Comeback Jump as Meaningful as Record
June 4, 2016
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
HUDSONVILLE — Because it was wind-aided, the performance by Jackson senior Anthony Owens on Saturday won't count in the MHSAA track and field record books.
But while it won't go down officially as the best long jump ever at an MHSAA Finals, it was one of the greatest jumps, given the circumstances.
Owens was in third place going into the final jump at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 meet on Saturday at Baldwin Street Middle School. He not only had to overtake the two jumpers ahead of him, he had to overcome the pain of a hamstring injury that he suffered on his second jump of the day.
"It really wasn't working for me and things weren't going my way," Owens said. "But my coaches talked to me and told me this is my last year, to finish strong and leave it all out there and just have fun with it. That's kind of what I did for my last jump. It paid off a lot."
Did it ever.
Owens delivered a jump of 24 feet, 1.25 inches to pass Ann Arbor Pioneer's Terius Wheatley (23-10.75) and East Kentwood's Andre Welch (23-7) and win the long jump championship. Owens' jump eclipsed the 24-1 performance by Flushing's Jeff Kline in the 2009 Lower Peninsula Division 1 meet as the longest ever in any division of an MHSAA Final. However, the wind was at 2.4 meters per second when he jumped, more than the 2.0 that is allowable for record performances.
There is precedent for not including jumps that are wind-aided in the record book. In 1996, Midland's Okoineme Giwaagbomeirel won the Lower Peninsula Class A meet with a jump of 24-6 that was wind-aided.
The guts that it took for Owens to come through and win the long jump means more to him than the record. He was third with a jump of 23-3.25 going into his final jump.
"It was a big deal for me, because I didn't think I was going to be able to get 24 feet with my hamstring pulling on me," Owens said. "The fact I fought through it means a lot. I'm glad I could compete with those guys. Those guys, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have got to 24-1 and got first."
While Wheatley and Welch are rivals, they are also friends who respect one another's ability.
"I know a lot of them," Owens said. "(Wheatley) is a great kid. I love competing with him. We get the best out of each other. He actually PR'd (personal record) today a lot. I think he was excited as much as me. He deserves the glory as much as I do. Without those guys, I don't think we'd be able to compete at our best, because we all know we're right there by each other."
Owens also felt inspiration from a former teammate, Maseo Moore, who died in an automobile crash on I-94 on May 24, 2015. Moore, a member of the track and field team, would have been a senior this season.
"Going into this track season, it really wasn't all about me," Owens said. "It was about the people around me. Our football coach would always tell us, 'It has everything to do with you and nothing to do with you.' When you take away what you're doing for yourself and define your 'why' and why you're doing it, you'll be successful and be a champion. Once I found my 'why' and why I was doing it and why I wanted to be at the top, it paid off. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my coaches and Maseo and all the support I have."
One all-division MHSAA Finals record that will stay in the books is the throw of 67 feet, 5.75 inches by Oxford senior Connor Bandel in the shot put. Bandel's throw broke the all-division record of 64 feet, 0.5 inches set by Todd Duckett of Kalamazoo Loy Norrix in the 1999 Lower Peninsula Class A meet. Bandel won by 13 feet, 1.25 inches.
Bandel also chased the discus record of 210-1 set by Cullen Prena of Walled Lake Central in the 2012 Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals, but he had to settle for a decisive victory with his throw of 198-11. Bandel won by 20 feet, 11 inches.
Bandel's record throw in the shot put came in the fifth of his six throws.
"It definitely felt like a good throw," he said. "I was actually kind of surprised by the distance, because I threw 57-2.5 last week, and that one actually felt better in comparison. I guess I did something a little bit different that I didn't notice and I ended up throwing a little bit farther."
While the wind aided Owens in the long jump, it may have hindered Bandel's bid for the discus record. His personal record is 204-2.
"The big difference today was the wind," said Bandel, who also swept both events last year and hit 198-11 twice on consecutive throws Saturday. "The 204-2, I had a pretty decent headwind to help lift the disc up a bit. The back wind knocked it down a bit."
In the team competition, Oak Park scored 55 points to win its first MHSAA boys track and field championship since the 1972 squad won the Class A title. Rockford was second with 46 points, while East Kentwood was third with 37. East Kentwood had won five of the previous seven Division 1 championships.
Oak Park's only victory came from junior Cameron Cooper, who took the 800 in 1:51.68. Senior Dekaryea Freeman was third in the 800, giving Oak Park 18 points in the event.
Miles Daniel was second in the 100, third in the 200 and ran on the fifth-place 400 relay team for Oak Park.
"The biggest thing we've got going for us is we got some football players to come out," Oak Park coach Robert Lynch said. "The football players came out, have been part of the track team and have put us over the edge."
East Kentwood's Khance Meyers won two events, taking the 100 in 10.73 seconds and helping the 800 relay team set a Division 1 meet record of 1:26.27. Ansel Jeffries, Shane Harris and Welch also ran on that relay team.
The other individual champions were East Lansing's Kentre Patterson (110 hurdles, 14.03); Ann Arbor Skyline's Anthony Giannobile (1,600, 4:11.48); Wayne Memorial's Montel Hood (400, 47.30); Dearborn's Adnan Hamka (300 hurdles, 39.62); Fenton's Jacob Lee (3,200, 9:07.72); Rockford's Jonny De Haan (pole vault, 15-0); and Mount Pleasant's Kalebb Perry (high jump, 6-7).
The other winning relays were run by Rockford (3,200, 7:43.92); Detroit Cass Tech (400, 42.26); and Saline (1,600, 3:19.37).
PHOTOS: (Top) Jackson's Anthony Owens prepares for launch on the way to winning the long jump championship. (Middle) Oxford's Connor Bandel stands atop the awards podium after repeating as shot put champion. (Photos by John Brabbs/RunMichigan.com.)
Generations of Dedication, Pride Fuel Milford's 34-Year Regional Hosting Run
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
May 22, 2026
It may seem a bit of a stretch on the surface, but it makes perfect sense to Brian Salyers.
How can planning a wedding feature work much along the same lines as a school hosting an MHSAA Lower Peninsula Regional track meet for 34 straight seasons?
Easy, contends Salyers. Both take an immeasurable amount of planning.
"I have a couple friends who planned a wedding," said Salyers, Milford's girls track coach. "I told them I'd hosted a track meet, and they're so much alike. There are so many things you entrust other people with. There is so much work to be done, you're hoping things go smoothly."
Like a wedding, Salyers said Milford takes great pride in the event's final outcome. The meet's philosophy includes more than being a stepping stone of funneling deserving athletes along to the MHSAA Finals. At Milford, Salyers said organizers have worked diligently for more than three decades to ensure the participants not only leave with lifelong memories, but also that the meet brings together an entire community.
Volunteers from the school work alongside Milford natives not connected in any way to a track program in a multitude of roles from timing races to rototilling and raking long jump pits, selling dogs and T-shirts and taking tickets. Alumni from up to 45 years ago faithfully return to the school to pitch in whenever needed while also taking a moment to rehash old memories with former track teammates.
Put it all together, Salyers said, and the meet is special.
"It's a melting pot," Salyers said of the mostly unpaid volunteers who work the meet. "It's like, who can come and do it this year? It's not always a fluid list because we pull from such a large group."
The large group has been banding together since 1993. Started by former Mavericks track and cross country coach Gene Balawajder, the school hosted its first Regional in 1988. After moving to a nearby site for a couple years, the Regional landed back at Milford for keeps 34 years ago. Whether it was those first Regionals in the late 1980s or the three and a half decades since, Salyers said the school and community's philosophy hasn't wavered: Take care of the athletes foremost, but also bring the community together to ensure that care happens by organization, identifying issues and swiftly taking action to solve problems.
Milford athletic director James Marszalek said the school handily recruits about 30 people for various positions, only a "handful," he said, who are paid. He said the key to ensuring a smooth meet begins with the volunteers and longtime meet organizer Chris Ceresa, a former athletic director and current assistant coach.
"The No. 1 thing is making sure we have competent people in the right positions and that we make sure it's a day the kids will remember," he said. "But it definitely takes an army."
Ceresa said much of the meet's success comes down to planning and the unselfishness of alumni. For instance, at this year's meet there were five alumni working the long jump, four on the throwing events and two on both the high jump and pole vault as well as many involved as timers.
Ceresa begins recruiting for the following year's Regional at the current event. There he seeks commitments from officials and event workers 12 months in advance.
"We take it very personally; the staff is very committed to the meet," he said. "If you talked to our colleagues at other schools, I think they would tell you they love to come here. It's quite a spectacle, a matter of pride."
The meet even features an unofficial system of where and how volunteers are used. Meet newcomers typically start out in smaller roles, eventually working themselves into the meet's most prestigious position: being an official timer for races. Unfortunately, when the meet became the last Regional in the state to go to electric timing more than a dozen years ago, there was no need for about 20 volunteers who worked as hand timers at the finish line.
Milford boys track coach Eric Hincka ran in the meet as a junior and senior before graduating in 1998. He said while some Regionals typically run more smoothly than others, because of the hours upon hours of organization and the quality of the volunteers, the Milford event annually draws praise from visiting coaches and participants. And that's no accident, he said.
"Every year you hear horror stories of meets which have problems," he said. "We try our best to see that everything is done right so we don't run into problems. We want to honor the kids – it's our philosophy and we take pride in it.
"At Milford, it's multi-generational. Gene as the founder set the standard, and we're just trying to follow in his footsteps."
The athletes notice, Milford senior distance runner Kyle O'Rourke said. Headed to run at Michigan State next season, O'Rourke's pedigree in the meet is three-generational. His grandfather has clerked and also made T-shirts for volunteers while O'Rourke has had an older brother and sister run at the Regional. His mother also ran in the meet.
"It's touching for me to see all the old alumni to come back and work; a highlight of the season," said O'Rourke, a six-time all-stater in track and cross country. "They treasured their time here, and now many of them are part of a community that unites to make this meet run well.
"Yeah, it comes in handy (competitive-wise) that this meet is home for us. But there is also a certain pride in us hosting it. I think we all take pride in how we conduct ourselves at the Regional."
PHOTOS (Top) A relay runner sets up in a starting block during the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Regional hosted by Milford on May 15. (Middle) Runners move toward the starting line before their relay. (Below) Milford’s Kyle O’Rourke rounds a curve during a relay. (Photos courtesy of the Milford athletic department.)