East Kentwood Follows Perfect Plan
June 1, 2013
By Tom Kendra
Special to Second Half
KENTWOOD – Devin McKinney and his East Kentwood teammates had a plan going into Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final.
“We knew that if we won our two relays, that we would win the meet,” explained McKinney, a star junior sprinter and hurdler for East Kentwood.
The host Falcons executed that plan to perfection and won the MHSAA team championship for the fourth time in the past five years – previously winning in 2009, 2010 and 2011, before placing eighth last spring.
East Kentwood did not have any individual event champions, but coach Dave Emeott’s team did have place-winners all over the board and then dominated the sprint relays to take the title with 43 points.
Grand Blanc was second with 32 points. The Bobcats were led by sophomore Grant Fisher, who won the 3,200-meter run and took second in the 1,600 meters, missing out on a double win by six thousandths of a second.
Lake Orion, paced by senior 1,600-meter champion T.J. Carey, placed third with 29 points, followed by Walled Lake Central (27) and Davison (24).
McKinney ran the anchor leg of East Kentwood’s winning 400-meter relay team (42.41) and ran the second leg on the winning 800-meter relay team (1:27.72). He also was third in the 110-meter high hurdles.
“I just wanted to bring it for my team,” McKinney said. “We really wanted to get that state championship back.”
McKinney was joined by Justin Harris, Onrekus Carter and Kewon Getter on the winning 400-meter relay team and Getter, Houston Glass and Kevin Smith on the 800-meter relay team.
The threat of rain and possibly thunderstorms never materialized, but competitors had to deal with a steady wind throughout the day. The wind was blowing into the runners’ faces as they headed toward the finish line, resulting in higher-than-expected times in many events, particularly the sprints.
One athlete who said that going against the wind actually helped his performance was Walled Lake Central senior Cullen Prena.
Prena was the only boys athlete to win two individual events, even though he delivered an amazing end to his high school career away from the grandstands, in the throwing area.
Prena came in seeded second in the shot put, but overcame top-seeded Kevin Weiler of Swartz Creek with a winning throw of 60-11. But he was just getting warmed up. Prena hurled the discus more than 200 feet three times, including his final throw of 210 feet, 1 inch, which broke the old Division 1 Final record by more than 12 feet.
Afterward, Prena launched into an impromptu physics lesson to explain how throwing into the wind helped him.
“It was a perfect wind for the discus,” said Prena, who will compete in several major national events this summer, including the Chicago Throws Challenge and the New Balance Outdoor Nationals later this month before competing at the University of Oregon next year.
“A headwind is better because it gets under the disc and lifts it up. I felt great coming into today, and that wind just got me going even more.”
The discus win avenged his second-place finish in the event a year ago, when it was won by Matt Costello of Bay City Western, the Mr. Basketball winner who now plays for Tom Izzo at Michigan State.
While Prena was a shocking 34 feet further than the second-place thrower, most of the events were much closer.
Surprisingly, the closest race of the day was not in the 100-meter dash or a sprint relay. On a day when all eyes were on three of the top girls distance runners in the country in the 1,600-meter run, it was actually the boys’ 1,600-meter run which produced the day’s tightest finish.
Carey, a senior at Lake Orion, edged out Grand Blanc’s Fisher by the narrowest of margins, after the fans cheered both of them on as they ran neck-and-neck down the stretch. The final times showed Carey in first at 4:15.763 and Fisher second at 4:15.769 – a scant six thousandths of a second difference, which wasn’t official until a photo finish was used.
“I’m known for my kick and I needed every single bit of it today,” said Carey, a University of Missouri commit, with a grin. “It was the closest finish I’ve ever had, but I had a feeling that I got him right at the end.”
Fisher responded from that heartbreaking finish to capture the 3,200 meter title later in the meet.
Davison senior Gabe Hodge was a dual winner, capturing the 400-meter dash and then anchoring his team’s win in the meet’s final event, the 1,600-meter relay.
Saline captured the 3,200-meter relay title.
Other individual champions were Ato Condelee of Holland West Ottawa (long jump), Robert Atwater of Lincoln Park (high jump), Dylan Kole of Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills (pole vault), Freddie Crittenden of Utica (110-meter hurdles), Joshuwa Holloman of Auburn Hills Avondale (100 meters), Ross Williams of Birmingham Groves (300-meter hurdles), Andrew Middleton of Holt (800 meters) and Brandon Wilks of Southfield Lathrup (200 meters).
PHOTO: (Top) The East Kentwood boys track and field team poses on the medal stand after claiming the LP Division 1 championship. (Middle) Grant Fisher won the 3,200 in leading Grand Blanc to the team runner-up finish. (Photos by John Brabbs. Click to see more photo coverage from RunMichigan.com.)
Record-Setting Harper Woods Earns 1st Title, Western's Good Doubles Up on Greatness
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
May 30, 2026
HAMILTON — Parma Western junior Ryan Good was traditionally a competitor in the 400 and 800 dashes going into this spring, but he said he had a revelation earlier in the year while running the 1,600 at the Branch County Invite.
“I ran a 4:18,” he said. “I was just kind of like, ‘That’s pretty high up in the state. I might as well try and go for the 1,600 as well.”
Good did, and at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals, he was more than just good. He was the champion in two events.
First, he prevailed in the 1,600, claiming that title in a time of 4:13.20. Later, he won the 800 in a time of 1:53.81, pulling away over the last 100 meters with a big finishing kick.
“I’m definitely more 800 and 400 oriented,” he said. “But I think my body’s changed a lot. I used to be scrawny, a little bit weak. Over the past couple of years, I’ve gotten a lot more strength and mental strength as well.”
In the team portion Saturday, Harper Woods won going away, already having the title clinched before the final races of the day.
On the strength of dominant sprint relays, the Pioneers finished with 47 points, eight ahead of runner-up Otsego.
It was the school’s first Finals title in boys track & field.
“They had a lot of strong times going into indoor season,” said Harper Woods head coach Mike Carson, who was the coach of River Rouge’s runner-up team last year. “As we went from indoor into outdoor, we knew we wanted to do something special together as a team.”
Harper Woods set LPD2 Finals records in two relays. The 400 relay of Jayden Crump, DeAndre Bidden, Dakota Guerrant and Shawn Mosley won in a time of 41.50, which broke the record of 42.13 set in 2024 by Berrien Springs.
In the 800 relay, Harper Woods won in a record time of 1:27.26 with the team of Mosley, Crump, Dewayne Johnson and Bidden. The old record was 1:27.71 set by Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in 2016.
Crump, Bidden, Guerrant and Johnson are all standout football players as well, and Carson said there was little issue having them all come out for track.
“All the football players run track,” Cross said. “All the skill players run, and all the linemen do shot put. “They’ve been the ones to take the track program to the next level.”
Battle Creek Harper Creek senior DJ Wood repeated in the 110 hurdles in a time of 14.20, but fell short in his bid to repeat as champion in the 300 hurdles, finishing ninth. Corunna senior Logan Herrick claimed the 300 with a time of 38.02.
After finishing second in the high jump last year and reaching 7 feet at his Regional, Stevensville Lakeshore junior Declin Doroh won this time at 6-10.
Other champions Saturday included Coopersville’s Austin Langeland in the 100, Otsego’s Jack Cook in the 200, Portland’s Brady Rowe in the 400, Whitehall’s Robert Jazwinski III in the 3,200, Frankenmuth’s 1,600 relay and Grand Rapids Christian’s 3,200 relay, Vicksburg’s Kameron Kessler in the shot put, Otsego’s Alex Robbins in the discus, Spring Lake’s Ben Goran in the pole vault and Saginaw Swan Valley’s Jamison Pelt in the long jump.
Adrian’s Dillon Lauffer (100, 400) and Ethan Boprie (200) and Grand Rapids Christian’s Ezra Ippel (shot put) finished first in adaptive events.
PHOTOS (Top) Harper Woods' DeAndre Bidden sprints to the finish ahead of the field in the 800 relay Saturday. (Middle) Parma Western's Ryan Good leads one of his two winning races. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)