Oak Park Gets Win that Matters Most
June 1, 2019
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
KENTWOOD – The Oak Park girls track & field team won the final event of Saturday’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals.
That victory in the 1,600 relay was the Knights’ lone victory of the meet. However, a lack of individual winners didn’t prevent them from going back-to-back as overall champions.
Oak Park’s depth was on display as it scored 74 points to win the Finals at East Kentwood High School. Detroit Renaissance took runner-up with 71 points, while Rockford was third with 69.
The Knights have won five Division 1 titles over the last six years.
“A complete team win, and we were solid across the board,” Oak Park coach Brandon Jiles said. “I think it’s the first championship we’ve won where we’ve only won one event, but they placed in everything else so it worked out for us. It was a great meet.”
Oak Park won the 1,600 relay with Jayla Jones, Tamyra Todd, Kourtney Kennard and Chloe Vines in a meet record-breaking time of 3:45.13.
“I’m so humbled and excited,” Vines said. “I’m proud of myself because there are times I don’t think I’m capable of doing certain things, but my teammates trusted me. The girls with me are all underclassmen and they are so motivational and inspiring. They make me want to do great.”
Jiles believed his team had the talent and depth to win even without notching first-place finishes.
“We were really balanced across the board this year,” Jiles said. “We weren’t exceptional in anything, but we were really good in a lot of things.
“It’s a little bit sweeter when you can win a tight battle with two other great teams. Renaissance was outstanding in sprints, and Rockford was amazing with their distance and overall team. I have a lot of respect for those teams, and we had to get the best out of our kids to even think about winning.”
Rockford senior Ericka VanderLende won the 1,600 (4:41.00) and 3,200 (10.24.57) and finished runner-up in the 800.
“I was really happy to complete all three events and not completely fall apart at the end, so I could get all the points I could for my team,” VanderLende said. “I was really happy to get two PRs (personal records) and then just come back and finish strong in my last race ever for Rockford.”
VanderLende won the 1,600 a year ago and placed runner-up in the 3,200.
“I just wanted to give it my best effort and go home knowing that I did all I could and laid it all on the line,” VanderLende said.
Her run at three titles was spoiled by Grand Haven senior Gabby Hentemann, who clocked a winning time of 2:08.70 to win the 800.
Hentemann, a senior, missed last year’s Finals due to a foot injury.
“I was in a boot cheering for my teammates last year after suffering a stress fracture,” Hentemann said. “It was a very painful and long recovery, so being able to just race today was a huge opportunity.
“It was very emotional for me to come back and win because my coaches and teammates watched me struggle the past year mentally and physically to recover from this injury.”
Detroit Renaissance freshman Kaila Jackson had an impressive debut and claimed a victory in the 200 (24.04), while finishing runner-up in the 100.
“I wanted to push myself harder after the 100 so I could win the 200,” Jackson said. “Most people get angry, but I build my anger up and take it out on the track. It was a great experience for my first state meet with the crowd and all the other runners. We pushed each other, and it was amazing.”
Jackson’s teammate, Leeah Burr, won the 400 in a time of 54.17.
White Lake Lakeland’s Grace Stark repeated in the 100 hurdles (13.43).
Other individual winners included: East Kentwood’s Qe’Neisha Young (100), Troy’s Lauren Fulcher (300 hurdles), East Kentwood’s Belle Okoroafo (discus), Dexter’s Nicole Bow (pole vault), Okemos’ Jasmine Clerkley (shot put), Mona Shores’ Elizabeth Knoll (high jump) and Walled Lake Western’s Kennedy Jackson (long jump).
PHOTOS: (Top) Oak Park celebrates its fifth Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship over the last six seasons. (Middle) Rockford's Ericka VanderLende capped her high school career with two more individual titles. (Photos by Carter Sherline. Click to see more from RunMichigan.com.)
Freshman Rewriting Whitmore Lake Record Book, Eyeing More Finals Success
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
May 21, 2024
The COVID-19 pandemic was a different, often difficult time for student athletes.
It also gave aspiring young athletes a little free time. Whitmore Lake’s Kaylie Livingston didn’t waste it.
Livingston, then in grade school, got serious about running – and it grew into a passion.
In the fall, the Whitmore Lake freshman finished second at the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Cross Country Final. She’s gearing up for the LPD4 track & field championship meet June 1 and enjoyed a remarkable day just over a week ago at the East Jackson Dome Classic when she set school records in the 1,600, 3,200 and as part of the 3,200 relay – the three longest races – all in the same day.
“She has the motor to do both (the 1,600 and 3,200),” said her coach and father, Casey Livingston. “She was really focused that day and posted a couple of really good times.”
Livingston won the 3,200 with a time of 10:46.29. She was second in the 1,600 with a time of 5:03.24. The 3,200 relay team finished second with a school record 9:43.57, which has since been lowered.
“It was a normal day for me running those events,” Kaylie said. “It’s a lot of fun to run as many races and run as fast as I can. I had a pretty good day.”
Livingston started running in elementary school. Her dad was the head cross country coach at Whitmore Lake, which was then a member of the Tri-County Conference. After the regular TCC meets had finished, the league held an “open” race where anyone could run. Most times, Kaylie would join the fun.
“That’s really the first time she ran competitively, if you can even call it competitive,” Casey Livingston said. “She really enjoyed running, especially with the older kids. She liked that.”
During the pandemic, Livingston said the family began running together.
“When COVID hit and we were shut down, we were outside trying to get exercise,” he said. “Obviously, track season was canceled that spring, but our league did some COVID games, where you would do different events and you would record it. She did that.
“Then, that summer, we started our summer training, and she would have been in fifth or sixth grade and started running our workouts. She kind of just took off with it.”
And then some.
“She’s been running times that had rivaled our records when she was in middle school,” added Livingston, who has coached basketball, cross country and track & field at Whitmore Lake. “I remember her saying, ‘I can’t wait to be a freshman so I can set some of those records.’”
This past weekend at her team’s Regional, Kaylie qualified for the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals in four events – the 1,600, 3,200 and as part of the 1,600 and 3,200 relays. She was the Regional champion in three of those races. Overall this season, she finished outside first place only five times – with four runner-up finishes and a third place in a relay.
She said those records have remained on her mind.
“I beat them by a pretty decent amount,” she said. “It was definitely one of the goals for the track season.”
The three-sport athlete (cross country, basketball, and track) enjoys track & field but says cross country is her favorite sport. She runs anywhere from 30 to 40 miles a week. Her individual runner-up finish in cross country helped Whitmore Lake win the LPD4 team title, and she has similar aspirations for her track & field team in two weeks.
“My goals are to continue to grow and always get faster,” she said. “Hopefully we could come in with a state title too.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Kaylie Livingston runs one of her races this season as a freshman for Whitmore Lake. (Middle) Livingston has qualified for the MHSAA Finals in two individual races and two relays. (Photos courtesy of the Whitmore Lake athletic department.)