Benzie Leader Adds to Family Legacy
November 4, 2015
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
BENZONIA – Like father, like son.
Bill Huddleston’s impressive cross country achievements at Benzie Central during the mid-1980s could soon be matched or surpassed by his 17-year-old son Brayden.
"The parallels (are striking)," Benzie Central coach Asa Kelly said.
Bill was a four-time all-stater, ran on three MHSAA title teams, and posted a personal-best time of 15:32, which ranks fourth on the school's all-time career list.
Fast forward 30 years, and Brayden, already a two-time all-stater, is hovering over those marks.
On Saturday, Brayden and his Benzie Central teammates will seek a third consecutive MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 championship at Michigan International Speedway. The Huskies, who have won eight boys titles, captured three in a row once before – from 1984-86 when Bill was a standout on the team.
Benzie enters Saturday's Final ranked No. 2 in the coaches’ poll behind Lansing Catholic – the same scenario as last year.
"It would mean a lot to me and my teammates," Huddleston said of a potential three-peat. "That's definitely the goal – to bring back another title and make it 14 state championships (boys and girls) for the school."
The Huddlestons have had a personal stake in seven of those crowns. Brayden’s older brother, William, was on Benzie's 2009 championship team while older sister Makayla was on the girls’ title-winning 2011 squad. A cousin, Theresa Warsecke, was the lead runner on that 2011 team.
"There's a lot of talent in that family," Kelly said.
Brayden is the latest to step to the forefront. The junior won last Saturday's Regional by 40 seconds.
"I told him before the race I would like to see him run away with it," Kelly said. "I felt like he needed a good win heading into the state finals – to get that feeling of 'I'm ready.' That's exactly what he did.
"It was a good confidence booster. That's what you've got to have – 100 percent confidence if you're going to go in and have big goals."
Huddleston finished 27th (16:41.5) as a freshman and ninth (16:09) as a sophomore at his two previous MHSAA Finals. He ran a 15:40 earlier this season, and he's hoping to beat that Saturday. He's currently fifth on the school's all-time list, eight seconds behind his father, which, of course, has led to some good-natured fun between the two.
How often is it brought up?
"About every week," Bill said, laughing. "One of these meets he'll get it (15:32)."
“I’m working on it,” Brayden added. “It’s definitely a landmark I want to reach and surpass.”
Could it happen Saturday? That would be an opportune time since Benzie will be facing a talented field that includes Lansing Catholic, Hanover-Horton and Shepherd. Lansing Catholic beat Benzie in the Cougar Falcon and Portage Invites earlier this year.
But that was the case last year, too. Then Benzie won the MHSAA title by 54 points.
"Anything is possible," Kelly said.
The Huskies won the Regional at Michaywe Pines Golf Club in Gaylord last Saturday by 35 points over Charlevoix. Benzie put four runners in the top five – Huddleston, Jake Williams, Jeffery Crouch and Noah Robotham. The fifth runner, Hayden Bretzke, placed 16th.
"It will be a challenge, but I think the boys can do it," Bill Huddleston said. "They're really coming together as a team. They're all improving."
Kelly, who believes it could come down to the fifth runner, likes his team's experience.
"Our top guys are juniors and seniors," he said. "Four have run there (MIS) multiple times. I like it that I have that experience. I think the kids are confident and will be relaxed."
Williams can motor, too. He ran a 15:47 at Portage, edging Huddleston by four seconds. It was the first time Benzie put two runners under 16 since the 1980s. Williams finished 25th overall in last year's LPD3 Final, Robotham 34th.
Huddleston, though, is the leader.
"He's the kind of guy who thrives on competition in big meets," Kelly said. "A lot of people get nervous, but kids like Brayden get excited."
Huddleston enjoyed a strong track season in the spring, taking fourth in LPD3 in the 1,600 and sixth in the 3,200. He was also on the 3,200 relay team that came in fourth.
Two weeks after the MHSAA Finals, he set a school record in the two-mile by running a 9:19 in an elite race outside Chicago.
"It was crazy," Huddleston said. "Our first mile was a 4:30."
Huddleston didn't let up either. His brother, William, a senior majoring in engineering at Ohio Northern, took an internship in Traverse City over the summer so he was home to train with Brayden. One of William's cross country teammates at Ohio Northern came up to train as well. Ohio Northern won the Ohio Athletic Conference championship Saturday.
"Brayden looks up to his brother," Kelly said. "He learned a lot about discipline. He would see his brother go to his job all day, come home and then still put the miles in. It was great for him to see that because it's easy to be talented, but it's a lot tougher to be disciplined and take that talent and continually improve."
Huddleston started the season by locking horns with Traverse City Central standout Anthony Berry in an invitational at Benzie. The two were going almost stride for stride until Berry surged ahead in the final mile. Huddleston still finished with a personal best 15:40.
It’s that type of performance that’s helped Huddleston become a more confident runner, his father said.
"He knows he can run with just about anybody," Bill said. "He gets out there and goes for it. He doesn't shy away from (the competition)."
Kelly said competing against runners like Berry sets a bar for Huddleston to try and reach.
"I tell Brayden sometimes you're going to win, sometimes you’re going to lose, but the biggest thing you're going to get out of any race is what you take from it and how you learn from it to become a better runner in the future," he said.
Not only is Huddleston's confidence up, so is his foot speed, which has really helped him close out races.
"In the spring he dropped from a 4:40 to a 4:23 mile," Kelly said. "In the two mile, he never broke 10 (before last season). Then he runs a 9:19. That race (near Chicago) was a huge turning point for him. I think he realized that he could be really good at this."
Huddleston can certainly draw inspiration from his family. Bill Huddleston still holds the 8,000-meter record at Alma College. Brayden's mother Racquel played basketball and ran track at Benzie, and played basketball at Alma College. Like William, Makayla is running in the collegiate ranks, too. She's at Oakland University. Warsecke, meanwhile, runs at Toledo.
And there's more to come. Brayden's younger sister, Bella, and cousin, Angie Warsecke, are freshmen on the girls cross country team.
But right now all Brayden Huddleston is thinking about is Saturday. What would be a good day for him?
"Individually, I would be happy if I could be in the top three and run a 15:30 or so," he said. "Most of all, though, I want to do as well as I can for my team so hopefully we can three-peat."
That's what Kelly likes to hear.
"Let's be honest," he said. "Five years down the road, you're not going to remember those invitationals very much, but if you happen to pull something off at the end of the season you're going to remember that forever."
Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. 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) Benzie Central's Brayden Huddleston drives toward the finish during a race (Middle) Huddleston raced against Traverse City Central standout Anthony Berry, left, earlier this season. (Below) Brayden stands with his parents Bill and Racquel, younger sister Bella and high school coach Asa Kelly, far left. (Photos courtesy of Benzie Central cross country.)
Lee Learns From Best, Runs To Be Next
August 18, 2015
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
FENTON — Jacob Lee attained a measure of fame last summer through his association with the No. 1 high school distance runner in the nation.
However, the Fenton High School senior gained much more from the experience than an appearance on the cover of a major national running magazine.
When Running Times profiled Grant Fisher in its September 2014 issue, his training partners shared in the glory. The cover of the magazine showed Fisher and five visible training partners doing repeats on a sledding hill at Bicentennial Park in Grand Blanc.
On the far right of the cover shot was Lee, who had trained since eighth grade with Fisher and a group of predominantly Grand Blanc runners led by coach Mike Scannell.
"That was pretty awesome, actually," Lee said. "I saw myself. I knew the article was about Grant. It's still pretty cool to be training with all those high-caliber guys."
Fisher was a two-time national Foot Locker cross country champion who won two cross country and five track and field titles in MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 meets, setting the all-time Finals record of 4:00.28 in the 1,600-meter run as a senior last spring.
Fisher raised the bar incredibly high for the next generation of Michigan high school runners. Having trained daily in the offseason with Fisher, Lee had a unique front-row perspective as Fisher progressed into one of the top high school distance runners ever in this country.
Lee certainly hopes to take the lessons he learned in training with Fisher onto the cross country course this fall and the track next spring. But, beyond that, he will seek to apply lessons learned while training in Scannell's group to other areas of his life.
"It was incredible to train with Grant Fisher and all those guys up at Genesys (Athletic Club in Grand Blanc) with the level they train at," Lee said. "It's not just athletics. They strive to do great in the classroom and the community. That's what I like about it. They have household goals, academic goals. We just strive to achieve them."
One lesson that Lee has learned all on his own is that, no matter how well you've trained and how attainable your goals might appear, strange things can happen in MHSAA Finals.
He was primed to grab a top-30 spot last year after finishing 37th in the Division 1 cross country meet as a sophomore. Things were going according to plan through the mile mark before the race began to unravel for Lee. His body mysteriously betrayed him. Slowing down just a little bit can spell disaster in the Finals, as Lee discovered by dropping to 212th place out of 256 runners with a time of 17:24.3.
"I was feeling good between the first and second miles," Lee said. "I was right on pace. I was in the top 30-40 group. About the second mile, I started cramping up. I don't know what happened exactly. My back kinda tightened up, too. I couldn't move as much. My stride became super short. I'm not really sure what happened that day. I'm just making sure it's not going to happen again."
The Finals aside, it was a season in which Lee lowered his personal best from 16:13.4 as a sophomore to 15:46.75 as a junior. He broke 16 minutes twice.
“I thought the season overall was a great success,” he said. “I wish the state meet would’ve gone better, because I know my fitness level was higher than what I finished.”
Lee's shot at redemption came at the Division 1 Track and Field Finals, where he placed 13th as a sophomore in the 3,200-meter run in 9:38.78. He was peaking at the right time, running 9:23.6 on May 1 in Saline and 9:27.9 two weeks later in the regional meet.
As was the case in cross country, Lee was positioned right where he'd hoped to be. But bad things sometimes happen when so many fast feet are in close proximity. Again, disaster struck for Lee in the biggest meet of the season.
"I tripped and fell with 800 to go," Lee said. "I got spiked in the head, actually. I've still got a little bit of a mark. So, I wish that would've gone better, because I was in the top eight going into the last 800, but there's nothing you can do about that. I was right behind (Davison's) Nick Schmidt, who ended up coming in sixth."
The 5-foot-7 1/2, 122-pound Lee got to his feet and finished 21st with a time of 9:37.23.
“When I first met Jake, I thought he was someone’s younger brother who happened to be training with the team and Mike’s guys,” Fisher said. “Jake’s always been one of the smaller guys. Because of that, he has to make up for that in his work ethic and intensity at every practice. I definitely have a lot of respect for him because of that. He’s racing against guys who are 6-3, 170 or whatever. Jake’s not the biggest dude. Jake has a focus that is pretty special. He brings his all at every practice.”
While Lee no longer has the Stanford-bound Fisher to push him in training, he will have some strong talent within his own league to keep him sharp throughout the regular season.
Fenton competes in the Flint Metro League, which will feature Clio senior Ethan Taljonick and Holly senior Dilon Lemond. Taljonick finished 16th in last season’s Division 2 Final, while Lemond was 39th in Division 1.
Lee's goal is to finish among the top five at the MHSAA Finals, but along the way he hopes to emerge from that speedy trio as the Metro League champion.
"The competition is really high in our own league, so it should be a good race for the individual top spot," said Lee, whose personal best came when he won a talent-laden league jamboree at the Cummings Center in Mount Morris. "All of the league meets are pretty good competition, especially the ones with Clio and Holly. There's no slacking off when it comes to racing those guys, for sure."
Lee also will get a good daily push in practice because of a coaching change that has former Fenton all-stater Jesse Anderson in charge of the cross country program. Anderson was 11th in 2006 and 10th in 2007 at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Cross Country Finals. He still runs at a high level in road races.
“It’s going to be a huge benefit, a huge advantage for us,” Lee said. “Not only does he know what he’s talking about, but he runs. He knows all of this great stuff about running, he owns a shoe store, but he can also run with us and tell by our individual fitness what we’re capable of.”
And what is Lee capable of this season
“It’s pretty limitless, really,” said Anderson, who calls coaching Fenton his “dream job.” “We want to keep him healthy. He’s coming in with a very, very strong base. We’ll see how he responds to training.”
Lee began running in fifth grade with the encouragement of his physical education teacher at North Road Elementary in Fenton.
“We had this thing called Mileage Club at North Road,” he said. “He turned me on to that. I started running. I really liked it. I kept running every single day to get toe tokens. Once you get five miles per card, you get a token. It was a race between me and my friends to get the most tokens. You put them on a shoelace and wear them around; it’s pretty cool.”
As cool as they were back then, a medal from the MHSAA Finals on Nov. 7 would be even cooler.
And for his part, Fisher was glad to see friends like Lee make his Running Times cover.
“I was really happy they picked that picture,” Fisher said. “They were taking all these options for a cover shot. To have that group of guys on the cover was really special, because those are the guys I train with day in and day out. A lot of times, they’ll feature me or Mike.
“Jake is the younger guy, but he’s very dedicated to running. To get him on the cover and the other guys, when they first saw it and had the magazine in their hands, their reaction was pretty cool. It was definitely more special for me. I’d rather have it that way than an individual shot of me.”
Bill Khan served as a sportswriter at The Flint Journal from 1981-2011 and currently contributes to the State Champs! Sports Network. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Fenton's Jacob Lee runs with a pack during last season's MHSAA Division 1 Cross Country Final at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Lee, on left, turns the corner during a race at the 2013 Brighton Invitational. (Top photo by RunMichigan.com, middle by Bill Khan.)