Inspiration Fuels Windemuller's Pursuit
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
June 3, 2017
ZEELAND – It hasn’t been easy at Holland Christian this school year. Certainly not as easy as Kayla Windemuller made it look on the track Saturday.
Windemuller pulled off a rare triple as the junior defended her titles in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs and ran anchor on the winning 3,200 relay (9:09.41) at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Track & Field Finals at Zeeland.
Five people associated with Holland Christian schools died this school year. One was a 13-year-old girl and two were teachers, and it’s something Windemuller and everyone associated with the schools can’t forget.
“It’s tough at the school,” Windemuller said. “In some meets during the season it’s tough to run. When I run in those I think of them. They inspire me. I run for them.”
Windemuller is an inspiration to any young runner, distance or otherwise. She set a personal record in the mile (4:52.60) and, although she came up short of her goal in the 3,200 run (10:49.90), it was a day to savor.
“I was concerned about the heat, but it didn’t affect me too much,” she said. “It’s amazing to defend my title(s). I really like (running) the two mile. I’m more of a distance girl.
‘My goal was to get under 10:40. At the start I felt pretty good. That’s OK. I ran a PR in the mile. It is a long day, but it’s nice to have the meet spaced out. We run the relay in the morning, and then the races get slower as the day goes on. The day, overall, was awesome. I’m not happy with the times. The three state titles are sweet.”
Team title No. 2
Lansing Waverly competed well but luck also played a part in its second consecutive title.
Waverly had no individual winners, but did place first in two relays (400 and 800) to win with 47 points. Zeeland East was second with 46, and Holland Christian was third with 34.
Here’s how some of the drama played out.
Due to injuries Waverly coach Rex Wilkes, Jr., had to shuffle his lineup on the relays. The Warriors had the fastest time in the division in the 1,600 relay entering the Finals, but Wilkes made the decision not to compete in the event while attempting to save his top runners for other races.
It worked, but just barely.
“I knew we could score around 50 (points),” he said. “I just didn’t know what the other teams would do. We got some extra points in the shot. We got 10 there. And then I was told that Priscilla (Trainor) had to finish third or higher in the 200 for us to win.”
Trainor finished third. That’s not all. Suenomi Norinh of Zeeland East finished tied for first in the 100 hurdles with times measured out to hundredths of a second; to break the tie, it was determined she finished second by two thousandths of a second.
“Sometimes it’s good to be great,” Wilkes said. “Sometimes it’s good to be lucky.”
Norinh, a junior, did take first in the high jump (5-foot-8) and was second in the long jump.
Double winner
Liz Pyles of Cadillac placed third in both the discus and shot put last season as a junior, and she took that experience to place first in the shot with a put of 45 feet, 4 inches, a personal best, and won the discus with a throw of 146-3.
“I’m so happy,” she said. “I had three new PRs today (in the shot put). I’m so pleased.
“Last year was something to build upon. I worked with my coach. I worked in the weight room. I went to a bunch of camps. I’m real serious about this.”
Pyles signed with Grand Valley State University and expects to compete in both events. She qualified for the MHSAA Finals in the shot put all four seasons and the discus three times. Even so, she doesn’t have a favorite.
“It depends on the season,” she said.
Catching up quickly
Zoe Eby of Carleton Airport is a notorious slow starter. And when you’re competing in the 100 dash, that usually doesn’t bode well.
Eby got off to a poor start again but managed to come back to win the race with a time of 12.11.
“The last 30 meters was really close,” she said. “When I got off to that start I thought I would (finish) in the middle of the pack. I honestly don’t know how I did it.”
Eby, a junior, also defended her title in the 200. As a freshman she won the 400. She doesn’t compete in that event anymore.
“It’s not my niche,” she said.
Switching gears
Jakarri Alven of Grand Rapids Catholic Central wasn’t at her best Saturday. She said she had to pull out of the 200 because she was feeling ill.
Nevertheless, she won the 400 (56.48), a race she also won last year as a freshman, and she ran anchor on the winning 1,600 relay.
“I’m better at the longer distances,” she said. “But I like the (200). I got off to a good start today (in the 400). It’s the longer distances that I can work through better. I guess I’m better at it.”
Waiting pays off
Waiting for the other competitors to complete their jumps in the long jump was getting to Taylor Dziatczak of Macomb Lutheran North. Dziatczak had used up her tries and stood in first place with a jump of 17 feet, 11½ inches.
“It was a nail-biter,” she said. “A couple of girls who were close had a couple more jumps left. The girl from Zeeland East (Norinh) had three more left. I had to go to some deep breathing to stay calm.”
Dziatczak, who placed second last year, did hold on for first.
The long jump isn’t her best event, and it’s really not second as far as favorites. The javelin is tops with her. Dziatczak is a two-time AAU All-American in the javelin and has signed with Ashland University in Ohio to compete in the heptathlon. That’s seven events, in case you’re wondering. She placed in the javelin as a sophomore nationally in her age group and was third this year. Dziatczak, who is 17 years old, pointed out she moved up to the 18-and-under age group this year.
She just started competing in the heptathlon two years ago.
Her second favorite event is the 200 dash. The other events are the 100 hurdles, 800 run, high jump and shot put.
“I ran. I jumped. I figured why not do all of the others?” she said.
Why not indeed.
Record vaulter
Spring Lake senior Gabriella LeRoux set the only meet record in Lower Peninsula Division 2 for this season, pole vaulting 12 feet, 6 inches to break Kristen Hixson's mark of 12-4 set in 2010 while competing for Remus Chippewa Hills.
LeRoux's best this season heading into the meet was 12-0. A junior, she also won the pole vault championship in 2016 and was second in 2015 to her older sister Allie.
PHOTO: Holland Christian's Kayla Windemuller stays a pace ahead of Tecumseh's Christina Sawyer during one of their two races against each other Saturday. (Photo by Janina Pollatz/RunMichigan.com.)
Lyons Shows Way to All-Around Success
June 20, 2018
By Dennis Grall
Special for Second Half
ESCANABA – There have been a ton of awards and accomplishments recognizing the high school career of Laura Lyons, but the recent Lake Linden-Hubbell graduate remains extremely well grounded.
"I have to prioritize," she said in a recent telephone conversation from Fortune Lake, near Crystal Falls, where she is working at a summer camp that attracts youngsters, campers with disabilities and families.
"You have to focus on things you want to do," she said, listing school work, sports, family and faith among her priorities. "They have to stay out top."
It is easy to see Lyons has her priorities in place when considering the kind of person she has become.
Lyons was a four-sport standout for the Lakes and just as successful off the field. She was one of 32 students statewide to receive an MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award this winter and one of four Upper Peninsula students to receive a four-year college scholarship from the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame. She was also valedictorian of her graduating class.
"She is one of the best athletes I have coached in my (nearly) 40 years," said LL-H track coach Gary Guisfredi. "She is just an all-around great person. She is not just a great athlete, she is a top-notch kid."
Lyons earlier this month helped her track & field team repeat as U.P. Division 3 champion, winning long jump (16-feet-0.5), placing second in the 200-meter dash (in a personal-best 27.34) and taking third in the 100 (13.4) and 400 (1:01.77). Guisfredi said she probably could have placed in pole vault and excelled in other events if meet rules didn’t limit athletes to only four.
"She is a very versatile athlete," said Guisfredi. "There are a lot of different attributes (for athletic success), and she has them all. And she also works with our younger athletes. Other kids look up to her."
Lyons missed the final week of track practice because she was already working at Fortune Lake, but she followed a training regimen provided by Guisfredi before she began her daily camp duties. "She probably did more than I told her to do," he said with a laugh.
In addition to running four track events this spring, Lyons was also a conference all-star shortstop and pitcher in softball as one of eight teammates who doubled up in both sports. She was all-conference in basketball at guard and was an MVP setter in volleyball for the three-time conference and District champions.
Handling all the sports was not a challenge because, she said, "It is cross-training for all the rest. Everything you do in one sport can be applied to the others."
She’s never had problems being ready for the different track & field events, although she recalled at the 2017 U.P. Finals being midway through her 400 race when her name was called to compete at long jump.
She enjoys track more than the other sports because of the team camaraderie, on the field and off. "It is really a social sport," she said of teammates, members of the boys team and opponents having fun in the infield during other races. She said even the LL-H boys and girls who did not qualify for the Finals still attended and were very supportive.
"We are like one big family," she said of her track teammates. "I don't hang out with a lot of the kids outside of school (she does have to study, after all) but we do spend a lot of time together at our daily routines. Somehow it all works out."
She also enjoys talking to athletes from other schools prior to her track events so "I don't get as nervous. I warm up a lot before the races."
Lyons and her teammates also serve as role models for the younger athletes. "A lot of us help coach other sports. And it makes me thankful for having the support of the community. We are a mirror athletically in the community," she said, indicating her accomplishments are a direct result "of my upbringing, the way I was raised."
Definitely not a me-first person, Lyons also expressed happiness over how women at church collect newspaper clippings of her deeds and pass them on to her. "I realize how they are a part of what I am doing," she said.
Asked what she is most proud of accomplishing, she hesitated for several seconds, then answered, "That is a tough one. I am most proud of the fact I have been so motivated in so many different things and (of) showing younger kids they can do the same things if they set their mind to it."
Lyons anticipates joining the track team when she attends nearby Michigan Tech University. She plans to follow an academic path of biomedical engineering with a focus on pre-med.
"She's got the whole package," Guisfredi said. "This kid is always smiling. She is a very special young lady."
Denny Grall retired in 2012 after 39 years at the Escanaba Daily Press and four at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, plus 15 months for WLST radio in Escanaba; he served as the Daily Press sports editor from 1970-80 and again from 1984-2012. Grall was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and serves as its executive secretary. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Upper Peninsula.
PHOTOS: (Top) Lake Linden-Hubbell’s Laura Lyons is embraced by Ontonagon’s Fahren Kolpack and holds a hand of Felch North Dickinson’s Masyn Alexa after they took the top three places in the 400 at the UP Division 3 Finals, all within half a second of each other. (Middle) Lyons, third from left, stands with honorees on the Breslin Center floor during the Scholar-Athlete Awards ceremony in March. (Top photo by Cara Kamps.)