#TBT: Pioneer Mourns Champion Coach
July 9, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Ann Arbor Pioneer this week mourned longtime girls track & field and cross country coach Bryan Westfield, who died Sunday at the age of 72 and led Pioneers teams to a combined 19 MHSAA team championships over a career spanning more than three decades.
The Pioneers won their first girls track & field title under Westfield in 1985, edging Detroit Cass Tech 56-50 in Lower Peninsula Class A at Flint’s Houston Stadium. Pioneer went on to win the next six LP Class A titles, then strung together four more straight wins from 1996-99. His track & field teams won five more titles during the first decade of the 2000s, most recently in 2008, and the program holds the record for Lower Peninsula Finals championships with 16, six more than Detroit Renaissance.
Westfield’s girls cross country teams won back-to-back LP Class A titles in 1987 and 1988, and then won again in 1997.
Westfield graduated from Ann Arbor High School – the predecessor to Pioneer – in 1960 having lettered in football and track & field. He competed in both at Cornell University and eventually returned to Pioneer as a teacher. He also had a brief stint with the New York Giants’ developmental squad and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1964.
He began coaching Pioneer’s girls track & field and cross country teams in 1978 and coached both during the 2014-15 school year. He was inducted into the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2014, among a number of accolades earned over the years.
A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School. The school’s track was dedicated in 2012 to Westfield and former boys track & field coach Don Sleeman.
Click for Westfield’s obituary and coverage of his passing from AnnArbor.com.
PHOTO: Coach Bryan Westfield stands with his 1990 team after it won the Lower Peninsula Class A track & field championship.
Zeeland East Claims Neighborly Title Tilt
June 2, 2018
By Dan D’Addona
Special for Second Half
ZEELAND — It was a battle of familiar opponents in a familiar place with the Lower Peninsula Division 2 girls track & field title on the line.
Zeeland East went toe-to-toe with Ottawa-Kent Conference Green rival Holland Christian on Saturday at Zeeland Stadium — and every point counted.
Led by strong field events and hurdles, the Chix held off the runner-up Maroons by just two points, 64-62.
“Coming into the season, we knew it was a possibility with how close it was. We didn’t think we were losing that many points, and we had Maleigh (Vanderbeek) get hurt and Lia (Maggini) get hurt and Kianna Em transferred, and we had to work for it. But our girls never took it for granted,” Zeeland East coach Josh Vork said. “They knew they had to come out and work. Every day at practice you could see it. They wanted this to be special.”
Detroit Country Day was third (42), followed by Lansing Catholic (40), Dearborn Divine Child (35.5), St. Clair Shores South Lake (23), Corunna (21), Bridgeport (20), Adrian (19) and Battle Creek Harper Creek (19) among the top 10.
It was a strong day for Zeeland East’s Suenomi Norinh. The senior won three events and finished second in a fourth.
Norinh won the high jump at 5-8, edging Divine Child’s Avery Budz (5-7). Zeeland East teammate Sophie Riemersma took fifth (5-5).
Norinh also won the long jump (18-1¾) and the 100-meter hurdles (14.63), taking second in the 300 hurdles (44.91).
“This means the world to us. We have been working so hard for this,” Norinh said. “I am so proud of my teammates. I was going to be really upset if we lost, and I am really, really happy that we won — going out with a bang.”
Divine Child’s Allie Filiatraut won the discus in 136-0, edging the Zeeland East duo of Taylor Waterway (135-0) and Aliyah Boeve (134-1). In the shot put, Whitehall’s Brianna Copley won with a throw of 42-5, holding off Boeve (40-9).
With just five athletes scoring, Holland Christian kept it close until the end of the meet, winning the final relay to close within two points of the Chix.
Holland Christian’s Kayla Windemuller won the 1,600-meter run in a Division 2 meet-record time of 4:49.55.
Windemuller, Mady Vander Zwaag, Michelle Kuipers and Elizabeth Bruxvoort won the 3,200 relay in 9:10.01. Kuipers, Dolly Slenk, Bruxvoort and Vander Zwaag won the 1,600 relay (4:00.09).
Kuipers won the 800 (2:13.49), and Windemuller was fourth (2:14.68).
“Running with these girls, it is just like, ‘We got this.’” Kuipers said. “It was a lot of fun.”
Lansing Catholic sisters Olivia Theis (10:37.08) and Jaden Theis (10:48.52) went 1-2 in the 3,200, finishing ahead of Windemuller (10:58.87).
“It was all about the team,” Windemuller said. “We knew we had a chance at winning, but finishing second and getting a trophy is incredible. I am really happy I could run four events at a high level. I gave everything I had so I could score points for the team.”
Allendale’s Brianna Bredeweg set a Division 2 meet record to win the pole vault in 12-7.
Bridgeport’s Payten Williams won the 100 meters (12.06) and 200 (24.73).
Country Day’s Jasmine Powell, Taylor Aibana, Ahvon Mitchell and Alexis Officer won the 800 relay (1:45.10). The same quartet won the 400 relay in 49.14.
Ludington’s Emma Fountain won the 400 meters in 57.49.
Harper Creek’s Arabia Bacon won the 300 hurdles in 44.74, ahead of Norinh (44.91).
PHOTOS: (Top) Zeeland East's girls pose with their championship trophy Saturday after winning the LPD2 title. (Middle) Lansing Catholic's Jaden Theis (1), Olivia Theis (2) and Holland Christian's Kayla Windemuller (3) set the pace. (Photos by Janina Pollatz. Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)