![Elk Rapids sisters Brynne (left) and Jaida Schulte have teamed up at No. 3 doubles for the tennis team this season.](/sites/default/files/2023-06/230602_Elks_2H.jpg)
Elk Rapids' Schulte Sisters Splitting Finals Weekend Between Tennis, Track
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
June 2, 2023
Today began with a bye for Elk Rapids’ Jaida and Brynne Schulte as the Elks returned to the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Girls Tennis Finals in Kalamazoo.
They’re planning to say bye to their tennis teammates, though, when the first day of competition is over. The Elks will have to advance to Saturday without them.
That goodbye is just fine with tennis coach Keith Schulte. And, it will be more than fine with the Elk Rapids track & field team – which will be happy to say hello to the sister pair as they head to their LPD3 Finals in Kent City.
Regardless of how they fare today, the Schulte sisters will run Saturday.
Coach Schulte, who teaches strength and conditioning at Elk Rapids, is also the father of Jaida and Brynne. Today’s he’s beaming with pride, and not just for his tennis team’s success. He’s proud of all the student-athletes and their successes this spring, including the girls soccer team moving on to Regionals with a 2-0 win Thursday over Boyne City.
And while all this is going on, he should have a moment or two to just be Dad. Jaida and Brynne teamed up to win the No. 2 doubles title at their Regional as the Elks tied for first place with Traverse City St. Francis two weeks ago. Then the Schulte girls captured first place in the Regional track meet to qualify for Saturday’s Finals. Brynne won the 1,600 and 3,200, and Jaida’s 3,200 relay team took first to move on.
Coach Schulte hasn’t had much time to pause and soak in the moment of his daughters’ qualifying for two Finals competitions during the same season.
“I didn’t think much of it until now,” the fourth-year coach said. “I’ve always just challenged my kids to do something difficult and not be scared to fail.
“They’ve just kind of found the balance on making this stuff happen,” he continued. “It is a pretty cool opportunity if you can go to two state championships.”
Getting to today’s Tennis Finals is a story full of success. The Elks’ first year under Schulte was halted after a week of practice due to the pandemic. The second year saw the team looking at a season with just nine potential players, but recruitment efforts resulted in the 2021 Elks managing to qualify for the Finals for the first time in their history.
Elk Rapids went on to win the Regional championship in 2022. And then, after graduating six athletes, the Elks were able to repeat this spring with a valiant effort resulting in the co-championship with their conference rival St. Francis.
Dual-sport standouts, while rare, aren’t entirely unheard of – especially at the state’s smaller schools where athletes frequently are needed to fill rosters in multiple sports during the same season. In fact, the Schultes aren’t even alone on their tennis team – sisters Ryleigh and Haleigh Yocum also are playing doubles today but softball on Saturday.
The Yocums won the Regional title at No. 2 doubles and also are slated to be the Elks’ first two batters as they take on Mancelona as one of the favorites to win a Division 3 District title on the softball diamond.
“I do feel bad for them – it’s states,” said 14-year veteran softball coach Erin Merchant. “I do want them to have that opportunity.
“I hope they go far,” she continued. “But then deep down, I’m like, ‘We need them Saturday.’”
Tim Nance and Jesse Way are in their first year co-coaching the boys and girls track teams at ER. They’re pleased the Schultes are prioritizing track while enjoying tennis.
“I think it is remarkable how resilient, laid back and casual the girls are about their success,” Nance said. “I would say it hasn’t compromised their talent, hard work and success.
“I think it has worked out great,” he continued. “I am selfish and I want them to myself only, but I am happy they can have two successes.”
The Elks will have Ayva Johnstone at No. 1 singles, Kelly Minidis and No. 2, Morgan Bergquist at No. 3 and Jasmine King at No. 4 this weekend. They also will have No. 1 doubles Chloe Taylor and Caroline Best and No. 4 doubles Tessa Nico and Portia Beebe, in addition to the Yokums and Schultes.
Jaida Schulte is a junior. She’s one of the recruits who joined to help the Elks get to their first Tennis Finals in 2021. Bergquist and Beebe were recruits in 2022.
Tennis is the favorite sport today for those three, but track and cross country are right up there for Jaida thanks to the opportunity to run with her freshman sister Brynne.
Jaida is hoping to at least match her personal-record split of 2:36 in the 3,200 relay Saturday. But her goal was first to win all of her doubles matches Friday and see the tennis team finish top-five in its division.
“Brynne loves track, and I love the challenge of running,” Jaida said. “I don’t think I would have the experience of running track or cross country without Brynne.”
Coaches saw very little disruption, if any, with their track, softball and tennis teams this spring with the Yocums and Schultes dual-sporting. The Schultes were able to get track and tennis practice or competition most every day.
“I prioritized track,” Brynne said. “I also got a lot of hitting time in for tennis.
“I would go to track practice first, and as soon as I would be done I would run over to the tennis courts and hit with my sister for a half an hour before going home,” she continued. “It has been worth it.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Elk Rapids sisters Brynne (left) and Jaida Schulte have teamed up at No. 3 doubles for the tennis team this season. (Middle) Brynne Schulte sets to start a track relay. (Below) The Schultes helped the Elks to their first two Regional titles in tennis, including their second straight this spring. (Photos courtesy of Jaclyn Schulte.)
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Performance: Oak Park's Anna Jefferson
June 2, 2016
Anna Jefferson
Oak Park senior – Track & Field
Jefferson this weekend will finish one of the finest careers in recent Michigan high school track & field history. She’s won two individual MHSAA Finals championships and run on four title-winning relays over the last three seasons and holds the Lower Peninsula Division 1 and all-Finals record in the 400 meters of 53.50 seconds, which she set as a sophomore. She shined again in her final local meet Friday, winning both the 400 (54.93) and 100 hurdles (14.10) at the Oakland County Championships to earn the Michigan National Guard Performance of the Week.
Jefferson’s times Friday either set or tied her lowest in those events this season, and she’ll enter Saturday’s Finals having run the second-fastest LP Division 1 Regional times in both races. After winning the 400 as both a freshman and sophomore, Jefferson finished second in both that race and the 200 at the 2015 Finals. She decided to take up hurdles again this spring to help her improve her 400 time, and her fastest 200 (24.27) and 300 hurdles times this season (43.89) according to Athletic.net also would have placed her among the fastest Regional finishers in those races across the division this spring.
She also ran on winning 400 (47.78) and 800 (1:38.74) relays at the Oakland County meet as Oak Park won the team title. Her 400 relay enters this weekend with the top Regional time in the division, and her 800 relay posted the second-fastest. Jefferson has signed to continue her track career this fall at University of Virginia; she is undecided on a major but carries a 3.6 grade-point average. She also has run cross country at Oak Park throughout her varsity career.
Coach Brandon Jiles said: “Anna has so many great qualities that make her a special athlete. A few of the things that stand out are her commitment, reliability, leadership and how quickly she adapts and learns. Throughout her high school career, Anna has been a major team player, not only in just track but also cross country, going above and beyond to help the team score points. In this day and age it’s rare for an athlete to sacrifice individual glory for team success; Anna has done that. She also has handled business academically, being an honor roll student every semester of high school. She has been a major part of the success and growth of Oak Park High School track and field. We are going to miss her.”
Performance Point: “(Oakland County) was one of the toughest meets I’ve had this season, with the exception of Regionals. It really gave me insight into how I need to perform at states, what I need to work on, and my strong points and weak points. I learned I have to have a better recovery, take one race at a time, (learned) small things I need to critique in hurdles. I need to keep working harder in the 400, and (improve) some small things in my relays.”
Jumping hurdles (again): “I did hurdles in middle school. I really wanted to get my 400 time down, or just in general get my times down, and in middle school I noticed running hurdles made me faster. I’d see other people (who added hurdles) run open events a lot quicker than they used to be, and my mom wanted me to go back to running hurdles – I was like, why not? It wasn’t too hard, but it was a little tough. I had to learn to adjust to hurdle workouts; they do longer workouts than sprinters and quarter-milers. The one thing I learned that comes with hurdles is your muscles need to adjust to hurdles. My body got used to it, and it got easier to adjust now.”
Lasting legacy: “I just want to be remembered as a person that worked hard, was team-oriented, and whenever it came down to crunch time and I had to perform, that I tried my best and was a dependable teammate. I’d love to win the 400, but my dream scenario for this weekend is to come home knowing I ran my races the best I could, like I was supposed to, and that my coaches are proud of me and I’m proud of myself for running the type of races I have.”
Home at Virginia: “I really felt comfortable there. Comfort is a really big thing to me. … It has an old feel but a modern feel to it also. The whole track team is like one family; there aren’t cliques like distance runners with distance runners, sprinters with sprinters. Everyone mingles together, everyone from different sports, and the coaches were really welcoming and everything was just beautiful. It was kinda like falling in love with a school at first sight.”
Questions & Answers: “I know I really like science class, and I also like math too. With science, you get to explore a lot of different things, and a lot of things about the human body interest me – I have a lot of questions about it, like what makes this work like that, how it reacts to something else. Math, it’s numbers, and numbers don’t lie. With math there are a bunch of equations and calculations to go through, but (there’s nothing) more accurate than numbers, and you can’t get better than that.”
– Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2015-16 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 protecting lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2015-16 honorees
May 25: Connor Bandel, Oxford boys track & field - Read
May 18: Kalyn Breckenridge, Birch Run girls soccer - Read
May 11: Morgan Beadlescomb, Algonac boys track & field - Read
May 4: Abby Krzywiecki, Farmington Hills Mercy softball - Read
April 27: Mike Mokma, Holland Christian baseball - Read
April 20: Abby Divozzo, Cadillac girls soccer - Read
March 30: Cassius Winston, Detroit U-D Jesuit boys basketball - Read
March 23: Kierra Fletcher, Warren Cousino girls basketball - Read
March 16: Jacob Montague, Grosse Pointe South swimming & diving - Read
March 9: Kyle Tuttle, St. Charles boys bowling - Read
March 2: Brittney Schnicke, Caledonia girls bowling - Read
Feb. 24: Kamari Newman, Detroit East English boys basketball - Read
Feb. 17: Jason Whitens, Powers North Central boys basketball - Read
Feb. 10: Rachel Hogan, Grand Ledge gymnastics - Read
Feb. 3: Nehemiah Mork, Midland Dow swimming & diving - Read
Jan. 27: Mardrekia Cook, Muskegon girls basketball - Read
Jan. 20: Sage Castillo, Hartland wrestling - Read
Jan. 13: Rob Zofchak, Dexter swimming & diving - Read
Jan. 6: Tyler Deming, Caro wrestling – Read
Dec. 15: Jordan Weber, East Jordan boys basketball – Read
Dec. 8: Kaitlyn Geers, Kent City girls basketball – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Oak Park's Anna Jefferson clears a hurdle during Friday's Oakland County Championships at Waterford Mott. (Middle) Jefferson leads the competition during one of her four individual or relay wins at the meet. (Photos by Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)