Amid 2020 Woes, Duba Assist Unforgettable
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
December 30, 2020
GRAND RAPIDS – Nearly two months have passed since Maggie Duba received acclaim for an unselfish act of kindness at the end of the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Girls Cross Country Finals.
Duba, a Grand Rapids West Catholic junior, sacrificed her time and position in the eventual race standings to help a fallen fellow competitor make it to the finish line.
It was an uplifting moment during an unprecedented year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m really surprised at the attention it has received, and I wasn’t thinking at all like the news is going to see this, but I’m glad it did and everyone has said how it was needed in 2020,” Duba said. “It shows the good that can come out of sports, and it’s just another reason for me to be thankful that I was able to run this season.”
Duba was heading down the final stretch of her race Nov. 6 at Michigan International Speedway when she saw Remus Chippewa Hills junior Sarah Storey in anguish.
Storey had fallen to her knees, struggling mightily to rise back up and continue.
“I remember coming around the curve, and I was on the straightaway when my legs started to give out a little bit,” Storey said. “I was determined to try and make it to the end as best I could, but I really couldn't move my legs anymore and then I finally went down.
“After that it was a struggle to get back up, and I was thinking maybe I could crawl or something. I was stuck until Maggie came along.”
After a rough start to the race, Duba had found her form in the second mile and headed into the stadium looking to make a strong closing push.
That’s when she noticed Storey. The pair were about 15-20 yards from the finish.
“I was trying to pass as many people and still get a good time,” Duba said. “I saw her down, and it was just kind of instinct to go right up to her and pick her up. I’ve seen it before in the Olympics, and I guess seeing that made me think that I needed to do that, too. I threw my goal of having my best race out the window because helping her was more important.”
Duba didn’t hesitate, and aided Storey by helping her up and offering encouraging words.
“She did not want to get up so I had to talk to her a little bit and slowly pulled her up and helped her,” Duba said. “The time is still ticking, and the girls I had worked hard on passing were passing me. I did notice that, but I didn't stop helping her.
“I just kept walking with her when she was up and got her running, and when she was running a little bit I slowly let go so she could finish on her own and I ran to the finish a little bit ahead of her.”
Duba was determined to make sure Storey also completed the race.
“I told her that you can’t not finish right now,” Duba said. “She had pushed so hard like everyone there racing, and anyone who has had that great of a finish deserves to finish that race, especially when she was so close to finishing. I was glad that I was able to help her because if she wasn’t able to finish then that would've been really sad, especially this year.”
Unforgettable finish
Although disorientated at the time, Storey vaguely remembered what Duba told her.
“From what I remember, she kind of said, ‘Come on, you can do this, you didn’t come this far not to finish.’ She just really tried to encourage me and convince me to get up and everything,” Storey said. “For me it was a big reminder of how sports are a lot bigger than just how fast you can run or how well you can do. It’s the people that make the sport, and I think what Maggie did showed a lot of people that, including myself.
“I think sometimes, especially at the state finals, you are concerned about your place or your time, but sometimes it’s not about that. It’s about the people you can help instead of just your finish.
Storey collapsed after crossing the finish line, and was taken to an ambulance. She was treated for about 20 minutes and then released.
“It was actually kind of weird because nothing like that had ever happened to me before,” Storey said. “They checked my vitals and everything and they thought about giving me an IV because they thought I might be dehydrated. They didn’t give me anything, and I went home that night and laid low and recovered the next couple days. I was pretty tired.”
Storey visited her doctor a few days later.
“They said it was a fluke thing,” she said. “It might’ve been a combination of a couple things that weren't quite right and they all came together on the same day. It might've been the heat because it was a little warmer than normal for November that day. It really was the perfect storm.”
West Catholic cross country coach Noreen Duba, Maggie’s mother, watched the entire ordeal unfold from the infield while taking pictures.
At the time, she was unsure if it was her daughter who had helped the fallen runner.
“I could see that someone had fallen, and she had helped them up. I got a little panicky at that point,” Noreen Duba said. “I saw her help her up, but I was running along behind the cement walls to get there and I didn’t see the complete finish. I didn’t see Maggie let her go and let Sarah finish on her own. Then we lost track of Sarah.”
The Dubas left the race not knowing the name of the girl, which school she attended or her condition.
“I didn’t know what happened to her, and I was going to go home and look at the results and try to find someone from a school that had a red uniform to see who this girl was and what happened,” Noreen Duba said.
A mutual friend from a cross country camp who was at the meet had seen the finish and recognized Maggie Duba.
Ironically, he went to Remus Chippewa Hills, and the coach called later that night to give an update. Noreen Duba and Storey’s mother, Beth, talked the next day.
Noreen Duba, who became emotional after the race, wondered what she would’ve done with a similar circumstance.
“I’m glad that Maggie did that, and I said to my assistant coach, ‘In that oxygen-deprived state, running hard toward the finish, focusing on that finish, would I have done the right thing?’” she said. “I was very proud and impressed by Maggie because that was her instinct. There wasn’t a thought process.
“Maggie stopped and helped her ,and I think I would’ve done that because that’s the way I’ve raised my kids and how I coach my team. You would do the right thing. Nothing is as important as helping somebody in need. I was really glad and relieved that she did that because you hate to see that happen.”
Maggie Duba, in her second straight trip to the Finals, finished the race in 20 minutes, 43.2 seconds and was 93rd. Storey was 98th (20:46.69). At the time Storey fell, she was among a pack that would go on to place in the mid-70s, while Duba’s group at the time was about 10 seconds behind and would place in the 80s.
Cartwheels up
After Maggie Duba’s show of sportsmanship, she displayed a unique move upon crossing the finish line: She did a cartwheel … sort of.
“It wasn’t as great as I thought it was going to be because I was so tired,” Maggie Duba said. “I did that, and it was awful and embarrassing and I looked really dumb, but I did it for my teammates who came to support me.”
Maggie Duba was alone at the meet after West Catholic missed out on qualifying as a team. However, her teammates made the long trip to watch her run and challenged her to do something different at the end.
“They dared me to do that because my friend and I had been working on our handstands all season and she wanted me to walk on my hands across,” Duba said. “There was no way I was doing that, but I did the cartwheel and they thought it was hilarious and they were so glad I did it. They were waiting all race for me to do that so I’m glad I did it for them because they were really happy.”
Duba and Storey hope to return to the Finals next year as seniors. Storey said she learned valuable lessons from her experience.
“I have a little more perspective about how deep the sport can really go and how many people it can reach,” she said. “It just makes me excited to finish out my senior year of cross country and see how I can impact other people by what I’ve learned through this experience.”
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for four years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Rapids West Catholic’s Maggie Duba, right, encourages Remus Chippewa Hills’ Sarah Storey while helping Storey complete their Division 2 Final on Nov. 6 at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Duba, upon finding Storey on the ground about 15-20 yards from the finish line, assists her to her feet and guides her the rest of the race. (Below) Storey, left, and Duba approach the finish. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
Scholars and Athletes 2015: Class B
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 9, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Michigan High School Athletic Association has selected eight student-athletes from Class B member schools to receive scholarships through its Scholar-Athlete Award program.
Farm Bureau Insurance, in its 26th year of sponsoring the award, will give $1,000 college scholarships to 32 individuals who represent their member schools in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament. The first 30 scholarships are awarded proportionately by school classification and the number of student-athletes involved in those classes; also, there are two at-large honorees which can come from any classification.
Each of the scholarship recipients will be honored at halftime ceremonies of the Class C Boys Basketball Final game March 28 at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing. Commemorative medallions will be given to the finalists in recognition of their accomplishments.
The Class B Scholar-Athlete Award honorees are: Kirstin Anderson, Charlotte; Kelsey Cushway, Big Rapids; Kalabrya LeBrae Gondrezick, Benton Harbor; Amanda Paull, Cheboygan; Jonathan Krug, New Boston Huron; Stephen Luckoff, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood; Dane Miller, Dearborn Divine Child; and Francis Misra, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood.
Overviews of the scholarship recipients of the Class B Scholar-Athlete Award follow. A quote from each recipient's essay also is included:
Kirstin Anderson, Charlotte
Played two seasons each of varsity volleyball and basketball and will run her fourth this spring of track and field; also ran varsity cross country as a sophomore. Served as co-captain of both the volleyball and basketball teams as a senior and earned all-conference honorable mention in the fall in addition to all-state all-academic honors. Participating in second year of National Honor Society and this school year as vice president. Attained level of AP Scholar with Honor based on her scores on College Board Advanced Placement exams. Served on student council all four years of high school and also performed four years in her marching, concert and symphony bands; named drum major two years and section leader in the symphony band as a senior. Also participated in Harvard Model Congress, MyLead Leadership and the Rotary International Leadership Camp, and co-created her school’s chapter of the Rotary Interact teen service organization. Will attend Hope College and study business and political science.
Essay Quote: “Sportsmanship, at its heart, is not about the person exhibiting it. It is about the effects it has on the people around him or her. Sportsmanship is an intangible quality that makes an athlete instantly admirable and recognizable.”
Kelsey Cushway, Big Rapids
Played two seasons of varsity volleyball, varsity basketball as a junior, and will play her fourth season of varsity softball and first of varsity soccer this spring. Will serve as softball captain for the third season and earned all-league honors in that sport. Helped volleyball team to a District title in the fall. Serving fourth year in student government with terms as mayor and secretary of the executive board. Played in marching band and chamber ensembles all four years and is a two-year section leader; received division one performance ratings at district and state levels. Participated in National Honor Society the last two years, serving as president, and in Key Club, Students Against Destructive Decisions and her school’s “Climate Crew” community outreach group. Will attend either the University of Chicago or Western Michigan University, and plans to study biomedical sciences.
Essay Quote: “When dealing with all of these experiences, we are given the chance to develop our character in a way that produces a confident yet humble competitor. The ability to embody not only a gracious winner but an equally accepting loser is one that signifies the importance of sportsmanship within educational athletics.”
Kalabrya LeBrae Gondrezick, Benton Harbor
Playing fourth season of varsity basketball, played one of varsity volleyball and ran one season of varsity cross country. Served as basketball team’s captain three seasons and has earned all-state honors after her first three. Also has earned academic honor awards three times and served as the cross country team’s captain. Has served as her class president all four years and participated all four in National Honor Society; is on pace to graduate as her class’ valedictorian. Named semifinalist for the national Coca-Cola Scholarship Program award. Presented at national seminar as part of Michigan’s Safe and Supportive Schools initiative and served on the Benton Harbor Teen Advisory Council. Also served as a peer mediation leader all four years and participated in the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority’s Delta Gems for four years. Will attend Michigan State University to study communications and has signed a letter of intent to play basketball.
Essay Quote: “I honor competition by being an ambassador on and off the court. Compete like a warrior with the class of a lady. … The character of sportsmanship will lose its identity if student-athletes don’t wear sportsmanship in their performance and voice of leadership.”
Amanda Paull, Cheboygan
Ran four years of varsity cross country and will play her fourth season of varsity soccer this spring; also played on the varsity hockey team as a sophomore. Finished among top two in her conference every season of cross country and placed among the top 48 of her MHSAA Finals all four seasons with a best of 28th as a freshman. Made all-state in soccer as a junior after earning honorable mentions her first two seasons. Also earned academic varsity letters all four years of high school and is a two-year member of the National Honor Society. Served on her school’s student council her first two years of high school and on the MHSAA’s Student Advisory Council the last two years. Selected for Rotary International’s leadership camp. Competed on a national-qualifying DECA business club team as a junior. Will attend Ferris State University to study biology with an emphasis on pre-dentistry; also has signed a letter of intent to play soccer.
Essay Quote: “Whether it be shaking your opponent’s hand after a game, encouraging a fellow runner or rallying and coming together as a sports community, sportsmanship is important on all levels reminding us why we play: because we love it.”
Jonathan Krug, New Boston Huron
Played three seasons of varsity football and will run his third season of track and field this spring. Captained the football team to District and Regional championships in the fall and led the team in tackles in earning all-state honors. Served on student council the last three years and participated in National Honor Society the last two. Also participating in Quiz Bowl and Students Against Destructive Decisions this school year. Served as a middle school mentor for three years as part of his school’s Fuel Youth Group and also served as a team leader on various youth group mission trips and for the Downriver Middle School youth group. Will attend of the University of Michigan at Dearborn and study engineering.
Essay Quote: “This past season I had 65 tackles, and for every single one of those tackles, I lent a hand and picked up the person who I tackled. When I would do this, the other team would be surprised and actually thanked me for helping them. I did this because I wanted to show the other team that I am human too, and I understand what it means to get knocked down.”
Stephen Luckoff, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Played four seasons of varsity soccer and will play his fourth of varsity lacrosse this spring; also played varsity basketball as a junior. Served as soccer team’s captain and earned all-state second-team honors. Served as president and lead facilitator of Bridge the Divide Club uniting those living in Detroit and its suburbs and is participating as a youth intern for the second year for the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity & Inclusion. Founded Motor City Lacrosse and volunteered four years for the Miracle League Baseball Organization. Served as head student leader of Horizons-Upward Bound tutoring program and volunteered four years for Feedom Freedom urban farming program. Will attend the University of Michigan and study finance.
Essay Quote: “For many, many years, I was blinded by the final results of my games and matches, blinded from the true meaning of my athletics. My tunnel vision made it very difficult for me to step out of my own shoes and fully embed myself with the morals and knowledge that athletics can teach. … As I move forward with my life, I seek to cherish every moment I have, every relationship I create, and every step I take.”
Dane Miller, Dearborn Divine Child
Ran four years of varsity cross country and will run fourth of varsity track and field this spring. Served as cross country team captain the last two seasons and helped it to three Regional titles over four seasons while earning all-area and academic all-state honors the last two. Helped track and field team to a Regional title in 2012 and earned all-area recognition last season. Attained AP Scholar with Honor and National Merit Scholar Commended Student recognitions and achieved a perfect score (36) on his ACT college entrance exam. Also named a National Hispanic Recognition Program scholar and participated two years in Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica. Tutored all four years at Kumon Math and Reading Center and raised nine puppies for Leader Dogs for the Blind. Will attend the University of Michigan and study electrical engineering.
Essay Quote: “I have always had an idea of what sportsmanship is and the importance for it in athletics. However, I was never able to fully wrap my mind around what it really meant until I experienced a devastating failure as a freshman. … This experience taught me a valuable lesson about sportsmanship: the importance of putting others before myself.”
Francis Misra, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Swimming his fourth season on his school’s varsity, this winter as captain. Qualified for the MHSAA Finals his first three seasons, helping the Cranes to their first MHSAA team championship, in Lower Peninsula Division 3, last season. Earned all-state honors in seven events over three seasons; swam as part of the winning 200-yard medley relay in 2014. Also swam to four individual league titles and as part of four relays that won championships. Founded a team for National Kidney Foundation walk that raised more than $18,000, and also recruited a combined 180 walkers for multiple fundraising events. Volunteered for Horizons-Upward Bound as a swim instructor and academic tutor, and as a swim instructor for his local Make a Splash program; also volunteered for Special Olympics Swim-a-Thon. Earned his school’s Shin/Welch Award “for outstanding leadership and citizenship.” Will attend the University of Michigan and study film production.
Essay Quote: “I thought that winning feeling I shared amongst my teammates was the best I could ever feel. But I was wrong. … My teammates and I realized that sportsmanship extends beyond the athletic arena.”
Other Class B girls finalists for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Kendall Latshaw, Battle Creek Harper Creek; Shelby Bowers, Coldwater; Riley Blair, Dearborn Divine Child; Rebecca Piron, Escanaba; Raven Jefferson-Brinkley, Ferndale; Morgan Ketola, Freeland; Rachel Money, Grayling; Courtney Vande Vorde, Hamilton; Kikel Sekoni, Haslett; Kristen Marsman, Holland Christian; Jenna Davids, Portland; and Kelsey Metzger, Sturgis.
Other Class B boys finalists for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Samuel Swem, Buchanan; T.J. Baker, Cadillac; Derek Sturvist, Cheboygan; Tyler James Burkhardt, Fowlerville; Andrew Olesak, Gladstone; Bradley Madsen, Manistee; Tyler Horn, Marshall; Chandler Biggs, Midland Bullock Creek; Jacob Almeda, Plainwell; Trenton L. Monroe, Plainwell; Mark Williamson, Spring Lake; and Garrett Bondy, Yale.
Students applying for the Scholar-Athlete Award must be carrying at least a 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) grade-point average and have previously won a letter in a varsity sport in which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors a postseason tournament. Other requirements for the applicants were to show active participation in other school and community activities and produce an essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.
The Class C and D scholarship award recipients were announced Feb. 3, and the Class A honorees will be announced Feb. 17.
Farm Bureau Insurance, one of Michigan's major insurers, has a statewide force of 450 agents serving nearly 500,000 Michigan policyholders. Besides providing life, home, auto, farm, business and retirement insurance, the company also sponsors life-saving, real-time Doppler weather tracking systems in several Michigan communities.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,400 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.