Gaylord Record-Setter Embracing Challenges As Championship Season Approaches

By Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com

May 3, 2024

Katie Berkshire has her eyes on the prize today.

Northern Lower PeninsulaAnd she’ll have her eyes on another prize Saturday. After that she’ll move on to more conquests yet this track season.

That pattern will be repeated for the next two years on the track and along the cross country course.

Berkshire, a sophomore at Gaylord High School, is already a long-distance record-holder and a regular feature at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final. Today, she is throwing out the welcome mat to her opponents as Gaylord hosts its annual Blue Devil Classic.

She is welcoming this weekend’s competition because she knows fast races help her get better every day. Winning, although it happens often, is not her top priority. Putting in the work and getting better is what matters most, according to Gaylord girls track & field and cross country coach Lindsey Yates.

“She’s more than just a fast runner,” acknowledged Yates. “She knows she has to put the work in to get good results, and she’s always wanting more.

“The proof is in the pudding in what she does,” Yates continued. “She is a special — very special — athlete and young woman.”

Berkshire started this season by breaking the school record in the 3,200 at Gaylord’s first meet. She’s hoping to break the school’s 1,600 record yet this spring. And, she’s hoping to add to her collection of Regional and conference titles this month.

Higher finishes at the Division 2 Final on June 2 also are on the mind of the running sensation, who had a strong showing as a freshman finishing third in the 3,200 and 10th in the 1,600.

Track is known as an individual sport, but Berkshire looks at it more as a team sport with friendly competition.

Running, which started in Gaylord Elementary’s “Mileage Club” for Berkshire, wouldn’t be the same without teammates.

“Cross country and track are individual sports, but the team is a huge part – without the team it wouldn’t be the same at all,” Berkshire said. “We have all put in so much effort, and we deserve to go out and race and show what we can do.”

Berkshire, seated, confers with the Blue Devils coaches. “She’s a gift to the team,” Yates added. “It is an individual sport, but she has the whole team with her and she rallies for the team and the team rallies for her – it’s a family.”

Gaylord has had its share of individual Finals champions in the past under boys coach Matthew Warren, who Yates notes has played an integral part in Berkshire’s training.  But Berkshire is a one-of-a-kind runner for Yates, who has served as both the girls track and girls and boys cross country head coach the past two years at Gaylord.

“I have not seen anything as fine-tuned as Katie Berkshire, and it’s a breath of fresh air,” said Yates, who assisted both Blue Devils programs a few years before taking over. “The intrinsic desire for her is amazing.”

Running cross country and track brings endless challenges for Berkshire to conquer. The results, she notes, come from the training.

“Running shows me any challenge that comes my way I can just overcome,” Berkshire said. “It shows me if I have a goal in my mind, I can accomplish it if I work hard and put in the effort.”

During the fall, Berkshire won eight of her 12 cross country races including the Big North Conference meet and Regional. She’s already qualified for three Division 2 Finals across the two sports and is likely going to add a fourth Finals next month at Hamilton High School.

Before that, Berkshire is going after another Big North title and a Regional championship. Competitions, like those ahead always bring out her best; the conference includes Division 1 opponents.

“I enjoy running against even girls that are faster than me because they always push me to be better and they are there obviously to race and try their best,” Berkshire said. “They are an influence to me that I can get there one day and I can maybe even beat them the next season.”

This year she has hopes of running a sub-5-minute 1,600 to capture the school record; her best in the race is 5:11. She takes on both distance races regularly and also is a regular in relays. In Wednesday’s dual meet at Alpena, she set two personal bests running a 2:25.60 in the 800 and 1:05.71 in the 400.

Berkshire’s favorite event by far is the 3,200, as she likes finding the right pace and rhythm to handle eight laps.

“Most people would think I am crazy for that,” she said of her pick for favorite. “It’s the longest race on the track, and it feels the best for me.”

Yates says Berkshire has yet to run her best 3,200 of the season. The conference, Regional and Final should bring out the best in Berkshire, she noted.

“She’s amazing, and setting the record isn’t good enough for her. She wants to do it again,” Yates said. “She also wants the mile record, and she’s hungry for it.”

Tom SpencerTom 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) Gaylord’s Katie Berkshire readies for a relay Wednesday against Alpena. (Middle) Berkshire, seated, confers with the Blue Devils coaches. (Photos provided by the Gaylord girls track & field program.)

Marquette Girls Reclaim Championship Leaning on Sprint Superiority

By Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com

June 4, 2023

KINGSFORD – After finishing runner-up to Negaunee last year, Marquette’s girls took back the championship Saturday at the Upper Peninsula Division 1 Track & Field Finals.

Marquette won with 130 points, Negaunee had 96, third-place Sault Ste. Marie 83 and fourth-place Houghton scored 69.

Negaunee's Madison Pekrul, left, edges Marquette’s Siena Lingle in the 300 hurdles.Marquette’s Julia Ott won the 100 and 200-meter dashes, defeating teammate Baux Truckey, the two-time reigning champion in both races. Truckey got the win in the 400.

Houghton’s Danica Ryynanen won the 100 hurdles, and Negaunee’s Madison Pekrul the 300 hurdles

Negaunee sophomore Aubrey Johnson repeated in the 800 run. Houghton’s Tessa Rautiola was first in the 1,600. And Marquette freshman Ella Fure became a U.P. champion in the 3,200.

“Today was the hottest weather I think I ever ran in,” Fure said. “It was brutal. They were splashing water on us and spraying us. It took a lot to keep going, but I’m glad I persevered.”

Temperatures were in the mid 80s with persistent sun until storms moved in and delayed the event briefly.

Negaunee senior Eliana Juchemich went from fourth last year in the discus to a title Saturday. But she didn’t win the shot put like in 2022; that honor went to Sault Ste. Marie’s Hannah Maurer. 

Negaunne's Olivia Lunseth hands off to Ellie Sundberg in the 800 relay.Westwood sophomore Faith Spiroff repeated as high jump champion and also won the Long jump this time, tying a U.P. Division 1 Finals record with a leap of 17 feet, 3½ inches. She now shares the mark with Houghton’s Adeline Grier-Welch.

Marquette also won two relays – the 400 (Hailey Bolf, Sophie Skytta, Bella Coleman and Ott) and the 800 (Meghan MacPhee, Seina Lingle, Skytta and Truckey).  

Escanaba took the 1,600 relay (Mari Bink, Ashley Foust, Annabelle Neumeier and Ava Getzloff) and Houghton won the 3,200 (Lily Ross, Tessa Rautiola, Claire Filpus and Ayla Miller). Lexi Olson of Westwood won the pole vault.

Click for full results.

PHOTOS (Top) Marquette's Hailey Bolf starts the winning 400 relay Saturday. (Middle) Negaunee's Madison Pekrul, left, edges Marquette’s Siena Lingle in the 300 hurdles. (Below) Negaunne's Olivia Lunseth hands off to Ellie Sundberg in the 800 relay. (Photos by Cara Kamps/RunMichigan.com.)