Performance of the Week: Oak Park's Nonah Waldron
April 29, 2022
Nonah Waldron ♦ Oak Park
Track & Field ♦ Junior
Waldron has won every hurdles race she’s run for Oak Park – and that streak likely won’t be broken any time soon. Waldron ran a season-best 42.91 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles and also won the 100 hurdles in 14.35 at Saturday’s Dexter April Showers meet. She’s the reigning Lower Peninsula Division 1 champion in both races and also has a win in the 400 meters this season.
Oak Park has won the last three LPD1 girls team championships and six of the last seven, and Waldron also ran on the runner-up 800 and fourth-place 400 relays at last season’s Finals. After high school season ended, she won the 100 hurdles at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Oregon. Waldron tried basketball growing up and then moved into cheer, gymnastics and power tumbling before beginning in track in seventh grade.
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2021-22 Honorees
April 21: Theryn Hallock, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central soccer - Report
April 14: Kaitlyn Pallozzi, Farmington Hills Mercy softball - Report
April 7: Mason Docks, Williamston basketball - Report
March 24: Mya Petticord, Ypsilanti Arbor Prep basketball - Report
March 16: Charley Bayer, East Grand Rapids diving - Report
March 9: Ja'Marcus Smith, Detroit Mumford wrestling - Report
March 2: David Schaberg, Holt bowling - Report
Feb. 24: Adelaide McRoberts, Kingsford swimming - Report
Feb. 17: Christopher Kavanaugh, Petoskey hockey - Report
Feb. 10: Ira Jenkins, Whitehall wrestling - Report
Feb. 3: Emma Stewart, Salem gymnastics - Report
Jan. 28: Tyler Ray, Pinckney swimming - Report
Jan. 21: Elle Craven, Traverse City Central skiing - Report
Jan. 14: Nevaeh Williams, Mount Clemens basketball - Report
Dec. 2: Lucas Dunn, Chelsea football - Report
Nov. 25: Riley Nugent, Plainwell swimming - Report
Nov. 18: Harper Murray, Ann Arbor Skyline volleyball - Report
Nov. 11: Abby VanderKooi, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian cross country - Report
Nov. 4: Arianne Olson, Holland West Ottawa cross country - Report
Oct. 28: Jack Guggemos, Okemos soccer - Report
Oct. 21: Sachiv Kumar, Northville tennis - Report
Oct. 14: Kate Brody, Grand Blanc golf - Report
Oct. 7: Lilly Nelson, Negaunee tennis - Report
Sept. 30: Stella Chapman, Ann Arbor Pioneer swimming - Report
Sept. 23: Riley Hough, Hartland cross country - Report
Sept. 16: Josie Bloom, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Report
PHOTO Oak Park's Nonah Waldron crosses the finish line first during a 2021 Final. (Photo by Ike Lea/Run Michigan.)
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.)