Mid Pen Champs: Like Mom, Like Daughter
October 31, 2017
By Dennis Grall
Special for Second Half
ESCANABA – Daisy Englund had a couple of very reachable goals when she began this fall’s Upper Peninsula cross country championship race.
The Rock Mid Peninsula freshman wanted to finish ahead of her running partner and teammate Landry Koski and get into the top 15 placers to earn all-state laurels.
Not only did she reach those goals, she also joined her mother as a U.P. champion.
Englund won the Division 3 girls championship Oct. 21 at Pictured Rocks Golf Course near Munising, finishing in a season-best 20 minutes, 31.3 seconds. Koski, an eighth-grader at Mid Pen, finished fifth in 20:55.1 as they helped the Wolverines claim runner-up team honors at the Finals.
Chassell took the team trophy for the third time in the past four years, with 40 points. Mid Pen edged Munising 72-74 for second place.
Daisy's mother, the former Faye Peterson, won U.P. Class D titles in 1994, 1995 and 1996. Her 1995 team won the Upper Peninsula championship. Faye’s best time of 19:59 came as a freshman at the U.P. Finals at Presque Isle in Marquette.
That title team was coached by Duane Englund, whose son Ken is married to Faye. Daisy's sister, Kennedy, a sophomore, finished 33rd overall at Munising two weeks ago.
Daisy Englund came from behind to claim the title, edging Munising junior Madeleine Peramaki by 6.1 seconds. Chassell junior Lela Rautiola, the 2016 champion, was third.
"I really didn't think I would win because Peramaki beat me every single meet (this season)," said Englund, who also finished seventh as an eighth grader in 2016. (Eighth graders are allowed to compete on high school teams for schools with fewer than 100 students).
Englund trailed Peramaki by a couple of seconds coming out of the final turn, then used a strong finishing kick up a gradual hill and into a stiff breeze. With about 800 yards left, Englund trailed Peramaki by about 15 yards. She trailed by perhaps 30 seconds in the earlier stages of the race, trying to set a pace that would allow her to have enough kick at the end.
"If I kicked too fast, I knew I could lose it," Englund said of biding her time down the stretch. After striding into the lead with about 40 yards remaining in the 3.1-mile race, she said, "I got scared. I knew I had to stride out and keep my head down. When my foot crossed the finish line, I knew I had her. "
The victory didn't sink in until "people started congratulating me. I thought I actually did it. It was really a big thrill."
She said getting the victory and the team runner-up finish "are both kind of cool. The team really wanted it."
Faye Englund was an intense spectator, with her own running experiences helping her understand what was happening in the stretch run. "There was a little bit of adrenalin, a lot of screaming and hugging," she said during an interview at Mid Pen High School. "Knowing all the hard work and effort she put out, it makes me realize what an accomplishment I did. It makes me feel prouder, and I didn't have to run.
"I don't think I realized how much of an achievement it was. It is completely thrilling that Daisy was able to follow in my footsteps."
Daisy said she had a game plan for the race of trying to keep close to the leaders. "I was just running, I wasn't thinking. I was tired, but the faster I ran I didn't get so tired," she recalled during that recent interview with her parents at Mid Pen.
She had been nursing a sprained ankle prior to the Finals. "I didn't think about it, but when I had to sprint at the end I noticed it more," she said.
Faye Englund remembers her parents encouraging her to participate in athletics.
"They were my biggest cheerleaders. Many nights I didn't want to go for a run; all those fears would come back. But without fears, you never take the chance," she said.
The Englund sisters lift weights and run frequently, with speed workouts part of the plan.
"We are there helping those kids do everything they want to do. We are their biggest cheerleaders, but we tell them if they do something they have to finish it out," Faye said of the support she and Ken provide.
Daisy and Kennedy also play basketball and run track for the Wolverines, and there is a definite sibling rivalry. "We are always competitive. It helps us because we can push each other, and we strive to win," said Daisy. "We can look up to (our parents) and say we can do the same things they did."
Ken Englund added: "They don't let any grass grow under their feet. When they do something, they do it all out."
Denny Grall retired in 2012 after 39 years at the Escanaba Daily Press and four at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, plus 15 months for WLST radio in Escanaba; he served as the Daily Press sports editor from 1970-80 and again from 1984-2012. Grall was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and serves as its executive secretary. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Upper Peninsula.
PHOTOS: (Top) Daisy Englund, left, followed her mother Faye as a U.P. champion earlier this month. (Middle) Faye Peterson won three straight Finals titles for Rock Mid Peninsula from 1994-96. (Below) Englund (345) kept pace with the pack early before breaking out with the leaders Oct 21. (Top photo by Dennis Grall, middle courtesy of the Englund family and below photo by Cara Kamps.)
Performance: LCN's Karenna Duffey
November 3, 2017
Karenna Duffey
Macomb L’Anse Creuse senior – Cross Country
Duffey, coming off her fourth Macomb County championship and a repeat Macomb Area Conference Red title as well, ran the state’s fifth-fastest time of last weekend to win her third Regional title and earn the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week.”
The standout senior has won all of her races this fall except one, finishing second at the prestigious Portage Invitational last month to Traverse City Central standout Sielle Kearney. But Duffey is surging heading into Saturday’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final at Michigan International Speedway, with her Regional time of 17:48 at Algonac her fastest this season and another sign of her return to form. Despite having plenty of success as a sophomore and junior – Duffey still won 15 of 18 races in which she competed – she accomplished it fighting multiple stress fractures, shin splints and last year an iron deficiency. Her Regional time last week was her fastest since setting her personal record while taking third at the MHSAA Finals as a freshman. She also finished third at the Finals last year and 14th as a sophomore.
Duffey likewise has been an ambassador of the running program at her school, helping the team to grow again this fall under first-year coach Bryan Stewart. She’s also a track star with school records in the 800 (2:14.83), 1,600 (4:50.36) and 3,200 meters (10:38.04) to go with her program-best cross country time – that 1,600 time placed her second at this spring’s MHSAA LP Division 1 Final. Meanwhile, Duffey carries a 4.0 grade-point average and will continue academically and athletically next year at Michigan State University, where she’s considering studying something in the sciences.
Coach Bryan Stewart said: “Karenna is a very hard-working and dedicated individual. She shows this in all aspects of her life. She works just as hard at school as she does at running. Karenna has been great to work with since I started coaching her last spring. It's pretty special when an athlete has a lot of talent and has a work ethic to really develop that talent like Karenna has over her high school career. Her mom (Debbie) and dad (Chris) also are extremely supportive of her running and really go out of their way to help her. … Karenna really sets a good example for the team on how important school is along with working hard during practice and making sure she gets her weekend runs done. Over her career, she has battled through some tough injuries as well and came out an even stronger athlete.”
Performance Point: “Where our start line was, the first 200 meters we were going straight into the wind,” Duffey said. “So I went behind the girl who went out first. And then once we turned, that was right about when I took the lead, and from there I just steadily kept on going. The course itself was pretty nice. It was flat so it wasn’t that challenging. Some parts of the grass were a little soggy, and back in the woods where it was just a dirt trail, there were a lot of spots – I kinda stopped running. I had to walk around one mud puddle, actually. I slipped a few times, but I didn’t fall. I think the girls race I was in was maybe the third or fourth race of the day, so the other kids got the course a little dirtier than it was, but the finish was fun because we finished on the track the last 300 meters. Overall, I think it was a good effort, and I think I’m well-prepared for the state finals on Saturday.”
Fast start, then stumbles along the way: “I think my freshman year I was a lot more naïve. I didn’t know much about running. I think my ego was pretty big because I went into the state meet thinking, ‘OK, I have a chance to win. Winning as a freshman would be so cool.’ But I actually didn’t win. … My parents were never runners; my school isn’t very big into running. We don’t have a huge team or anything, so it isn’t like I’ve been training for cross country my entire life. I finally just walked into it and was – not in an arrogant way – but good at it. (But) after my freshman year I battled through two stress fractures, and I also last year had an iron deficiency. My sophomore year at the state meet in the 2-mile for track, I thought everything was going great … (and) the last 40 meters I was in seventh place and a girl accidentally clipped my heal, so I got scraped up and I got a concussion from that. Obviously, I’m a lot more experienced now. I think my mentality toward racing now is a lot different. I know all of the things that could go wrong, versus, ‘OK, I’m going to go out and kill it today. I could beat anybody.’ I think I’m a little bit more timid I guess, but also a little more cautious. But I think that’s a good thing.”
Back to the beginning, but better: “I also think I’m a lot stronger. My freshman year, I wasn’t as strong. I got out-kicked in the final 300 meters in cross country. Now that’s kinda what I do to everybody else, is I (out-kick) them. That’s how I’ve won a few races. I think that’s definitely my specialty, and that helps me a lot. … I really wasn’t sure if I would ever be back to where I was freshman year, which was obviously scary because basically for two years I wasn’t racing at the same level as I was as a freshman. I’m definitely happy to be back to where I was, and in my eyes, a lot stronger.”
Leaving a legacy: “I’ve tried to help create an environment where people aren’t afraid to try things, especially at our school with the 15 kids that we have, boys and girls, that do cross country. A lot of them, it will be their first sport or something they try out and they never expect to like it, and then they end up liking it. So I try to encourage people to join, but it’s very difficult because a lot of them are like, ‘Running is really hard work. I hated running the mile in gym class; why would I like doing it with a team and at races?’ I’d really like people to join because they’d be able to start something too. Maybe at first you might not be (great), but you’re never going to know how good you can be, unless you try it. Because especially in running, it takes years and years and years to turn into what you really could be. A lot of people have great potential, but they never really start it so they don’t see where they could get. I would say try out for a season or maybe a month or two and see where you get from there. The couple of people I have tried to get to do it, they usually stick with it.”
Final stretch: “There’s a chance my grandfather will be there at the race, and he’s never seen me race before, so I’d like to show him what I’m capable of because he’s heard stories about me but he’s never gotten to witness it. So I’d like to make him proud. … I do think I’m capable of winning, so if I don’t win I think it would be more of a disappointment than if I took second just because I think I’m capable of winning almost any race – obviously not winning against an NCAA champion or anything – but it all depends on how the race rolls out. What sort of moves I make, that sort of thing. I think I have to be there mentally for me to win, so I’m just preparing myself for anything that could possibly happen.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2017-18 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 2017-18 honorees:
October 26: Anika Dy, Traverse City Central golf - Read
October 19: Andrew Zhang, Bloomfield Hills tennis - Read
October 12: Nolan Fugate, Grand Rapids Catholic Central football - Read
October 5: Marissa Ackerman, Munising tennis - Read
September 28: Minh Le, Portage Central soccer - Read
September 21: Olivia Theis, Lansing Catholic cross country - Read
September 14: Maddy Chinn, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Macomb L'Anse Creuse North's Karenna Duffey pushes out in front of the pack during a race this season. (Middle) Duffey is hoping to improve from third last year to first Saturday at the LP Division 1 Final. (Photos courtesy of the L'Anse Creuse North girls cross country program.