Football Future Awaits, but Mayne Focused First on Finishing Track Finals Sweep
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
April 22, 2025
LAWTON — One inch. One lousy inch.
That was the difference between a championship and second place for Mason Mayne in the shot put at last year’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Track & Field Finals.
One year later, it is still fresh in the mind of the personable Lawton senior as he begins his quest for more hardware.
“That one hurt,” said Mayne, whose best attempt finished second to a 60-foot, 2-inch toss by Pewamo-Westphalia’s Gavin Nurenberg.
“That really burned. You start to wonder, did they measure it wrong? What if I just literally put a little more into it? It drove me to work harder toward it.”
That harder work paid off during the second event that day as Mayne defeated the then-senior Nurenberg 166-6 to 165-11 in the discus to claim Lawton’s first-ever track & field state championship in that event.
Besides taking home that Finals title last year, Mayne holds school records with an indoor-season shot of 62-6 and outdoor of 60-9, as well as a discus toss of 178 feet.
An all-state football player and outstanding student as well, Mayne had opportunities to continue his athletic careers in both sports before signing with Northwestern University. But he also made the decision to compete for his high school one more time this spring instead of graduating early to begin his college career – much to the delight of Lawton track & field coach Mike Meyer.
“He’s been nothing but a joy ever since his freshman year,” Meyer said. “He’s a good, hard worker, obviously a great athlete. All his talent is definitely a nice problem to have.
“He’s been a two-year captain for us, so a good leader, (he) does everything and more than what we ask. That’s why he has the success that he has.”
All-around talent
Mayne said coaching is one big crossover from football to track & field.
“Listening to someone tell you what to do and then do it, I think that’s a super big part of throwing,” he said. “If someone tells you how to do something better in your throw to make it technically better, and you can’t do it, then you can’t get better.
“Playing football for so long, I’ve had so many coaches tell me to do this just a little bit different. And being able to flip that and make that change and adjustment, that’s what makes me able to get better at throwing.”
Mayne said hurling the disc takes more finesse than the shot.
“Technical-wise, the shot put (12 pounds) is easier because I can base it more on how much muscle I can put into it,” he said. “Discus is lighter, (3.5 pounds) but you also have to use your technique a lot more.
“Also, you have to push your body to a point of really stretching it back, allowing it to create a lot of torque into the disc to be able to throw it far enough for it to be worth anything.”
As for those windy days competing in field events, “A lot of people think that the wind behind you helps you,” Mayne said. “That’s actually not true.
“It actually bats the disc down. In the discus, as a right-handed thrower, you want the wind to come across a little bit from your left to throw into. Think of it as an airplane wing, holding up the airplane, the air coming into it. With the shot, it doesn’t matter. It’s just throwing it.”
Lawton’s athletes who specialize in field events also compete in some running competition. Mayne has run the 200 this season and took a turn running the 100 last spring as well.
“We usually have our throwers run the 200,” Meyer said. “We like athletes instead of just specializing in just one or two things for the (Southwest Athletic) Conference.
“We have all of our kids run two, three and sometimes four events. It can be a long day at a track meet if your events are done and you have nothing to do.”
Mayne is not only an accomplished athlete, but carries a 4.19 grade-point average.
“With the way my mom (Pat) raised me and my brother (Carter) both, she’s a teacher at Paw Paw in the elementary,” he said. “She raised us with the idea that academics are very important. That’s where I’m academically driven.
“She might get mad at me for saying this, but if I miss an assignment, I’m getting a picture on my phone with a circle around it of the assignment missing in my grade book. It’s very important to me.”
That emphasis motivates Mayne’s advice for freshmen who play sports.
“Stay on top of (academics),” he said. “For so many years my mom kept me on top of things. Now I’m able to stay on top of things better myself.
“Your freshman year is the make-or-break it. Having an older brother helped a lot because without him, he wouldn’t have told me that and I wouldn’t have stayed ahead of it.”
Tough decisions
Mayne’s outstanding performances in throwing events last year attracted several college scholarship offers for track in addition to several he’d received previously for football. Choosing a college was not an easy decision for the defensive lineman, who is a two-time Kalamazoo Gazette Dream Team selection in that sport.
“It’s funny because I was really, really considering track for a while,” said the 6-foot-3, 275-pound Mayne. “After my sophomore year when I had a very successful track season, I started to lean toward track.”
But a trip to the Big House to watch University of Michigan play tilted the scale to football.
“I was watching and I realized I just couldn’t give it up,” he said. “I love both sports, but something about football, the team atmosphere, just sitting in the stadium gets me antsy, that atmosphere and that vibe. That’s really what flipped me into the football aspect. That electricity from the fans and the guys around you. I haven’t experienced any other sport like it.
“It was a very tough decision. I was sad that I couldn’t go multiple ways. Many fantastic coaches recruited me. It’s unfortunate that you have to tell coaches you can’t go to their program because you’re choosing a different program.”
Mayne said he had specific criteria in mind when choosing a college. “Academics is a priority here,” he said. “I also want to play football at a very high level, and then the last is a family aspect.
“Northwestern just checked all the boxes.”
Before the season, Meyer thought he might lose Mayne to early graduation since “he’s a very, very good student. We chatted and he said, ‘Coach, I definitely want to be throwing. I love throwing,’ and he’s a man of his word.
“Once he told me that, I was more excited for the season.”
At one point, Mayne did indeed consider leaving high school to enroll early at Northwestern, which would have meant missing his final spring throwing season.
However, “my mom wasn’t ready for me to leave, which I’m fine with,” he said. “I understand that. I’m her youngest child, I get it.
“Also, you get to start throwing indoors and it’s like, ‘I don’t want to give this up, either.’”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Lawton’s Mason Mayne begins to unwind while throwing the shot during a meet. (Middle) Lawton track & field coach Mike Meyer. (Below) Mayne stands tall on the football field. (Action photos courtesy of Mason Mayne; headshot by Pam Shebest.)
Martin Returns, Redeems, Runs Away for 3rd Finals Championship in 4 Seasons
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
November 22, 2025
MARQUETTE — Martin has gotten used to making the long but fruitful trip to the Superior Dome in the middle of the Upper Peninsula.
But after winning back-to-back 8-player Division 1 championships in 2022 and 2023, the Clippers didn’t make it out of the Lower Peninsula last year, losing in the final second of the Regional Final.
That started the Redemption Tour.
The players coined it, the coaches went with it, a fan even painted it on his car windows. The Clippers completed the tour Saturday with a dominating 52-8 victory over Blanchard Montabella 435 miles away from their home south of Grand Rapids.
They didn’t want to forget what happened last year, and that bad taste in their mouths helped turn the 2025 campaign into the kind of season they’ll never want to forget either — only for much better reasons.
“We didn’t want that feeling again because it was terrible,” Martin coach Brad Blauvelt said. “Especially winning the two years before, we wanted to be here doing this.”
Senior quarterback Haylen Buell was a big part of the win; he ran for a game-high 179 yards on just nine carries and threw for another 134 during a four-touchdown championship day. That’s two years after being one of the leading rushers and receivers in the 2023 Final.
“(This) means everything. This is what we strive for each and every year,” Buell said. The workouts to get here start each year in March. “I think every senior was at every single workout. It showed up here.”
A dozen seniors, some with experience in previous Finals like Buell, were key to the season and to this victory. Despite the final score, Blanchard Montabella proved up to the challenge early on and Martin needed an answer.
The Mustangs scored first, a rarity for any team against Martin, according to Mustangs coach Tim Webb. They used 13 plays and nearly six minutes to go 90 yards as Brady Kieff put them on the scoreboard with a three-yard run.
Martin answered with a scoring drive to tie it, ending on a three-yard touchdown rush by Buell. Montabella took the ball back and took another methodical drive right back into the red zone, even overcoming a holding penalty early in the drive.
“We thought that we were gonna be the more physical, more dominant team,” Blauvelt said. “That first quarter, they gave us a run for our money and then we kind of took over with our physicality.”
With the help of a key takeaway to set it all in motion.
On the third play of the second quarter, and the 10th of the drive, the Mustangs fumbled. Martin senior linebacker Isaac Suk recovered, and the whole game changed. Compounding the devastating turnover, Martin scored on the very first play of the ensuing drive, on an 81-yard touchdown run by Bryer Watson.
“That was a huge turnover,” Blauvelt said. “Football is momentum, and once we had that, we didn’t really look back.”
It opened the floodgates for the Clippers.
The Mustangs went four-and-out. Martin scored on a 44-yard run by Buell. Montabella punted. Martin scored on a one-yard rush by Seth Toris. Montabella turned it over on downs near midfield. Martin scored on a 25-yard pass from Buell to Anderson Keeler.
It went from looking like a shootout to a 38-8 Martin lead at the half.
Webb said the Mustangs needed to play mistake-free football to compete. It was tough to keep doing that all afternoon.
“We did some good things, I thought, first quarter, first couple drives,” he said. “But we needed to play almost flawless to be able to compete. Their (12) seniors just kind of control the game. Line of scrimmage, they controlled the offense and defense. They tackled better than we did. And I got to give them credit for that.”
Montabella finished the season 11-2 while making its first trip to the Finals. A tough ending to be sure, but a lot to be proud of as well.
“It was a good experience for us, but I mean it’s tough to have it go the way it did,” center Brayden Foster said. “But first one in school history.”
Webb said he hopes the successful run this year shows other Montabella students they can do it, but it’ll take even more dedication in the weight room.
“It’s been a pretty magical couple weeks for our football program,” he said. “And I think we’re just getting started.”
Martin is the gold standard right now in Division 1, with the Clippers now winners of three titles over the last four years. They can forget about last year now that the Redemption Tour is complete with a 13-0 championship season.
“It’ll take me a minute to realize all that,” Blauvelt said. “We’re just trying to win the football game at this point. We’ll look back at it and years from now be like, ‘Man, that was a heck of a run.’ Heck of a run, just special, every time we get here and then win it, too. I’m just proud of my team and my coaches.”
He was thrilled to have a player-led team this time around, something that’s no slam dunk with high school-age kids. It’s the most tight-knit senior group he’s had, and that’s what made this team unique among the three champion squads.
Plus that dominating defense.
“Our defense is different,” he said. “This is our best defense that we think we had. And we held our hat on that, and we like to be physical.”
And if a strong senior class and a feared defense weren’t enough, Martin also had the advantage of having been here before, the coaches and the players. They have an itinerary for the trip that works — which includes speeches from players and coaches the night before — and the ability to focus on the game instead of the commotion of championship week.
“We take that as an advantage,” Blauvelt said. “We just try to soak in the moment every time we come. This is a special place to play. … It’s electric, it’s fun. It stinks it’s eight hours from home, but it’s a cool place.”
One that’s been very good to them.
PHOTOS (Top) Martin’s Weson Elkins (22) charges down the sideline Saturday as Montabella’s Austin Jensen closes in during the Division 1 Final at Superior Dome. (Middle) Montabella’s Brady Kieff steps into the end zone for the game’s first score. (Below) The Mustangs’ Noah Carlson (10) attempts to slow down Haylen Buell as he approaches the end zone. (Click for more from Cara Kamps.)