Harbor Springs Finishes 1st Title Run
May 30, 2015
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
HUDSONVILLE – Harbor Springs’ Emily Kloss has been coaching track and field for more than two decades.
Throughout her career, however, one accomplishment had eluded her.
That was until Saturday afternoon at Hudsonville’s Baldwin Middle School.
Harbor Springs claimed the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Track and Field Final championship. It was the first in school history.
The Rams finished with 57 points, while Fowler placed runner-up with 53.5 points. Concord (50) and was third, and defending champion Reading (48) was fourth.
“I’m super excited because we brought 11 girls here and every single one of them placed and medaled,” said Kloss, who coaches with her husband, Mike. “This is my 25th year coaching, but the first state championship won for track.”
Harbor Springs’ cross country program has won two MHSAA Finals and placed runner-up twice, but the track and field crown has special meaning.
Kloss’ hometown is Fowler, and she and Fowler’s coach, Jill Feldpausch, were teammates in high school.
“We won state championships together so this is pretty special, especially for them to take second,” Kloss said.
Senior Charlotte Cullip, who placed runner-up in the 400 to teammate Salix Sampson, was thrilled to end her career with a victory in the Finals.
“I can’t believe it,” she said. “I’ve run forever in cross and track and this is my last year, so it’s amazing. Our coaches looked at the stats and thought we had a chance. I didn’t believe them until the 4 X 4, and then I thought we could do it.
“We had throwers, pole vaulters, distance runners, relays. We had everything, and I’m so glad it all came together this last year.”
Sampson clocked a 58.99 in the 400 and was the anchor on the victorious 1,600 relay (4:08.14).
“Our team has worked really hard at it, and our coach doesn’t say that we can do something if we can’t,” Sampson said. “We had a lot of good freshmen come through, and they really powered through. We couldn’t have done this without them, and the seniors have been there since the beginning.”
Kloss credited her seniors for helping propel the team to the top of the standings.
“My seniors have worked so hard, and we broke two school records today,” she said. “I’m pretty excited to finally do it with the great seniors that we have. Everyone worked really hard, and it is nice to end it this way.”
Sophomore Caylin Bonser took fifth in the discus and fifth in the shot put, while teammate Erika Lechner, a sophomore, was fourth in the shot put.
The weather Saturday changed dramatically, and the final portion of the meet was run in light rain, wind and cooler temperatures.
“We’re used to this crappy weather,” Kloss joked. “We had snow at our conference meet last week.”
Fowler senior Ashley Hufnagel led her team’s charge.
She won the 300 hurdles (47.38), placed runner-up in the high jump (5-2), and led off the 800 relay, which won with a time of 1:48.35.
Fowler also finished runner-up to Onekama in the 400 relay. Also contributing to the win were junior Madison Koenigsknecht and freshmen McKenzie Feldpausch and Sidney Horak.
Mason County Eastern sophomore Jordan Goodman won the 100 for the second year in a row, and in record time.
Goodman raced to a narrow win by clocking a 12.40, which tied the LP Division 4 Final record set by Pewamo-Westphalia’s Abbey Hengesbach in 2010.
“I was nervous at the beginning, but then I thought, ‘this is my favorite race’,” Goodman said. “I’m a sophomore, I need a scholarship and this is my race. I like being out there, and I feel strong in that event. I feel like I can run really fast.”
Goodman held off Concord’s Lindsey Lehman by two hundredths of a second.
“I felt a little bit of pressure, and I was worried because I know Lindsey and (Reading’s) Jennifer Davis were running some pretty good times,” Goodman said. “I just got in the right frame of mind. I ran a 12.1 this year, so I thought if I could do that again then I would be all right.”
Goodman also placed sixth in the 200 and sixth in the long jump.
Lehman recovered to edge Davis in a photo finish in the 200 by clocking a 25.92.
PHOTO: Salix Sampson (middle) and teammate Charlotte Cullip race to the top two places in the 400 during Saturday's LP Division 4 Final. (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com. Photo by Janina Pollatz.)
Marysville Thrower Hudson Dancing Into Record Books, Finals Contention
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
April 12, 2023
If you see Janae Hudson doing the “Cotton Eye Joe” dance near a shot put or discus pit this spring, don’t be surprised.
But do pay attention, because a Marysville school record may be about to fall.
“I used to get really stressed out before meets, and it would definitely impact my throws,” the Marysville junior said. “I thought that maybe I need a specific routine to not freak me out or anything, and I kind of have it with volleyball, as well. I like to just go off in my own space. When I’m in the hole, I like to kind of just dance around and get all the jitters out before I throw. It’s kind of like a line dance, something I can do in a single space and not bump into other people. I did it last year, and it started to work.”
Hudson, who placed third at the 2022 Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals in the discus, has already danced and thrown her way into the Marysville record books. She holds the school record in the discus with a throw of 135 feet, 7 inches. Her sights are now set on the shot put record of 40-10, which is about a foot and a half better than her personal best of 39-2¼.
“She’s such a competitor,” Marysville coach Brian Gwisdala said. “She’s already set high expectations for herself. Track is one of those sports where she’s got distances she wants to hit this year. And I think it’s the sign of a mature kid, even though she wants to finish first at states, her big thing right now is she wants that shot put record at the school. She threw 29-2¼ at Saginaw this year. She’s getting there.”
While Hudson showed potential as a freshman, qualifying for the Division 2 Finals and finishing 10th in the shot put, breaking school records certainly wasn’t the expectation at that point.
In fact, when she entered high school, she figured volleyball would be her main focus. While she still plays and is a major contributor for the Vikings volleyball program, throwing has emerged as the sport she wants to pursue collegiately.
“I was really nervous and timid to actually go to my first track practice,” she said. “But that’s when I fell in love with it. I wasn’t expecting to get this serious with it at the beginning of my freshman year.”
During her freshman year, Hudson began working with throwing coach Michael Hale of Kaizen Throws, and saw immediate results.
She continued to work with Hale through the offseason, and that combined with adding some strength – and a dance routine – helped her take off as a sophomore. In her second season, she added more than two feet to her shot put personal record, and nearly 30 in the discus.
“I think a huge part of it was that she kind of grew into her body,” Gwisdala said. “She’s always been a tall kid, and that coordination and everything caught up to her. I saw it with her in volleyball, too, how much she improved athletically. She really worked hard and put in the time. She throws during the indoor season in the winter. She’s got her private throwing coach that she goes to. All of those factors, and she had the determination and drive to go and do it.”
All of that has put Hudson in a strong position heading into her junior season, not only to further one school record and chase down another, but to improve upon her places at the Division 2 Finals.
Her personal-best discus throw would have tied for first at the 2022 Finals, while her personal best in the shot put would have placed fourth.
“I would love to go to states in both events, and to place first in both would be an ideal situation,” she said. “But if I could finish top three in both, I would walk out happy.”
Helping Hudson chase that ideal situation of winning a Finals title is having watched a teammate do it just two years ago, as Reese Powers won the 400 meters as a junior at the 2021 Division 2 Finals.
“That’s huge,” Gwisdala said. “Just the fact that it was somebody from our school. And it wasn’t someone that necessarily just did one thing, either. Reese and (all-state runner Hannah Fisher) both were multi-sport athletes. The other huge part, and I would say this about Janae right now, too, with Reese was just her work ethic. You would see it every day in practice.”
All of that resonated with Hudson.
“It was a wild moment,” she said. “She’s a junior in high school and can do that; I can do that, too. It would probably mean the world to me.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Marysville’s Janae Hudson unwinds while putting the shot during a meet. (Middle) Hudson prepares to let the discus fly. (Photos by Rodney Thomas/Thomas Sports Photography.)