn’t put in the miles, and his sophomore cross country season wasn’t what he’d wanted – until he ran a personal best late in the season and got a needed confidence boost.
“There’s something so special about being able to run so hard and seeing hard work come to fruition on the course or the track,” Zingsheim said. “And especially, seeing how far I had to come. I wanted to see what kind of runner I could become if I put all that work in.”
His 1,600 relay finished eighth at the 2010 Division 3 Finals, another turning point. A year later, Lansing Catholic coach Tim Simpson needed a fill-in on the 800 relay. The date was April 13, 2011 – a day shy of two years since he’d suffered the pelvic break. “I’ve never been so nervous for another race,” he said. But the Cougars set a school record, and he’s been on that relay since.
A long road traveled
“He’s come a long way, but he’s always had that ability,” Simpson said. “He ran 50-70 miles a week during the summer. He reads about the top runners, follows it, so he know what they’re doing, what you’re supposed to do if you’re going to be good.”
There’s always an eye on the details; Zingsheim’s got a reputation among his classmates as the guy who always is last to turn in his tests. He gets done quickly, but spends the rest of the period double and triple-checking his answers to make sure everything is right.
There are plenty of other stories, of course. Like how he and his talented classmates – Lansing Catholic’s senior boys also played in the Division 5 Football Final in the fall – split up during middle school into football teams that stayed the same for months and turned into fierce rivalries. (He played receiver.)
He’s earned the story-teller role in his family too; at gatherings he’s often the go-to guy for a “quirky” or “goofy” family tale.
But the stories he’ll be most proud to be part of are those that get passed down to Lansing Catholic runners after him.
Zingsheim was in first grade when his brother Brandon was a senior on the cross country and track teams and began the Cougars’ tradition of saying a “Hail Mary” and chanting “Hey Cougars, what we going to do?” Zack is among those who now lead that rally.
Lansing Catholic had outstanding runners before Zingsheim. But with him and a strong group of individuals including distance seniors Jimmy Hicks (who will walk-on at the University of Georgia), Austin Winter and Joe Marrah, they could cap their careers with the team’s first MHSAA championship.
“What I really wanted to do by the time my tenure was done was lay a foundation. Build the program; do things the right way,” Zingsheim said. “I wanted to teach guys what it means to be an LCC runner.
“The last four years, we’ve really been able to build that program. … And I’m so excited to see where the program is going the next couple of years.”
Click to read more about Zingsheim's inspirations and aspirations.
PHOTO: Lansing Catholic's Zack Zingsheim was part of the championship-winning 800 relay at last season's Division 3 Final.
Performance: Salem's Mason Phillips
May 13, 2017
Mason Phillips
Salem senior – Track & Field
Over the last week, Phillips has emerged from a key contributor to Salem’s No. 3-ranked boys track & field team to become one of the most incredible stories of this spring season. A four-year football player for the Rocks, Phillips had run track as a freshman but not the last two years before coming back to the team this spring – and at the May 6 New Balance Invitational at Farmington unloaded a wind-aided long jump of 24 feet, 1 inch, vaulting him into MHSAA title discussion and earning him the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week” for May 1-7.
Phillips took up long jumping a mere three weeks ago – to help his team score some points when one of its long jumpers was out – but if he can replicate that 24-1 jump without the wind at next month’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals, he would tie the all-Finals record set in 2009. Phillips actually set the school record previously with a 22-10¾ leap at the April 29 Brighton Invitational. At Farmington, he also set a school record in the 200 meters at 22.07 seconds (and since broke it again going 22.06 at Friday’s Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship meet). He also runs on undefeated 400 and 800 relay teams.
A wide receiver in football, Phillips caught track coach Dale Maskill's attention pulling in athletic one-handed catches during warm-ups in the fall – and is a different athlete than the one who ran his only other season of track as a 4-foot-11 freshman. Phillips has since grown a foot, and his newfound talents are opening up opportunities as well. He received Division III college interest for football but was set on attending Bowling Green State University and possibly studying sports medicine. But he’s now getting interest from college track & field coaches – and should keep turning more heads as this season finishes up.
Coach Dale Maskill said: “He’s a very explosive athlete, very athletic. I feel he could compete in pretty much every event on the track. He works hard every day; he comes to practice and he’s the first one there, he works on whatever needs to get done, does his workout and makes sure he gets all his technical work in afterward. He’s dedicated to performing well, and he did that before he knew how good he could be – and his good performances have motivated him even more.
Performance Point: “I was actually really loose, really stretched up, and it was great weather, and I just jumped. I honestly had no idea (it was 24); I thought I’d jumped 22 or something like that. When they called it out (at 24), I was really, really surprised. I felt like I didn’t go as far. … I only started three weeks ago, and I’m already doing this. It’s just crazy.”
Great choice: “I’m just really happy I came out (for the team). The coaches were talking to me about it, and I felt like I should. It’s my last year so I had to. Honestly, freshman year I wasn’t really fast, and I thought (track) wasn’t for me until this year."
Natural jumper: “I know most of it, but my technique still needs help. I only started three weeks ago. Actually in middle school I did high jump. … After that (24-1) jump, it’s an obligation now; I have to stay in it, help the team out. It kinda feels unreal. I was always doing this for fun, and actually it’s gotten really serious now. It’s really just excitement, not much pressure.”
Bigger, faster, stronger: “Probably (from being) in the weight room, and with football, and I just got taller … and I’m eating a lot more. In between sophomore and junior year I started growing like crazy. My strides are a lot longer, making me faster, and I jump farther with my legs extended too.”
Teammates again: “Our track runners are really working hard, and they’re really athletic too. They also played football with me. (So I’m) a lot more comfortable, running with people I have a bond with.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2016-17 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 2016-17 honorees:
May 4: Lillian Albaugh, Farwell track & field – Read
April 27: Amber Gall, Shepherd track & field – Read
April 20: Sloane Teske, East Grand Rapids tennis – Read
March 30: Romeo Weems, New Haven basketball – Read
March 23: Jaycie Burger and Maddie Clark, Pittsford basketball – Read
March 16: Camden Murphy, Novi swimming & diving – Read
March 9: Ben Freeman, Walled Lake Central wrestling – Read
March 2: Joey Mangner, Chelsea swimming & diving – Read
Feb. 23: Isabelle Nguyen, Grosse Pointe North gymnastics – Read
Feb. 16: Dakota Hurbis, Saline swimming & diving – Read
Feb. 2: Foster Loyer, Clarkston basketball – Read
Jan. 26: Nick Jenkins, Detroit Catholic Central wrestling – Read
Jan. 19: Eileene Naniseni, Mancelona basketball – Read
Jan. 12: Rory Anderson, Calumet hockey – Read
Dec. 15: Demetri Martin, Big Rapids basketball – Read
Dec. 1: Rodney Hall, Detroit Cass Tech football – Read
Nov. 24: Ally Cummings, Novi volleyball – Read
Nov. 17: Chloe Idoni, Fenton volleyball – Read
Nov. 10: Adelyn Ackley, Hart cross country – Read
Nov. 3: Casey Kirkbride, Mattawan soccer – Read
Oct. 27: Colton Yesney, Negaunee cross country – Read
Oct. 20: Varun Shanker, Midland Dow tennis – Read
Oct. 13: Anne Forsyth, Ann Arbor Pioneer cross country – Read
Oct. 6: Shuaib Aljabaly, Coldwater cross country – Read
Sept. 29: Taylor Seaman, Brighton swimming & diving – Read
Sept. 22: Maggie Farrell, Battle Creek Lakeview cross country – Read
Sept. 15: Franki Strefling, Buchanan volleyball – Read
Sept. 8: Noah Jacobs, Corunna cross country – Read
PHOTO: (Top) Salem's Mason Phillips jumps a school-record 24-1 during the New Balance Invitational at Farmington. (Photo courtesy of the Salem boys track & field program.)