#TBT: Onekama Star Lends a Shoulder
September 17, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Jaylee Brown, a 2012 graduate of Onekama and current member of the Northern Michigan University cross country and track and field teams, recently received a Student-Athlete Sportsmanship Award from the NCAA Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct.
Brown encountered a runner sitting on the course near the end of a 2013 race at the University of Minnesota. While others passed by, Brown hoisted the runner and helped her through the finish line.
Brown ran for the Bear Lake/Onekama co-op cross country team from 2008-11, placing among the top 57 at the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final all four seasons including placing 24th as a sophomore and 27th as a freshman. She also was a four-time top-six placer in LP Division 4 in pole vault, winning the championship as a senior.
The following explanation of Brown’s selfless act is courtesy of the NCAA website:
While running in the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by Minnesota last Sept. 28, Brown reached the top of the final hill of the cross country race when she noticed a runner sitting on the course.
It was Lillie Koerner of Dordt College, who had fallen and appeared dazed. Many runners ran past Koerner on their way to the finish, but Brown stopped.
“It looked like she was in a lot of pain,” Brown said. “I kept looking at her and looking at the finish. As I got closer, (Koerner) looked like she was reaching out.”
Brown put Koerner’s arm around her shoulder and told her they would finish the race together. After they crossed the finish line, Brown escorted Koerner to the athletic training tent, where she could receive medical treatment.
“It was the right thing to do,” Brown said. “For her to come all that way and not be able to finish really would have broken my heart because I know how hard it is.”
“I felt like it was my job to help her,” Brown added. “I would hate for that to happen to me. I know I would want someone to help me.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Bear Lake/Onekama's Jaylee Brown heads toward the finish line during the 2011 MHSAA Cross Country Finals at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Brown, running for Northern Michigan University, helps Lillie Koerner of Dordt College toward the finish at University of Minnesota a year ago. (Top photo by RunMichigan.com; middle courtesy of NCAA.org.)
Hart, Ackley Complete Another Title Charge
November 3, 2018
Second Half reports
BROOKLYN — Shepherd’s Amber Gall set the bar for Hart’s Adelyn Ackley back in middle school.
It was the desire to beat Gall, whose times caught her attention, that drove Ackley to start training seriously back then.
“I raced her in eighth grade once at the MEGASTAR meet,” Ackley said. “When we were both in eighth grade, we raced the 3,200. My dad and I trained over the winter so we could race her, because we saw her time and she was really good. That’s how I got into running, too. She got me into running.”
Ackley and Gall put on a show that day as eighth-graders in the 2015 Mid Michigan MEGASTAR Meet at Shepherd, running times that would’ve been phenomenal for most high school athletes. Ackley edged Gall by half a second with a time of 11:02.37.
They’ve continued to race in close proximity to one another through high school. In their final cross country meets in their school uniforms, Ackley held off a strong challenge from Gall to win her third MHSAA Division 3 individual championship in 17:42.8 on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. Gall was second in 17:53.6. The rest of the field was 47 seconds back.
“Amber Gall was right on my tail right up until the two-and-a-quarter-mile mark,” Ackley said. “I slowly pulled away once we got on the track. I was hoping to make a move after the mile or after the mile-and-a-half. I tried to make a move there. I did, and she hung on. I made another move once we got on the track, and I broke her there.”
Gall has finished second to Ackley the last two years, though her time Saturday brought her considerably closer than in 2017, when the gap was 26.8 seconds. In 2016, Ackley was first and Gall took fifth. In 2015, Ackley was second and Gall was third.
With two Ackley sisters and a cousin in its top four, Hart repeated as team champion with 43 points, beating Grandville Calvin Christian by 100. Hart had its five scoring runners across the line before Calvin Christian’s top runner finished.
Sophomore Savannah Ackley was seventh in 19:15.1, freshman Audrianna Enns was 10th in 19:26.8, sophomore Lynae Ackley was 13th in 19:31.8 and sophomore MacKenzie Stitt was 14th in 19:34.2 for Hart.
PHOTOS: (Top) Hart’s Adelyn Ackley stays a few paces ahead of Shepherd’s Amber Gall during Saturday’s Division 3 Final. (Middle) Hart’s Savannah Ackley approaches the finish line on the way to placing seventh. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)