Raymond's Race to Remember

November 12, 2012

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Over the past nine days, Nick Raymond has replayed his best high school cross country race over and over in his memory.

He starts from the beginning and goes right through the finish line – while enjoying especially his surge during the second of the 3.1-mile Lower Peninsula Division 3 Final on Nov. 3 at Michigan International Speedway.

“If I hadn't done that, it could’ve been a difference race,” Raymond admitted Monday.

Instead, it was one of the best Division 3 races run in MHSAA history.

The Erie Mason senior received a Second Half High 5 after claiming his school’s first overall individual championship in 15:05.1, the second-fastest Division 3/Class C Finals time behind only that of Ovid-Elsie’s Maverick Darling in 2007. Raymond's also was the second-fastest time run at the Finals this fall.

And it was a redeeming way to finish his high school cross country career. Raymond found himself at the front of the Division 3 pack as a junior in 2011, but finished fourth. But he started this race with a speedy 4:39 mile and then kicked into another gear halfway home, which was his strategy all along.

“I've just been doing that all year, and it seemed to be working time-wise,” Raymond said. “If I do it then, and I can pull away, it gets into (my opponents') minds that they could get beat.”

Erie Mason has a solid running tradition. It finished 16th as a team this fall and won Division 3 in 2006. Matthew Waldfogel took first among individual finishers in the 1994 Class C Final, when team and individual qualifiers ran separate races, although his time would've tied for only second if both had been run together.

Raymond’s final season puts him at the top of individuals who have come through the program.

He finished his freshman year as the team’s number two runner, and “just progressively got faster,” Erie Mason coach Alison Meisner said. By the end of last fall, Raymond had the school record with a best of 15:59, his time at MIS.

But the best was yet to come. 

"He had lots of natural talent, but he has a really good worth ethic," Meisner said. "He's very goal-oriented. He's just a little more driven to work at goals he sets for himself." 

When he opened this season at the Ottawa Lake Whiteford Invitational by running 15:59 again, Meisner knew her standout might show more than just the usual improvement that comes from going from junior to senior.

Raymond’s moment of realization came two weeks later when he ran a 15:26 at the New Boston Huron Invitational.

“I realized I could go much faster,” he said. “I was pretty tired, because it was the first time I ever went that fast. But whenever I get a p.r. (personal record), I feel like I could go faster.”

Raymond ran 15:16 a week later at the Oregon Cardinal Stritch Invitational near Toledo, and then 15:15 or better three times before cutting 10 more seconds at MIS.

Oddly enough, the subject of Darling – now a standout at the University of Wisconsin – came up after Raymond beat the field by more than a minute with a 15:15 at his Regional.

An opposing runner quipped that Raymond might have dominated, but he wasn't Darling just yet.

But he’s getting closer. And Raymond too hopes to continue running at the highest level next fall.

“They were dogging me that I wasn't as good as Maverick Darling was,” Raymond said. “But my friends said it was sweet that I was even mentioned in the same sentence as him.”

PHOTO: Erie Mason senior Nick Raymond charges down the home stretch on the way to winning the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 championship at Michigan International Speedway. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)

Sinke Family Has Bear Lake Primed to Compete for Championships Now, In Future

By Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com

October 25, 2024

One Sinke is nearing the end of a high school running career seeking to qualify for a fourth-straight MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Cross Country Final.

Northern Lower PeninsulaA few other Sinkes are right in the middle of possible team and individual title opportunities.

Mason Sinke, who broke the Bear Lake cross country race record earlier this season, is about to finish his stellar career on 5K courses. He still has the spring track season ahead, and then he’s moving on to run for Hope College. Saturday, he hopes — or rather expects — to qualify for his fourth Final while vying for the individual Regional title at Benzie Central.

His team will not qualify for the Final due to an insufficient number of healthy runners. But the Bear Lake girls team – led by freshman Callie Sinke – has its eyes on qualifying for the Final and can’t help but think a state championship is obtainable in the near future.

A future boys title also isn’t out of the question as the Lakers have a strong middle school program as well. The middle school’s current number one runner is Johnny Sinke. 

And all the Lakers cross country teams are coached by Tony Shrum and Kim Sinke. Shrum has headed up the cross country program, which co-ops with Onekama, since 2012. Kim Sinke, a former college distance runner, joined the staff this year. She is also the mother of Mason, Callie and Johnny Sinke.

The Bear Lake girls team take a trophy photo after clinching the West Michigan D League title.Bear Lake is really hoping to start some strong winning streaks this weekend after long Regional championship streaks were common up until a decade ago. The Lakers are not unfamiliar with Finals appearances, but they’re looking for their first in a decade with the Regional trophy earned.

“For the girls, as long as we’ve got everybody healthy and racing, the goal is to win,” Shrum said of the upcoming Regional. “It would be our seventh girls Regional title in the program’s history, so they would be on a list with a pretty exclusive group.”

Shrum hopes the resting and recovering this week will allow the Lakers to put their best foot forward in the Regional. Bear Lake’s girls, the West Michigan D League champions this year, will be racing against some familiar foes.

There will be disappointment if there aren’t several Lakers listed among the top 10 finishers – and a handful in the top five are pretty much expected.

Callie Sinke, who is fighting through normal running injury challenges, and Addy Zeller are the Lakers’ top two runners and arguably the top two rated runners in the region. But injuries have slowed down the top two Lakers a bit.

“Right now Callie is about 20 seconds ahead of everybody in the field Saturday,” Shrum pointed out. “We have three of the top five girls when healthy in the region, and our fourth girl has top-15 ability and our fifth girl has been coming on.”

And these Lakers are young. Callie Sinke is a freshman and Zeller, hampered lately by a quad injury, is a sophomore. Melodie Hulinek, the number three runner who is coming back from a knee injury, is also a freshman. Natalie Brown, the current fourth runner, is a junior. Two other freshmen, Isabella Card and Peyton Buckner, may run for the fifth scoring spot, along with two other juniors, Lauren Pulido-Huber and Libby Daugherty. The co-op is without a senior on the girls side.

Mason Sinke, middle, takes a photo with Bear Lake head coach Tony Shrum and assistant and mother Kim Sinke.Shrum is excited about the opportunity this year and really the next three. He notes two current middle school runners will likely compete for varsity spots next fall.

“We’ve got a good core of girls coming back for the next four years,” Scrum said.

Zeller and Sinke attend Onekama High School. The rest of the girls team are enrolled with Bear Lake. 

Mason Sinke is a senior at Onekama. He too has sat out a few races recently to rest and prepare for his last two career high school meets.  

All season, he’s had a special partner and coach, Kaden Forward. The school record Sinke broke this year had belonged to Forward, who finished 13th in last year’s Final. Sinke was a few seconds behind Forward in the Final last year and finished 16th. He’s looking to take one of the top spots – if not first place – this Saturday and go on to a top 10, if not top five, at the Final.

The West Michigan D League features one of the top runners in the state in Alex Tyndall from Mason County Eastern. Tyndall finished 18th in last year’s Final, a few seconds behind Sinke. Tyndall and Eastern will be among many competitors Bear Lake has raced against week after week. A handful of other runners familiar to Mason Sinke will challenge him for a top-five Regional finish.

“Right now Mason would be the number two guy behind Alex coming in,” Shrum acknowledged. “We’ll see if he wants to chase Alex and push him and see if he can take Alex down. but otherwise I think silver at the Regional is a definite possibility for him.”

Callie Sinke runs a race this fall.The Bear Lake boys team has no chance of qualifying for the Finals as two of its five team members are out with injuries. But Shrum holds strong hopes senior Greyson Hoeflinger will also qualify for the Finals as an individual.

Over the 35 years of the co-op’s existence, Bear Lake’s boys teams have won 23 Regional titles and the girls have won six.

“Between Mason and Kaden, they have really changed the mindset of our program,” Shrum said. “Callie is leading the girls on the same path.”

Bear Lake is looking forward to an influx of talented young runners on the boys side too.

“Our next set of boys teams could be banner raising, winning teams of the state final,” Shrum predicted. “We’re on the comeback collectively as a program.”

The future is bright, but the current boys and girls teams members should get the credit for getting Bear Lake back to its winning ways.

“To me it is exciting to get back on that level and compete for state titles and Regional championships in the next five, six years,” Shrum noted. “A lot of it really has to do with the current group of kids that we have and their dedication, their discipline, their excitement and enthusiasm for the sport.”

Tom SpencerTom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Mason Sinke runs to his school record-setting 5K time Sept. 7 at the Bear Country Invitational. (2) The Bear Lake girls team take a trophy photo after clinching the West Michigan D League title. (3) Mason Sinke, middle, takes a photo with Bear Lake head coach Tony Shrum and assistant and mother Kim Sinke. (4) Callie Sinke runs a race this fall. (Photos courtesy of the Sinke family.)