Seven Wins Help Fowler Hurdle D4 Again
By
Wes Morgan
Special for MHSAA.com
June 2, 2018
HUDSONVILLE – Nabbing seven individual event victories Saturday at Hudsonville, the Fowler girls track & field team racked up 87 points to win its fourth Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals championship in dominant fashion.
Pittsford took second place with 55.50 points, followed by Southfield Christian with 37. The title was the Eagles' second in three seasons and came after they finished runner-up to Southfield Christian a year ago.
“It’s a great feeling, said 11-year Fowler coach Jill Feldpausch, a former standout for the Eagles during the 1980s. “We had 30 points coming out of the morning (session) with a first place in high jump, a first place in pole vault and the 3,200-meter relay. That was pretty awesome.”
The 3,200 relay team of Josie Koenigsknecht, Taryn Schafer, Grace Boak and Morgan Goerge turned in a time of 9:51.85 to get things rolling in the right direction for the Eagles. Combined with Ciera Weber’s height of 10 feet, 3 inches in the pole vault, and Alyssa Vandegriff’s top effort and school record of 5-5 in the high jump, Fowler had a good cushion with some of its best events remaining.
The Eagles plowed through the rest of the relays, with Shannon Schmitz, McKenzie Koenigsknecht, Sidney Horak and Kaitlyn Langin winning the 800 in 1:46.28, and McKenzie Koenigsknecht, Langin, Weber and Horak clocked a 50.61 to win the 400. The 1,600 relay crew of McKenzie Koenigsknecht, Josie Koenigsknecht, Boak and Goerge put a bow on the meet with a victory in 4:05.99.
Vandegriff added a win in the 100 hurdles in 15.56 seconds and a fourth-place finish in the 300 hurdles (47.02). She led a trio of Eagles to make the finals in the 100 hurdles. Ciera Weber secured fourth in 16.41 and Sadie Weber was sixth in 16.76. Goerge also scored with a fifth-place run in the 800 (2:24.83).
“Our goal was to win all four relays, and I don’t think that’s been done at Fowler before,” Feldpausch said. “In the 100 hurdles, for three of them to make the finals? They are constantly being challenged, and it’s something to be proud of.”
“Everyone on the team has worked so hard to win a state championship,” Vandegriff added. “We all pushed each other at practices and worked our tails off.”
A couple of future University of Michigan runners capped their prep careers in style Saturday as Concord distance dynamo Samantha Saenz pulled off a hat trick and sprinting star Chika Amene nearly did the same, settling for two victories and a runner-up effort by the closest of margins.
Closing out a phenomenal four years, Saenz, who boasts three all-state performances in cross country, including a Division 4 title this past fall, entered Saturday’s meet as the two-time reigning champion in the 1,600 and a 2017 all-state performer in the 800 and the 3,200. She swept all three events this time around.
The first Saturday in June continues to be bittersweet for Saenz. It was just two years ago that her older sister, Saren, passed away due to complications from a combination of physical and mental disabilities the evening of Samantha’s first 1,600 title.
“I just wanted to go out there and do it one last time for my family, for my friends and for my sister,” Saenz said. “I just run for her. It’s a great feeling.”
Saenz took a conservative approach in the 1,600 (5:00.46) in an effort to leave some in the tank for her other two events. It paid off as she ran a personal-record time of 2:16.31 in the 800. She finished the 3,200 in 11:15.51.
“It never loses its excitement,” she said. “Every time I cross the finish line, it’s so meaningful to me because my sister couldn’t walk or talk. Just the fact that I get to have that gift, it’s just a good feeling.”
For Amene, winning championships has become standard operating procedure, but she certainly hasn’t taken them for granted. She captured victories in all three sprints and was part of Southfield Christian’s winning 1,600-meter relay last June and followed that up with wins in the 100 (12.44) and the 200 (25.33) in her final prep appearance Saturday.
As proud of those wins as she is, the second-place effort to Beal City freshman Angela Kotecki (57.53) in a photo finish at the line in the 400 stung.
“I didn’t get out to a great start in the 100, but I was able to run the girl down,” she said. “The 400 really didn’t go as planned. But the most exciting part was that I was able to PR in two events (100 finals and 200 prelims) and then have a season best in one. The loss in the 400 was painful, but my time was really good.”
So were the performances of several others who came away from Hudsonville with championships. Reading’s Baleigh Irelan was the top performer of the day in the 300 hurdles (45.85), Litchfield’s Allie Vanous notched victories in both the discus (132-10) and shot put (40-4) and Hillsdale Academy’s Katie Vanhavel claimed a title in the long jump (17-3¾).
VIDEO: Fowler’s Eagles Fly High In Relays
PHOTOS: (Top) Fowler’s Alyssa Vandegriff clears a hurdle during her team’s championship run Saturday. (Middle) Concord’s Samantha Saenz sprints the straightaway during one of her three victories. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
Oak Park Girls Hurdle Competition Again to Regain LPD1 Championship
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 3, 2023
ROCKFORD – For the fourth time in five seasons Saturday, Oak Park’s girls captured the Lower Peninsula Division 1 team title – this time with a meet-best 80 points at Rockford High School.
Last season’s champion Detroit Renaissance was second with 58 points, while Ann Arbor Pioneer was third at 56.
The Knights – runners-up a year ago – won again mainly thanks to their dominance in the hurdles. Senior Nonah Waldron won the 100 and 300 hurdles, but also Morgan Roundtree was third in the 100 (13.86) and second in the 300 (41.54) and Carrie VanNoy was fourth in both the 100 (14.18) and 300 (44.11).
Waldon said the team’s success was all about pushing each other the best they could in practice every day.
“It takes maturity to understand that you all can be great together,” Waldron said. “It took a lot of love for each other to be the best we can be.”
The Knights also were second in the 400 relay (47.71) and 800 relay (1:38.21), and third in the 1,600 relay (3:55.27).
“I think that dealing with losing and some adversity helps you grow,” Oak Park coach Brandon Jiles said. “I think the kids used the experience from last year to catapult them this year. We know it’s a points game. We know there are no style points in team championships. We spread the kids out to do what we needed to do. We’re not a depth team, but a quality team. They showed out, and I’m happy.”
Waldron won the 100 hurdles in a time of 13.56 before really putting on a show in the 300 hurdles. She won that event in a time of 40.37, which was the second-fast time in that event in the nation thus far this year. Waldron, who will run in college at USC, also won both hurdles events two years ago and won the 100 hurdles last year, but had a mishap that cost her last year’s title in the 300.
“Last year, I fell and tore my ankle,” she said. “That did motivate (me) a lot more than before. It made me want it more.”
If it wasn’t evident that Renaissance sophomore Jayla Dace might be the state’s next big sprinting star already, she established that on the biggest stage.
Dace won the 100-meter dash in a time of 11.90 and was a part of winning 400 and 800 relay teams. Dace also took third in the 200-meter dash in a time of 24.56.
“The starting gun is a horn, so I’m not really used to that,” Dace said of her strategy in the 100. “I had to really adapt quickly and to make sure I wasn’t the last person to get out of the blocks. Once you see people in the 100 ahead of you, it’s over. I just had to make sure when I started the race that I really didn’t see anybody.”
In the relays, Dace ran the second leg in the 400 and the first leg in the 800.
“I’m just happy we were able to execute,” Dace said.
Saturday was quite an inauguration into the pressure of a high school state meet for West Bloomfield freshman Kamryn Tatum. But she performed like a veteran, winning the 400 in a time of 55.74 and the 200 in a time of 24.10.
“I’ve been at big meets so I know how to deal with quite a bit of pressure, but I was still nervous because it was my first high school (Finals),” Tatum said. “I just wanted to run until the end of the line.”
Ann Arbor Pioneer junior Rachel Forsyth won the 800 (2:09.96) and 1,600 (4:44.22), and East Lansing senior Anna Delgado finished first in the 3,200 (10:33.87). Forsyth also was part of Pioneer’s winning 3,200 relay (9:01.19), and Detroit Cass Tech won the 1,600 relay (3:52.82) by 12 hundredths of a second ahead of Renaissance.
Howell senior Sophie Daugard was first in shot put (41-7), Allen Park junior Abigail Russell first in discus (148-7½), and Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central junior Brooke Bowers won pole vault (12-3). Farmington Hills Mercy junior Milena Chevallier won high jump (5-11), and Rockford senior Maya Anderson was champion in the long jump (18-6½). Flushing sophomore Ally Ingrahm competed in the adaptive 100 (42.81).
PHOTOS (Top) Oak Park's Nonah Waldron crosses the finish line first in the 100 hurdles Saturday. (Middle) Renaissance's Jayla Dace, right, charges toward the finish. (Below) West Bloomfield's Kamryn Tatum, far left, leads the 200. (Photos by Jamie McNinch [top photo] and Carter Sherline/RunMichigan.com.)