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Repeat Champ Paces Hart's 1st Title Run
November 4, 2017
Second Half reports
BROOKLYN — The arrival of four girls from the same family at Hart High School resulted in a day the Pirates have never experienced in any sport.
With four Ackley girls finishing in the team’s top four spots, Hart won the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 cross country championship Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
It was the first MHSAA championship for Hart, its best finish being a second-place showing by the girls track & field team at the 1987 Class C meet. The 1985 wrestling team was third in Class C. Three Hart teams in bracketed sports reached the MHSAA Semifinals.
Until recently, girls cross country seemed like an unlikely program to deliver Hart its first title. Hart had never qualified for the MHSAA Finals in the sport until 2011. The Pirates have been to the Finals six times in the last seven years, the best finish being fifth in 2014.
Hart scored 55 points to win by 69 over Benzonia Benzie Central. Grandville Calvin Christian was third with 137 points.
“My dad (Calvin) started a middle school team,” said Hart junior Adelyn Ackley, who repeated as individual champion with a time of 17:49.4. “He got a lot of kids to go out. Pretty soon, they started going out in high school. He would write them running charts and how many miles they should run in the summer. Kids hooked on to it and are running pretty well now.”
Freshman Savannah Ackley took sixth in 18:51.3, senior Alayna Ackley was seventh in 18:52.0 and Lynae Ackley was 20th in 19:23.7. Lynae is the first cousin of the other three Ackleys, who are sisters.
Sophomore Brenna Aerts was 37th in 19:51.7 to complete Hart’s scoring.
“We train every day over the summer and through the winter together,” Adelyn Ackley said. “It’s fun. We like to push each other.”
There was nobody to push Ackley as she repeated as individual champion.
She was 24.8 seconds ahead of Shepherd junior Amber Gall, who made the top five for the third time.
It was quite a contrast from last year when Ackley won a sprint to the finish with Lansing Catholic’s Olivia Theis by 0.7 seconds in 17:40.6.
“I kind of wish I had somebody closer to me, so they could push me,” Ackley said. “I was looking to beat my time from last year. I couldn’t quite push myself hard enough. I had a girl with me last year. I went out pretty hard so I could get out of the crowd. It felt pretty easy at first. The second mile was definitely the hardest.”
Gall was third in 2015 and fifth in 2016.
“I decided coming in to just run my own race,” Gall said. “I thought that would be the smartest. Usually, I started really fast. I have a condition called hypoglycemia. My sugar runs at a certain level, then it just drops. It’s hard when I start out super fast, because I waste the sugar immediately. Pacing myself at the start was necessary. I don’t usually wear a Garmin, but I did just because I had to watch my time.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Hart’s Adelyn Ackley (1589) begins to break away from the pack during Saturday’s Division 3 Final. (Middle) Alayna Ackley (1590) leads another pack around a curve in helping her team to its first MHSAA championship in any sport. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
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Performance: Hart's Adelyn Ackley
November 11, 2016
Adelyn Ackley
Hart sophomore – Cross Country
After finishing runner-up at the 2015 Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final to Traverse City St. Francis’ Holly Bullough as a freshman, Ackley was driven for more Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. Not only did she emerge as champion this time, but she crossed the finish line in 17 minutes, 40.6 seconds to break the LPD3 meet record Bullough set last year, earning the Michigan National Guard “Performance of the Week.”
Ackley is the latest standout from a running family. Hart’s only other cross country Finals champion was her aunt Cathy Ackley in the Class C team race in 1985. Adelyn's father Calvin Ackley was an All-American at Cornerstone University in 1992 and 1993, and another aunt Mindy Whitney is Hart's girls and boys track & field coach. Adelyn’s older sister Alayna is a junior at Hart and finished seventh Saturday with a time of 19:12.4. Together they led the Pirates to a seventh-place team finish.
Both Ackley and runner-up Olivia Theis from Lansing Catholic broke Bullough’s record time, Theis leading the race until Ackley got past her on the final turn at MIS heading into the home stretch (although Ackley mistook how close they were to the finish; see more on that below). The Finals championship actually was Ackley’s second – she also won the LPD3 track title in the 3,200 in the spring. She holds the Hart school records for cross country 5K (17:16) and track 3,200 (10:49) and 1,600 (4:56), and also is a strong student and avid hunter with interest in pursuing a career that will allow her to work in the outdoors.
Coach Terry Tatro said: “Having coached at Hart for 18 years, I’ve had my fair share of successful runners over the years. I can say with all honesty that Adelyn is in a class by herself. It was quite evident early on that Adelyn had the skill and heart to become a quality competitor. She has followed in her older sister’s footsteps, as Alayna provided the competitive spirit that has driven the sisters to running success. The sibling rivalry has provided the springboard to send them to the next level of competition. Adelyn was undefeated in conference, Regional champion, and of course state champion this year. ... One thing I admire most about Adelyn is her modesty. If you did not know who she was, you wouldn’t be able to pick her out of my girls team. She’s humble, quiet, and is ‘just one of the girls.’ When the gun goes off, it’s a different story. She’s tenacious, strong, has an incredible stride; combined with her competitive spirit, she’s the one to beat.”
Performance Point: “I think it's really worth all the time I put in,” Ackley said of her latest championship, “and I realized how much fun it was just being able to hang out with the team and running with my family.”
Record breaker: “That really benefited me for (Theis) to be right next to me. … I was going to try to pass her at the 2-mile mark, but I couldn’t push myself to do it. When I heard my dad scream, I was about to give up. I was like, maybe I’ll just take second. But I heard my dad scream really loud (‘Addy, come on, you’ve gotta go now.’), and it kinda hit me back into race mode. I was like, I can still win this. I realized it and gave it all I’ve got and sprinted past her because I thought the finish line was right there. Then I realized I have a long way to go.”
Family tradition: “Probably all of my love for running came from (my dad). We used to run together when I was in seventh grade, and all of my cousins love to run and so does my dad and mom. I guess we just kinda realized God gave us a talent for running, and I want to use that talent to the best of my ability. In seventh grade I didn’t really like it that much. But when I realized I had some good talent, I loved it so I wanted to train more and see what I could do.”
All-terrain cross-train: “Sometimes when we take a week off (after cross country season), I go coyote hunting, and that’s been a really big benefit for me because you have to chase coyotes through the snow. I also like to duck hunt too; it’s hard to go through the swamps.”
What’s next: “I’m going to try to train more. I have probably a few goals I want to break in (running) time. In cross country, I want to break 17 minutes. I think I’ll try to do that next year or my senior year.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2016-17 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 protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2016-17 honorees:
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
PHOTOS: (Top) Hart's Adelyn Ackley (1577) leads the pack early on the way to winning the Lower Peninsula Division 3 championship Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Ackley speeds through another stretch on the course (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com.)