Bark River-Harris Grows Team, Gains 1st Girls Track & Field Finals Title
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
June 5, 2022
KINGSFORD — The Bark River-Harris girls made a statement here Saturday while earning the first Upper Peninsula track & field title in their school’s history.
BR-H, which topped the Division 2 standings with 107 points, was followed by West Iron County with 74 and Ishpeming at 60.
“This is a very big moment,” said BR-H coach Jason Lockwood. “This is something our upperclassmen started talking about at the end of last season. Last year we came here with a small team and got third. The bigger numbers this year were a major factor. We’re very strong in the sprints and sprint relays. Having that depth really helps.”
The Broncos won the 800-meter relay in a school-record 1 minute, 50.95 seconds, and freshman Julia Olson set a school record (1:01.25) while placing third in the 400.
Sophomore Mckenzie Hoffmeyer won long jump (16-1¾) for the second-straight year and took second in the 100 (13.04) and 200 (27.14). Senior Alaska Peterson added a third in the long jump (14-5½).
Carley Varoni added a first in pole vault (8-0), and senior Aspen Fredrick gained her first U.P. 300 hurdles title at 53.57.
“I had confidence in my ability to jump over the hurdles,” said Fredrick. “This is only my sixth time doing this and my first individual title. That’s what I was thinking (during the race), and that’s what kept me going.”
West Iron’s Danica Shamion repeated as champion in the 100 (12.7), 200 (26.82) and 400 (58.77), and Ishpeming sophomore Lola Korpi retained her 800 (2:36.11), 1,600 (5:42.11) and 3,200 (12:34.95) titles.
“The 1,600 went well,” she said. “I just wanted to stay in front and get as many points for our team as I could. I tried to work on picking up the pace in the second and third laps.”
In the 3,200 (which combined the D-1 and D-2 runners competing at the same time), Houghton senior Ingrid Seagren led the entire race until the final home stretch when she dropped to third overall.
“I was just planning on staying with the group I was with, and when I saw she was getting tired, I thought there was a chance,” Korpi said. “I’m proud of Ingrid, and our team for taking third place. Third is good, especially for the numbers we have.”
Iron Mountain’s Chloe Maycroft retained her high jump crown (4-11), and Manistique sophomore Danielle Lund took first in shot put (33-2) and second in discus (95-0).
Gwinn’s Lena Pleaugh and Jordana Hardy went 1-2 in the 100 hurdles in 17.77 and 18.18, respectively.
Manistique won the 1,600 relay (4:23.84) and 3,200 (10:43.63).
“Today we had little bit of a rough handoff for three and four, but found a way to overcome that,” said Emeralds junior Kelsey Muth. “We’re just .3 second away from our school record in the 1,600 relay, which I think will give us motivation for next year. This is the first time all year we’ve won both the 1,600 and 3,200 relays. This is a real good way to wrap up the season.”
PHOTOS (Top) On the way to winning the 800 relay, Bark River-Harris's Aspen Frederick hands off to teammate Julia Olson. Other members of the winning relay team were Mckenzie Hoffmeyer and Lauren Zwanda. (Middle) West Iron County's Danica Shamion, middle, wins the 200. Hoffmeyer, left, took second. (Click for more from Cara Kamps/Run Michigan.)
Title IX at 50: Mumford Sprinter's Magnificent 2006 Final Remains Unmatched
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 31, 2022
Michigan’s illustrious track & field history is filled with legends who have achieved glory at every race distance and in every field event.
But the sprints arguably remain the featured attraction at any meet – and Shayla Mahan’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals performance on June 3, 2006, at East Kentwood remains among the most glorious and awe-inspiring over nearly a century of MHSAA history.
The then-Detroit Mumford junior’s 11.54-second finish in the 100 meters was nearly four tenths better than the runner-up, and 16 hundredths of a second faster than the previous all-Finals record run by Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Crystal Braddock in 1998.
Later in the meet, Mahan covered the 200 meters in 23.74 seconds – nearly a second faster than the field and almost a half-second faster than the previous all-Finals record of 24.20 run by Southfield-Lathrup’s Tenisha Griggs in 2003. Along the way, Mahan also ran on the winning 800-meter relay.
Among running events since the move from yards to meters during the early 1980s, Mahan’s records are the oldest remaining on the girls all-Finals board. Some all-time greats have made runs at those records – Detroit Cass Tech’s Kyra Jefferson, East Kentwood’s Sekayi Bracey, White Lake Lakeland’s Grace Stark and Detroit Renaissance’s Kaila Jackson are among those who have come closest to matching Mahan’s Finals bests. Even Mahan the following spring as a senior missed improving on her milestones, running an 11.76 in the 100 and 24.11 in the 200 to again win both.
Jackson this weekend may have the best opportunity of anyone over the last 15 seasons. The senior’s best times in those races this spring are 11.52 and 23.85, respectively, as she seeks Saturday at Rockford High School to win her third Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals title in the 200 and second in the 100 (and she might have been running for fourth and third championships, respectively, if the 2020 season hadn’t been canceled because of COVID-19).
Mahan went on to run at South Carolina, earning All-America honors multiple seasons. She also competed at the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials.
Second Half's weekly Title IX Celebration posts are sponsored by Michigan Army National Guard.
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April 19: Holmes' Strikeout Record Rarely Approached, May Be Unbreakable - Read
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Oct. 26: Coach Clegg Sets Championship Standard at Grand Blanc - Read
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PHOTO Detroit Mumford's Shayla Mahan finishes first in the 100 meters at the 2006 Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final. (Photo by Run Michigan.)