Preview: Stars Say Good-Bye, Others Just Getting Started
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 4, 2021
The Upper Peninsula track & field community will say good-bye to some memorable standouts during Saturday’s Finals at Kingsford High School – but also welcome the start of what should be some dynamite championship runs over the next four years.
Six past individual champions will be concluding their careers, including UPD1 Finals shot put record holder Emily McLean of Sault Ste. Marie. But many will be watching intently as well as freshman favorites like Lola Korpi of Ishpeming and Danica Shamion of West Iron County make their debuts.
Events begin at 10 a.m. (EDT) and tickets to attend can be purchased online only at GoFan. The meets also will be broadcast on MHSAA.tv and viewable with subscription.
Below is a glance at team contenders and individuals to watch in all three divisions.
Division 1
Top Regional scores: Houghton 69, Marquette 57, Sault Ste. Marie 51.
Team forecast: Marquette edged Sault Ste. Marie at their Regional and will be looking to add a second-straight Finals championship and 11th over the last 13 seasons. Houghton could be in for a historic finish as well as it has posted only one top-two Finals team placing, coming in as Class C runner-up in 1982. The story is similar for Sault Ste. Marie, which is seeking its first Finals title in this sport since 2001 and last finished among the top two in 2011. Marquette has the top seeds in seven events, but Menominee is right there with five top seeds and Sault Ste. Marie has the depth to match Marquette.
Emily McLean, Sault Ste. Marie: The senior thrower is seeded first both in the shot put (45-4) and discus (112-11) and set the UPD1 Finals record in the shot put of 39-2 as a sophomore. She also won that throw as a freshman in 2018.
Ingrid Seagren, Houghton: The Gremlins junior is seeded first in the 3,200 (12:28.29) by 16 seconds and second in the 1,600 after placing in both as a freshman in 2019. She finished third in UPD1 cross country in the fall (in a race won by teammate Paige Sleeman, who is seeded first this weekend in the 800 and third in the 1,600).
Baux Truckey, Marquette: She could be climbing the podium four times in her first Finals. The sophomore is seeded first in the 100 (13.4) and 200 (27.6) and is part of the top-seeded 400 and 800 relays detailed below.
Makenzie Wellner, Menominee: The Maroons’ senior standout also is lined up for four championships as the top seed in the 100 hurdles (16.5), 300 (47.3) and long jump (16-6) and as part of the top-seeded 1,600 relay (4:12.89). She won the 100 hurdles as both a freshman and sophomore.
Marquette 400 and 800 relays: Both could make a run at meet records. Truckey anchors a 400 relay with juniors Ava Jones and Maria Millado and sophomore Julia Ott that ran 51.48 at the Regional – and the UPD1 Finals record is 51.22. She anchors Jones, Millado and senior Clarissa Remillard on an 800 relay that ran 1:49.87 at the Regional – with the UPD1 Finals record in that race 1:46.34.
Division 2
Top Regional scores: West Iron County 81, Ishpeming 59½, St. Ignace 50.
Team forecast: St. Ignace won the last three Division 2 championships before COVID-19 struck last spring, and the Saints this weekend also will be seeking their 10th title over the last 12 seasons (with the 2013 championship coming in UPD3). West Iron county was the champ in 2013 and runner-up in 2014 and 2015, and Ishpeming also is regularly in the mix with back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016 and the runner-up finish in 2019. The Wykons enter with top seeds in seven events; the Hematites have top seeds in five. The Saints don’t have a top seed but 16 individual entries and all four relays racing.
Lola Korpi, Ishepming: The Division 2 cross country runner-up in the fall as a freshman, Korpi heads into her first Track Finals as the top seed in the 800 (2:39.5), 1,600 (5:38.89), 3,200 (12:28.12) and as part of the top-seeded 3,200 relay (11:10.35).
Rebekah Loman, Ishepming: The Hematites senior won the discus in 2019 with a toss of 104-7 and is top-seeded in that throw this weekend at 106-9. She’s also the second seed in the shot put after finishing fifth in that event as a sophomore.
Ally Schultz, St. Ignace: Now a junior, Schultz is the reigning champion in the 200 and 400. She’s seeded second in the 100, third in the 200, fourth in the 400 and will run on the second-seeded 800 relay this weekend.
Jordan & Danica Shamion, West Iron County: The Shamion sisters could take this meet by storm. Jordan, now a senior, won the 100 hurdles in 2019 and is the top seed in that race (17.6), the 300 (50.7) and shot put (32-0¼) and will also run on the top-seeded 1,600 relay (4:38.58). Danica, a freshman, also will run that relay and is top-seeded in the 100 (14.1), 200 (28.3) and 400 (1:02.2).
Division 3
Top Regional scores: Stephenson 95, Rapid River 64, Pickford 63.
Team forecast: Lake Linden-Hubbell won three straight championships prior to COVID, and Stephenson could be next up as it seeks its first team title since 1993. The Eagles have 25 individual entries and all four relays running, with sophomore Daisy Grinsteiner and senior Paige Cappaert top seeds in field events. Rapid River has fewer entries but three tops seeds and two second seeds.
Camaryn Crouch, Lake Linden-Hubbell: The pole vault champion as a freshman in 2019 is second-seeded in that event and also will run on the second-seeded 400 relay, and as part of the 800 relay.
Daisy Englund, Rock Mid Peninsula: She was part of two relay champions in 2019 and earned the Division 3 cross country titles this past fall and in 2017. She’s seeded third in the 100 this weekend, first in the 800 (2:34.6), fifth in the long jump and will run on the second-seeded 800 relay.
Ashton Hord, Felch North Dickinson: The Mountaineers junior sprinter is the top seed in the 100 (13.9) and 200 (28.8), the fourth seed in the 400, and also will compete in the long jump.
Jaylyne Lindemann, Baraga: The shot put champion in 2019 as a sophomore will attempt to add another championship in that event and should contend in the discus as well.
Landry Koski, Rock Mid Peninsula: She’ll look to add to 1,600 and 3,200 championships won in 2019 as a sophomore, competing this weekend in the 400, 1,600 and as the third seed in the 3,200, and she’ll also run on the second-seeded 800 relay. She was third in Division 3 cross country in the fall.
PHOTOS: (Top) Marquette's Maria Millado hands off to Clarissa Remillard in the 800 relay during the Marquette County Meet this spring. (Middle) Ishpeming’s Lola Korpi runs the 3,200 at the Marquette meet. (Phots by Cara Kamps.)
'Fleet Feet' Tells Story of State HS Track
August 30, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
As a Hall of Fame radio broadcaster, Jim Moyes has told stories of high school sports for more than 50 years – and helped others do the same with his contributions as an authority on Michigan high school track & field history.
In the latter role, Moyes decades ago endeavored to uncover the names of every champion in MHSAA Finals history. And amid that research, he uncovered stories he knew he must share from the state’s rich tradition.
Moyes’ initial inspiration added to the expertise of another of the state’s foremost historians in the sport – Michtrack.org creator and Track & Field News associate editor Jeff Hollobaugh – has culminated in a 439-page must-have tome covering more than a century of the state’s best.
“The Fleet Feet of Spring: Michigan’s High School State Championships in Track & Field, 1895-2018” is co-authored by Moyes and Hollobaugh and tackles exactly that – more than 100 years of track & field results, beginning with an era before the MHSAA was created during 1924-25, with summations of championship meets, photos and features along the way that paint an all-encompassing picture.
“My initial project was simply to develop a data base of state champions in track & field, but it soon mushroomed into much more. While delving into the research I was inspired by many of the vast accomplishments dating back over the years,” Moyes said. “It wasn’t long before I realized that this was a story that should be told, and it soon became a labor of love.
“Before my research, I had never heard of many of these great athletes of the past. I was dumbfounded to learn that Alan Smith, an eight-time state champion, was killed in action in World War II, as well as deeds of others both on and off the athletic fields.”
Moyes said he first was “piqued” to write during his days as a student at North Muskegon, where at his school library he picked up a copy of “Athletics in Michigan High Schools: The First Hundred Years” by Lewis L. Forsythe, the first president of the MHSAA Representative Council.
Moyes’ gathering of names began long before the internet and led him to libraries all over our state. He also wrote hundreds of letters as he tracked down thousands of names – mostly first names, as often only the last names of competitors were listed in newspaper reports during the early eras.
With Hollobaugh’s imprint, all of those years of research became not just an encyclopedia, but a story.
“What Jeff has accomplished with this book cannot be thanked enough with just words,” Moyes said. “Jeff took this data base and created a format for state champs that took him many hours, days, weeks, months and even a couple of years to finalize.
“He laboriously fact-checked this entire book and created many of those amazing ‘nuggets’ that gave this publication the character that goes beyond boring our readers with just stats.”
“The Fleet Feet of Spring” is available from Amazon for $24.99. The first 268 pages are filled with stories of every meet dating back to events conducted by the Michigan Inter-School Athletic Association. The next 170 pages are packed with every championship listing imaginable, including names of contributors to winning relays through the years and a list of total individual champions per school.