Work, Patience Paying Off as EGR's Workman Finds Pace Among State's Lead Pack
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
September 25, 2025
EAST GRAND RAPIDS – Earlier this month, East Grand Rapids cross country standout Jonah Workman arrived at the Sparta Invitational feeling less than enthusiastic to run as raindrops began to fall.
“I came into the race not really thinking I was going to try super hard, to be honest,” Workman said. “I got to the race and it started to rain and the course was super muddy when we were warming up. We really didn't want to run.”
A day of angst quickly turned to exhilaration hours later after Workman eclipsed 15 minutes for the first time to win the event easily.
He clocked a personal-record 14:58.8 and won the race by almost a minute.
“Jonah asked me what I thought the course record was, and I jokingly said, ‘If you break 15, I think you will get it’, and then he went out and just hammered and put it away,” Pioneers boys cross country coach Drew Collette said. “That’s a quick course, but I didn't know if the conditions would be perfect for that. But he went for it and blew me away.
“It was a significant PR, and anytime you can break 15 it's a big deal, especially by yourself. That’s really special, and it was super fun to see that.”
Workman is one of only three runners in Michigan to run under 15 minutes this season as he joins Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Kamari Ronfeldt (14:47.9) and Beckett Crooks (14:56.1).
“I went the first mile in like 4:42 and I was like, ‘I feel good. I can run pretty hard,’” Workman said. “I ran hard after that mile. It was a fluke of a race, but glad it happened.”
Workman is one of the top returning runners in the state this season and the catalyst of a talented Pioneers squad.
He finished fifth overall at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final last season, but hopes to end his career accomplishing a goal he set for himself in middle school when first meeting Collette.
“I met him in eighth grade, right before I took the job, and we talked about his goals and he wanted to win a state title his senior year,” Collette said. “I told him that we could get there, and we can work on that.
“He had natural talent, and he's been very dedicated to his craft and very dedicated to his goals. When you have that type of talent and mix it with someone that is driven the way he is … it's not a real surprise to see four years later and here we are.”\
Workman recalled that first encounter with Collette and the conversation concerning what he hoped to attain.
“When I met him I had just PR’d and won this race and was very pumped up with energy and confidence,” Workman said. “I thought I could have a future in this, and that would be winning a state championship for me.
“I always watched my sister, Ainsley, running at the state meet and I also watched all these family friends win it and be successful. So in middle school, I kind of always had that in the back of my mind.”
Running has been a common thread in the Workman family.
“I was put into running in sixth grade by my parents, who both ran at Calvin College, and my sisters ran, so it was kind of natural for me to go into running as well,” Workman said. “I played basketball freshman year, but sat the bench and I thought to myself, ‘Why am I sitting the bench when I can go train for track?’”
Workman was a freshman when East Grand Rapids won a Division 2 team championship, the first in program history. He finished 45th individually that season and 31st as a sophomore before making a giant leap his junior year.
“We were really careful about him and his progression,” Collette said. “He was watching and learning from the older guys and then had more of a workload as a junior when he became a lot stronger and became a leader on the team.
“Seeing him take fifth last year and now being exactly where he wants to be and where we wanted him to get to in a place where we can vie for that individual title is really exciting. It’s been an awesome progression of just being patient, being smart and having that long-term goal in mind the whole time.”
Workman’s mindfulness to his training, coupled with a strong worth ethic, were main factors in his times continuing to drop.
“It’s all about consistency within my training and building confidence over time,” Workman said. “I used to beat my stuff up after bad races and that set me back, but now I go with the one-third rule and coach has been a great tool to keep instilling that confidence in me that I can compete at a high level.”
Workman has his sights set on the EGR record (14:56), as well as capping his high school career with another Finals title. The Pioneers have finished third as a team the past two years.
“Winning state as a team is one of my biggest priorities, especially after my freshman year being able to win it as a team," Workman said. "Being able to win it now with all of my friends would just be a super way to end high school cross country.
“These guys have been dedicated to their craft and have been for four years with me. It's been amazing to be in this type of environment, and I'm surrounded by guys who want it as bad as I do.”
Expectations remain high for this group because of the runners’ experience and depth.
“It’s a group that is really driven and really wants to get back on top,” Collette said. “We want to bookend by trying to win one more time for this group. It’s going to be a hard challenge, but that’s what we’re aiming for.”
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS East Grand Rapids’ Jonah Workman runs at Grand Rapids South Christian’s Under the Lights Invite on Aug. 22. (Photo by Willoughby Sports Photography.)
After Season of Historic Finishes, Mesick Boys Looking Forward to Another Run
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
November 22, 2025
Mesick just finished the best boys cross country season in school history.
And the Bulldogs have even higher expectations for next year.
Mesick won a conference championship for the first time, and qualified for the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final for the first time in 38 years.
And the Bulldogs did it all without a senior in the lineup – meaning the entire lineup could be back for more in 2026.
“We’re coming back ready to stay fresh and just honestly do a lot more than we did this year,” said Kyle Redman, who ran a 15:40 to break his own school record and capture first place at his team’s Regional meet. “We want to keep building off that and dig deeper to go further.”
Redman was often the number one runner for Mesick, as was his twin brother Tyler, who finished just seven seconds behind him at the Regional.
Unfortunately, Tyler Redmond aggravated an ongoing hamstring injury and was unable to run in the Final.
“Every goal on our checklist, we hit,” said fourth-year Mesick coach Josh Kaskinen. “We won the conference. We qualified for states, and then right after that Regional race Ty found that he wasn't going to be able to go for states.”
Mesick had entered just six runners in the Final, and called on Harper Musta to step up just as he did during the conference championship race.
Musta, who was battling injuries too as he entered the Final, was the team’s number six runner all season. He ran as the fifth at Michigan International Speedway, ensuring Mesick could place as a team.
“I want to pat Harper on the back as I was a little nervous that we weren't going to score points at state even though we were ranked 11th coming in,” Kaskinen said. “Harper stepped up so that we could actually score and gave us all the experience that we need for next year.”
Despite missing a definite all-state candidate, Mesick still finished 21st at MIS, with Kyle Redman 11th.
The Bulldogs were not surprised Musta came through. He had done it earlier in the season, garnering a lot of credit for the school’s West Michigan D League title.
The Bulldogs narrowly came out on top of the conference championship race with 45 points. Mason County Eastern finished runner-up with 46, and Grand Traverse Academy wound up in third place with 47 points.
“Winning the conference was a big accomplishment,” Tyler Redman said. “For three or four years we were trying to just get people to run cross country, and everybody fought to actually get good at it.”
Kyle Redman led the way in the conference with a first-place finish. Tyler Redman was second. But it was first-year runner and sophomore Musta who found a way to figure in the scoring for the Bulldogs. He didn’t finish in the school’s top five but he did finish ahead of other schools’ top five runners.
“Harper is our assistant coach's older son, and he never ran before,” Kaskinen noted. “I told him leading into that championship meet that his job was to focus on Mason County Eastern's number five guy. I knew it was going to be a close race. And he was able to do it.”
Musta vividly recalls the race, passing Eastern’s fifth runner midway. He admits he wasn’t sure he was up to the challenge. The race gave him his first appreciation of the mental aspects of running.
“It was a pretty interesting experience,” Musta said. “I actually had a goal in mind, and I had to keep on speeding up and pushing myself. And it was a lot more thinking than I'm usually used to.”
Musta expects to use that experience to help Mesick to even more success in the years ahead, as does freshman and number three runner Kyle Doty and the Bulldogs’ other regular scorers Gunnar Hallett and Alex Kastl.
With everyone returning, Kaskinen is already looking forward to next season.
“I do think it's going to be a little more competitive for that final scoring spot next year,” he said. “It's kind of cliche, but they were like a brotherhood. They really just came together, and they were closer than I've ever seen a group of kids before.”
Having identical twins lead the team and winning races has been pretty special for Mesick runners.
“It's definitely cool and interesting because we’ve been good friends for a while,” Hallett said. “They're kind of pushing me to do more. Sometimes we just get together and run. And then instantly it's a bit bigger group, and it's easier to do longer runs.”
The twins first started running in an elementary school club led by Rhonda Workman. They played football in middle school.
And while their teammates can tell the difference between the twins, opponents rarely can. All they often know is the guy finishing first was named Redman.
“We get to work off each other, and we have training partners throughout the whole season,” Kyle Redman said. “And it is fun when we’re warming up for the race and they'll be like, ‘Are you Kyle or Ty?’ And then you can just mess with them and they'll never actually know the truth.”
Tom 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) Mesick runners line up for the start of the West Michigan D League championship race Oct. 15 at Marion. (Middle) Twins Kyle and Ty Redman lead the league finale. (Below) Mesick’s Finals qualifiers take a photo at the finish line at Michigan International Speedway. (Photos courtesy of the Mesick boys cross country program.)