Tales of the Tape: Track & Field Finals

June 3, 2014

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Broadcasts of all seven MHSAA Track and Field Finals from Saturday are now available free of charge on MHSAA.TV.

Also, check out below the highlight reel including some of the most notable performances, including the following:

  • Lindsay Rudden of Marquette becoming the first girl to break the 5-minute mark in the 1,600-meter run at the Upper Peninsula Finals.

  • Great duals in the 200-meter dash between Sekayi Bracey of East Kentwood and Anna Jefferson of Oak Park in LP Division 1, and Joshuwa Holloman of Auburn Hills Avondale and Danny Bauder of Zeeland West and Josie Yesmunt of DeWitt and Taylor Manson of Lansing Waverly, both in LP Division 2.

  • Final lap kicks by Grant Fisher of Grand Blanc to win the 3,200-meter run and Karrigan Smith of St. Johns score a record-setting win in the 1,600.

  • Record-setting performances by Nolen Bright-Mitchell of Concord, Michelle Davis of Reading and Angie Ritter of Frankenmuth in the sprints and hurdles.

  • A photo finish win for Munising’s Andy Cooper in the 110-meter hurdles, one of his four victories on the day in UP Division 3.

PHOTO: Sanford Meridian relay runners complete a handoff during Saturday's Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals at Comstock Park. (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com.)

Moment: Fisher Runs into Record Books

April 27, 2020

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Grant Fisher had already established himself as one of the state's top high school distance runners of his era when he took the track for his last MHSAA Finals on May 30, 2015.

By the end of the day, he'd run into the record books as one of Michigan's fastest all-time.

Fisher added his fourth and fifth individual Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals championships that day, three-peating in the 3,200 meters (8:53.41) and repeating in the 1,600 (4:00.28). His time in the latter broke the previous all-MHSAA Finals record by more than seven seconds and at the time was the second-fastest time in NFHS history. It remains the third fastest nationally.

The previous all-MHSAA Finals record in the 1,600 had been set by fellow Grand Blanc graduate Omar Kaddurah (4:07.67) in 2010.

“I never raced against Omar,” Fisher said after his last Finals races. “I thought it was incredible he ran a 4:10. It’s nice to keep it in Grand Blanc. He was someone I looked up to.”

Fisher went on to star at Stanford, winning league and NCAA championships, earning 12 All-America honors and setting the U.S. collegiate record for the indoor 3,000 meters.

Click for coverage of his 2015 Division 1 Finals from Second Half and watch his 1,600 record run from the NFHS Network.