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Lakes' Superior Spring Closes with Repeat
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
June 3, 2018
KINGSFORD — The Lake Linden-Hubbell girls enjoyed a banner day at Saturday’s Upper Peninsula Division 3 Track & Field Finals, retaining their title with 96 points.
LL-H senior Laura Lyons won long jump at 16 feet, 1/2 inch, placed second in the 200 in 27.34 seconds and third in the 100 (13.4).
“I got that (distance) on my first jump,” said Lyons, bound for Michigan Tech this fall. “It was really nice to have that cushion. I felt I could afford to gamble with my steps a little.
“It’s amazing to do this two years in a row. Coach Gus (Gary Guisfredi) did a great job with us. It was a lot of fun being with the same group of girls. We had a lot of returners and a lot of younger girls. It’s really like a family on this team. We spend a lot of time together. Many of the girls who didn’t qualify for the Finals came down here to cheer us on.”
They were followed by Felch North Dickinson with 63 points and Stephenson 49.
Jamie Hendrickson added a first in high jump (4-10) and helped the Lakes take the 800 (1:53.22) and 1,600 relays (4:28.95), and MacKenzie LePage took pole vault (9-0).
North Dickinson’s Masyn Alexa won the 100 (13.19) and 200 (27.18) and took second in the 400 (1:01.64), and helped the Nordics place second in the 1,600 relay (4:31.67).
“Lake Linden is solid,” said Nordics’ coach Mike Roell. “We really performed well today. We had some girls really come through.
“Our team has really improved. Masyn had a big day, and Briana Smith got us the points we needed.”
Bark River-Harris won the 400 relay in a school-record 53.63 and added another school record with a third-place finish in the 800 relay (1:53.77). Rock Mid Peninsula was runner-up in the 800 relay in a school-record 1:53.35.
“It’s pretty awesome to set school records in two relays,” said BR-H senior Jaelin Lockwood, who was runner-up in long jump (15-4¾) and fourth in the 100 (13.41). “The 100 wasn’t my best, but Masyn came out of nowhere. Everybody seemed to have little bit of an off day in long jump.
“I’ll remember this season. We had good competition and a good year. I’ll probably be back next year to help with the team.”
Munising junior Madeleine Peramaki was a triple winner, taking the 800 (2:23.05), 1,600 (5:27.66) and 3,200 (12:26,31). She also qualified in the 400, but elected to scratch.
“I qualified in four events, which I didn’t think worked too well,” she said. “I have big goals but just try to do what I can with what I have. I didn’t quite reach the goals I had, but I’m happy with my times.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Lake Linden-Hubbell’s 800 relay anchor extends past the finish line during Saturday’s Finals. (Middle) Munising’s Madeleine Peramaki, second from left, leads the pack around a bend during the 1,600. (Photos by Cara Kamps. Click for more at RunMichigan.com.)
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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.)