Moment: GPS, Meier Earn National Acclaim
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 22, 2020
We’re missing spring sports big time. So we’re kicking off our next string of #MHSAAMoments with one of the most big-time performances in state track & field history.
Grosse Pointe South’s girls dominated during the start of last decade, claiming consecutive Lower Peninsula Division 1 championships in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Leading the surge was an athlete who still holds three all-MHSAA Finals records and anchored the fastest 3,200-meter relay in U.S. high school history.
Hannah Meier, who already had set all-Finals records in the 800 and 1,600 in 2011 as a sophomore, was joined on the record relay in 2012 by Kelsie Schwartz, Ersula Farrow and twin sister Haley Meier. Together they ran the race in 8:48.29 – 17 seconds faster than the previous MHSAA all-Finals record and the fastest in National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) history by 1.59 seconds.
The following season in 2013, the Meier sisters, Farrow and Christina Firl won the 3,200 relay championship in 9:01.98. Hannah Meier then went on to earn the sixth and seventh individual Finals titles of her career –while also breaking both of her previous all-Finals records.
She claimed the 1,600 title for the third-straight season, three seconds ahead of runner-up Haley Meier in 4:39.23, which remains the ninth-fastest time in that race in NFHS history. Hannah Meier followed by winning her fourth 800 championship in 2:07:37, 1.02 seconds faster than her previous all-Finals record and 1.56 seconds ahead of second-place Farrow. The Meiers and Farrow then teamed up with Lily Pendy for a second-straight Finals title in the 1,600 relay.
Both Meier sisters started their college running careers at Duke and finished them at University of Michigan, where both won individual and team Big Ten championships. Farrow began her collegiate track career at Clemson and finished at Louisiana State, earning All-America in the 800 as a senior. Schwartz also went on to the Big Ten, enjoying success at Michigan State University.
PHOTO: From left: Kelsie Schwartz, Ersula Farrow and Haley and Hannah Meier join Grosse Pointe South coach Stephen Zaranek for a photo during the 2012 LPD1 Finals. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
Reigning Champions Rule UPD2 Again with Repeat and 3-Peat Performances
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
June 4, 2023
KINGSFORD – Ishpeming’s Lola Korpi hadn’t lost in the 800, 1,600 or 3,200 at the last two Upper Peninsula Division 2 Finals. The same was true for West Iron County’s Danica Shamion in the 100, 200 and 400.
With that kind of track record, the expectations were through the roof Saturday.
“There’s so much pressure,” the Ishpeming junior said. “People do expect a champion out of me; it gets really hard mentally, there's a lot of pressure on me all the time. But I love to do this. I just love running so much. So I just go out there and do what I can, just do the best I can do.”
Her best continues to be really good.
Korpi won all three of the distance events again, plus she was a member of the first-place 3,200 relay team, which gave her 11 career championships. Shamion, meanwhile, won all of the dashes again as well.
“It’s been a good day, just really hot out,” Shamion said.
Korpi defeated some talented young runners. Pickford freshman Talya Schreiber took second in the 1,600 and 3,200, and Manistique sophomore Leah Goudreau was runner-up in the 800.
“I was challenged on all of them,” Korpi said. “It’s my 200 kick at the end that gets it. Now that I’m a junior I have a lot of experience against all the fast freshmen this year. So I just let them take the lead for a little bit while I coast behind them and then kick it in at the end. Or depending on how I feel, maybe I’ll just go out there right away.”
Her 3,200 relay team, also including Tiana Bosworth, Brittanie Piotrowski and Kadie Kaukola, was down by 200 meters with Hancock in front of them.
“I got the baton and I was just feeling great. I went out and beat her,” Korpi said. “That started the whole team out with a good chunk of points.”
Shamion now has nine individual titles.
She said the 400 dash was her best event of the day. She broke her own Upper Peninsula Division 2 Finals record with a time of 57.18 seconds; she had set the record at 58.77 last year.
“I PR’d by a second, which I really wanted to, so I’m glad,” Shamion said.
Her goal was to finish that race in 56 seconds.
“I was so close,” she said. “But I’m happy I took my own record that I had.”
Shamion also set a UPD2 Finals record in the 200 with a time of 26.34 seconds. Norway’s Dani Gagne had the previous record (26.42).
Shamion almost won four events. Teammate Calli Pellizzer won the high jump in a tiebreaker as both cleared 4 feet, 10 inches.
“Someone from my team won, good for my team,” Shamion said.
The Wykons finished in fourth place with 73 points.
Bark River-Harris repeated as team champ after winning for the first time in school history last year. The Broncos had 100 points, 13 better than runner-up Ishpeming and 24 ahead of third-place Manistique.
Gwinn’s Lena Pleaugh placed first in both of the hurdles events; she was the 100 champion for the second year in a row.
Pickford’s Kadence Potoczak won discus in Division 2 after earning the UPD3 title last year, Manistique’s Danielle Lund won the shot put, Ishpeming’s Mya Hemmer the long jump and St. Ignace’s Avery Visnaw the pole vault.
The Emeralds won the 400 relay (Emma Jones, Lund, Kelsey Muth and Leah Goudreau), and BR-H won the 800 relay (Mckenzie Hoffmeyer, Lauren Zawada, Julia Olson and Marissa Ives) and 1,600 (Juliian Koch, Julia Nault, Zawada and Olson).
PHOTOS (Top) Bark River-Harris's Lauren Zawada hands off to the fourth leg of their 1,600 relay, Julia Olson, on Saturday. (Middle) West Iron County's Danica Shamion starts her winning 400. (Below) Manistique's Leah Goudreau, left, and Ishpeming's Lola Korpi run the first lap of the 800. (Photos by Cara Kamps/RunMichigan.com.)