Pioneer's Huff Blazed Cross Country Trail
October 3, 2017
By Ron Pesch
Special for Second Half
Today, you’ll find her seated behind a desk in Denver. A CPA and the mother of three, including a former Olympic speed skater, Beth Jurgensmeyer still runs. The MHSAA’s first girls individual cross country champion, she was introduced to the sport as an 8-year old.
The daughter of Reverend Robert O. Huff, a Lutheran minister, and his wife Jane, she was born in Indianapolis. The fifth of six children and the couple’s first daughter, she and the family moved to Midland when Beth was a baby.
“I had a kidney infection,” said Jurgensmeyer, “and a doctor had told us that running would help clear it up. Now I don’t know if that was true, but I started running for Fleet Feet in Midland. It was fun.”
Still going strong today, Fleet Feet was formed in 1967. A track and field and cross country program, it was designed with the goal of keeping kids active. The club competed in AAU competitions, and Huff excelled.
A friend and fellow runner from Fleet Feet introduced her to speed skating.
“Cindy Kressler invited me to skate with her family in the park in Midland. Her brother, Craig, was a pretty good speed skater and ended up an Olympian in 1980. So, I did that in the winter.”
Huff excelled in that sport as well, skating for the Midland Speed Skating Club and earning “Pony Girl“, “Midget” and “Junior” recognition at Michigan Skating Association-sponsored events across the state, and at other races around the Midwest.
“My brothers were all older than me, and they all played sports,” she added. “Football, basketball, baseball, hockey. So I competed too.”
But in sixth grade Huff’s family moved. Pastor Huff had received a call to a church in Ann Arbor. It was his fourth assignment.
“There, I continued to skate, now with the Wolverine Club (based out of Detroit). I ran with the Michigamme Club, and we were coached by (Kenneth) ‘Red’ Simmons.”
Born in 1910, Simmons was a football and track star at Redford High School in Detroit, then at Michigan Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University) before serving 25 years with the Detroit Police Department. Upon retirement Simmons, along with his wife, formed “The Michigammes,” a women’s track club designed to allow girls to compete. In 1976, he was named the first coach in the history of women’s track and field at the University of Michigan.
Huff never missed a beat, winning more than a dozen state age group championships between 1973 and 1976.
“I attended Slauson,” she continued. “That fed into Ann Arbor Pioneer. Back then, it was the only high school in Ann Arbor that had 9th grade. I liked that. You go there you’re the little kid, running with the older ones, trying to keep up. You’re able to keep a low key. I wasn’t very big, and the uniform was sliding down my shoulders. My Mom took it to a seamstress and had mine altered so it would fit.
“My parents never pressured me. My participation was never assumed. Each year, my Dad would ask me a question, ‘Beth, do you want to run again?’ I did - I loved to run. I’d sleep in my shorts and shirt, wake up in the morning, slip on my shoes and run before class. Because of Fleet Feet and The Michigammes, I’d run hundreds and hundreds of races before I got to high school. I knew I was pretty good, but I always liked to be kind of unknown.”
Flying under the radar didn’t last long. By season’s end, Huff, along with sophomore Dana Loesche, had emerged as the team’s top runners.
“After my freshman year, people suggested I run between cross country and track seasons,” Jurgensmeyer recalled. “I told them, ‘I skate in the winter.’”
Now coached by Scott Hubbard, Huff was Pioneer’s top runner as a sophomore and led the cross country team through a stellar year.
Hubbard had run in high school for Ann Arbor Huron and later at Eastern Michigan University. Many today know Hubbard as the longtime voice of the Detroit Marathon. “Beth was very, very good. She was just average size, but she was whippet fast,” he said. “(But) at the state level, cross country for girls was not a sport sponsored by the MHSAA in 1977.”
Yet since 1975, an unsanctioned state championship was hosted in Michigan. In both 1975 and 1976, the event was held at Ann Arbor Pioneer. The 1977 event was run at Potterville High School in November. A total of 370 runners from 105 schools competed in the meet, a substantial increase from the 243 runners that had participated a year previous. Miriam Boyd of Port Huron, one of Michigan’s all-time great prep distance runners, finished with the top individual time, followed by Carol Schenk of Flint Kearsley and sophomore Huff. Crosstown rival Ann Arbor Huron ended the day with the team honor, while Pioneer finished third in Class A.
“It was different then,” said Jurgensmeyer, laughing. “My Mom would make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. On race days there would be two oranges and a Hershey bar. Now, they’d tell you that all that sugar would not be the best thing for you. After a race, you’d go to the car, grab a clean shirt, go to the awards ceremony and go home. My Dad, he couldn’t really watch many races. Saturday’s were busy, as he had weddings or prepared for Sunday. Sometimes, when I would run, he’d be there standing with four or five others from church, as they prepared to go to a meeting. He couldn’t stay the whole race, and that was OK.”
“While in Ann Arbor I met a man, John McCravey, who was in medical training at the University of Michigan,” Jurgensmeyer remembered. “He was one of the people who really wasn’t afraid to offer something other than praise. ‘Beth, your arm swing is awful!’ It was nice to hear criticism. I could get better.”
Today, Dr. John McCravey still practices in Tennessee.
“I had come to U of M for a one-year residency. I had run at Dartmouth, and coached while going to med school in Memphis. In Ann Arbor, I worked with Elmo Morales, the founder of the Ann Arbor Track Club. We started age group cross country. The running boom was on, and Ann Arbor was a hotbed. Beth was older than many of the pupils in the program, and clearly a lot better than most at that point. We became running pals. (Because of) the skating, she had great endurance.”
The pair logged hours in the streets of Ann Arbor, including time during the brutal winter of 1977-78.
“We talked the whole time. As a coach, it’s great when you can run with a student. You can see what they’re doing, feel the biomechanics, and offer advice. ”
In Class A in the spring of 1978, Huff finished second to Boyd in the two-mile at the MHSAA’s sixth annual Girls Track and Field Meet. In the fall, Huff, now a junior, earned Michigan’s first Lower Peninsula Open Class cross country individual championship.
Seven months later, Huff would win the two-mile in track. Only, it wouldn’t be in Michigan.
In December 1979, the Huff family left Ann Arbor for Janesville, Wisconsin, as her father accepted a new assignment.
At Craig High School, Huff again joined the cross country and track teams and quickly emerged as their top runner. Her 10:53.19 time at the Division 1 Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association championship meet set a new state mark. During her senior year in Wisconsin, a case of mononucleosis and a stress fracture set her back, and impacted her running seasons.
Her next move was on to college, where she ran for the University of Tennessee. There, she competed in the 10,000 meters. After college, she married, had kids, and stopped running competitively. After returning to Midland, she resumed speed skating, and introduced her kids to the sports she loved. She coached them as far as she could.
Jurgensmeyer’s son, Ryan Bedford, excelled in cross country at Midland High School before hanging up the shoes to focus on speed skating. He was a 2009 world champion and a member of the 2010 Olympic team. Daughter Kristin also excelled as a runner and speed skater. Beth’s oldest son stayed with the more traditional sports of football and basketball.
Reflecting back on her years as an athlete and as a coach, she added, “Today, parents are overly involved. It’s so high-pressure so early that kids become miserable. Research shows if you start specializing kids too young in one sport, they will be done by age 18. I always wanted my kids to try all sorts of sports and not just specialize. Just let kids fall. Let them get dirty.”
“Really, women’s sports are the best thing to ever happen to sports,” said Hubbard, remembering the long haul involved in opening up those opportunities to the girls. “I was so fortunate to be witness to that. The world is really much richer because of it.”
Ron Pesch has taken an active role in researching the history of MHSAA events since 1985 and began writing for MHSAA Finals programs in 1986, adding additional features and "flashbacks" in 1992. He inherited the title of MHSAA historian from the late Dick Kishpaugh following the 1993-94 school year, and resides in Muskegon. Contact him at [email protected] with ideas for historical articles.
PHOTOS: (Top) Ann Arbor Pioneer's Beth Huff, right, runs just ahead of South Lyon's Cheryl Scheffler during the Ann Arbor Greenhills Invitational in 1978. (Middle top) Huff, second row and third from right, was a freshman on the 1976 near-undefeated Pioneer cross country team that lost only to Livonia Stevenson. (Middle below) In this clip from the Detroit Free Press' Sunday magazine, Huff is shown running in Ann Arbor with Pete Hallop, far left, and Mike Lutz, who went on to play bass for rock group Brownsville Station. (Below) Huff, top row second from right, starred as well for Pioneer's 1979 cross country team, winning the first MHSAA individual championship in the sport. (Photos courtesy of Beth Huff.)
Preview: Reigning Champions, Record Chasers Fill Out Loaded Lineup
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 2, 2023
Michigan has enjoyed its share of star-powered and history-making Lower Peninsula Girls Cross Country Finals. But this weekend’s may surpass them all.
All four 2022 individual champions will run again this weekend, and 2021 Division 1 champion Rachel Forsyth is potentially powering toward the fastest finish in 5K Finals history. Two of last season’s team champions enter the weekend top-ranked in their divisions, and the other two are ranked among the top five. East Grand Rapids, last season’s runner-up in Division 2, remains in pursuit of a ninth Finals title, which would tie the record set by Jackson Lumen Christi.
See below for more on several team and individual contenders Saturday. The "season bests" list referred to frequently is a ranking list of every runner's best time this season, maintained by Athletic.net. The first race, Division 4 girls, begins at 9:30 a.m.; click here for the full schedule and ticket information. Additionally, all eight races Saturday at MIS will be streamed live and viewable with subscription on MHSAA.tv.
Division 1
Reigning champion: Holland West Ottawa
2022 runner-up: Romeo
2023 top-ranked: 1. Romeo, 2. Ann Arbor Pioneer, 3. Brighton.
West Ottawa dislodged Ann Arbor Pioneer from the top spot last season, ending Pioneer’s three-year championship run as the Panthers won their first title, and they do enter ranked No. 4 and with reigning individual champion Helen Sachs coming off a Regional runner-up finish. But Romeo is set up to copy last year’s narrative. Just as West Ottawa was the 2021 runner-up and ascended to the top spot last fall, Romeo finished second last year but enters this weekend as the favorite. Four Romeo runners have posted season bests that rank among the top 14 in Division 1, led by freshman Annie Hrabovsky and including sophomore Emmerson Clor, who finished 19th individually a year ago. Of course, Pioneer is still in the mix after finishing third last season, and Brighton has run with the elite all fall as well – both spent a week ranked No. 1 before Romeo took over the top spot for good at the end of September. Pioneer senior Rachel Forsyth is seeking to add to her 2021 individual championship, and her best time this fall of 16:07.5 is more than a minute faster than the next best and would set an all-Finals 5K record by more than 44 seconds.
Individuals: As Forsyth attempts to chase history, a group of 12 runners from last season’s top 20 make up an experienced group of challengers. Sachs, noted above, won last year’s race by 12 seconds, with Rochester junior Lucy Cook (third), Midland Dow junior Victoria Garces (fifth) and Macomb Dakota senior Jayden Harberts (seventh) also back from the top 10. Grand Rapids’ Ottawa Hills senior Selma Anderson, Midland Dow senior Katie Watkins, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central senior Clara James-Heer and Garces round out the top five on the season-bests list, respectively, with Harberts sixth. Anderson was 12th and James-Heer 11th last season at MIS, and Watkins has dropped major time after finishing 64th in 2022. Grand Haven junior Valerie Beeck, Watkins, Anderson, Brighton sophomore Lydia LaMarra, Forsyth, Livonia Churchill senior Morgan Brown, White Lake Lakeland junior Ava Alicandro, Cook and Hrabovsky were Regional champions.
Division 2
Reigning champion: Otsego
2022 runner-up: East Grand Rapids
2023 top-ranked: 1. Grand Rapids Christian, 2. Otsego, 3. Zeeland East.
There’s plenty of familiarity at the top, as Otsego is the reigning champion, Grand Rapids Christian finished third in 2022 and second in 2021, and No. 5 East Grand Rapids has won three of the last five championships and finished runner-up most recently last season and in 2020. Zeeland East and No. 4 Goodrich, however, are hoping to join the mix. East has never won a championship and finished eighth last season, and Goodrich was seventh in 2022 and last won in 2005 in Division 3. Grand Rapids Christian was first and Otsego second when they raced Oct. 7 at the Portage Invitational, and four GR Christian runners rank among the top 21 on the Division 2 list of season bests, while Otsego has three among the top nine. Senior Natalie VanOtteren sets the pace for the Eagles and is second on the season bests list after finishing fourth at the Final last fall. Otsego sophomore Emma Hoffman is the reigning individual runner-up and has the sixth-fastest season best in Division 2, and she’s joined by seniors Logan Brazee (seventh in 2022), Megan Germain (eighth) and junior Taylor Mitchell (14th) in one of the most experienced lineups in any division. Reigning champion Drew Muller is building toward another big finish for East Grand Rapids; she and junior Sadey Seyferth (15th in 2022) were first and second, respectively, at their Regional over the weekend. Zeeland East has interesting possibilities with senior Allison Kuzma coming off a sixth-place Finals finish and junior Emma Drnek posting the eighth-fastest season best in Division 2 this fall, and Goodrich is paced by junior Kamryn Lauinger, who has the 10th-fastest Division 2 best this fall.
Individuals: This is another seasoned group, with 17 of last year’s top 20 racing again. Less than a second behind Hoffman last year was Frankenmuth senior Mary Richmond in third, and fifth-place Grand Rapids Catholic Central junior Emily Tomes has the fastest time in Division 2 this fall of 17:33.6. St. Joseph senior Gail Vaikutis and junior Elena Figueroa posted the third and fourth-fastest season bests in Division 2 this fall while at the Portage Invitational, Vaikutis having finished 12th at last year’s Final and Figueroa 16th, and St. Johns’ freshman Ava Schafer is among the most intriguing newcomers in any division with the fifth-fastest season best in Division 2. Gaylord sophomore Katie Berkshire, VanOtteren, Vaikutis, Schafer, Lauinger, Linden junior Chloe Josephson, Croswell-Lexington senior Morgan Newton and Adrian junior Sophy Skeels joined Muller as Regional champs.
Division 3
Reigning champion: Traverse City St. Francis
2022 runner-up: Pewamo-Westphalia
2023 top-ranked: 1. Traverse City St. Francis, 2. Jackson Lumen Christi, 3. Elk Rapids.
Balance was the name of the game in this division in 2022, with only four of the top 10 teams paced by more than one top-20 individual – and that could be the theme again this weekend. St. Francis and Hart have combined to win the last eight Division 3 championships, the Gladiators breaking Hart’s five-year hold on Division 3 last fall with a balanced lineup that has four runners back this weekend led by junior Betsy Skendzel, who finished seventh individually and has the fifth-fastest season-best time in Division 3 this fall. Lumen Christi is looking to move up from ninth last season as it pursues a first championship since 2012, with senior Madison Osterberg leading the charge with the third-fastest time on the season bests list. Elk Rapids was eighth a year ago and brings six runners back from that team led by sophomore Brynne Schulte.
Individuals: Hart junior Jessica Jazwinski leads another impressive group of returnees; she won last season’s championship by nearly 41 seconds and is one of 13 top-20 finishers back in this field. Jazwinski’s season-best time of 16:47.8 this fall is more than 41 seconds faster than the next and trails only Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Forsyth on the statewide list. Otsego junior Emmry Ross is second on the Division 3 list and finished third at last year’s Final, and Central Montcalm junior Kyah Hoffman is fourth on the Division 3 season-best list and finished ninth a year ago. Kent City junior Lila Volkers, Benzie Central senior Mylie Kelly and Lansing Catholic senior Tessa Roe also are back from the individual top 10 in 2022. Skendzel, Jazwinski, Volkers, Buchanan junior Emma Miller, Ross, Hoffman, Pinconning senior Kinsie Jacques, Roe and Ypsilanti Arbor Prep junior Eliza Bush were Regional champions in this division.
Division 4
Reigning champion: Johannesburg-Lewiston
2022 runner-up: Hillsdale Academy
2023 top-ranked: 1. Johannesburg-Lewiston, 2. Muskegon Western Michigan Christian, 3. Whitmore Lake.
Johannesburg-Lewiston’s championship last season was its first in any sport in school history, and the Cardinals are lined up to double their success with five of last season’s seven runners back including third-place Allie Nowak and seventh-place Yolanda Gascho. Nowak, now a junior, is fourth on the Division 4 season-bests list this fall. Gascho, a senior, is joined by freshman Harlie Fox and senior Madalyn Agren also among the top 30. Western Michigan Christian is back in Division 4 after winning the 2021 title and finishing 14th in Division 3 last fall, when junior Grace VanderKooi was 16th individually. Whitmore Lake was third last season with three freshmen among its top four, and all of those top four are back with sophomore Carina Burchi seventh on the season bests list after finishing fourth last season and freshman Kaylie Livingston joining the elite with the second-fastest season best in the division this fall.
Individuals: The top five placers and 17 of the top 20 individuals from 2022 are back, with Buckley senior Aiden Harrand seeking a repeat after winning last season’s title by 13 seconds. She has the top time in Division 4 this season at 17:39.6, just under a second faster than Livingston’s best of 17:40.4, and VanderKooi is next with a best of 18:24.7. Auburn Hills Oakland Christian junior Eliza Keith, Allen Park Cabrini senior Ava Teed (fifth) and Mendon sophomore Rowan Allen (ninth) join those mentioned above as also back from last season’s top 10, and Teed and Gobles freshman Libby Smith rank fifth and sixth, respectively, on the Division 4 season bests list. Nowak, Harrand, Vestaburg junior Abigail Davis, VanderKooi, Concord freshman Haley Stimer, Livingston, Pittsford senior Brooke Smith, Kingston sophomore Lilah Kiley and Teed were Regional champions over the weekend.
PHOTO Otsego takes off during the start of last season’s Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final, including returning runners Logan Brazee (1310), Megan Germain (1312), Emma Hoffman (1313) and Taylor Mitchell (1315). (Photo by Gary Shook.)