Full Team Effort Helps Gladstone Go Distance
June 19, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
With Gladstone’s boys track & field team set to begin competition two months ago, longtime coach Gary Whitmer described his team in a local newspaper preview as a mystery.
There were signs it could be a special spring, going back at least a year, when the Braves finished third at the Upper Peninsula Division 1 Finals thanks in part to then-freshman Calvin Thibault winning both hurdles races.
Whitmer also took notice at the end of the fall when his cross country team finished third in UPD1 – one point ahead of annual distance power Marquette – with Gladstone senior Adam Bruce the individual champion.
The Upper Peninsula Track & Field Finals can be a little bit different game than the championship meets downstate. But Gladstone’s boys solved all the mysteries and played the Finals game well. The MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for May won league championships in both the Great Northern and Mid-Peninsula Conferences, then claimed their Division 1 Regional before winning its first Finals since 2013 on the first day of June.
The Braves won with 127 points, 30 ahead of both Ishpeming Westwood and Marquette – the runners-up in Gladstone’s league title wins. The Braves also broke a four-year Finals winning streak for Marquette, the UP’s largest school with 950 students – twice as many as Gladstone’s 460.
“Downstate, you can come (to the Finals) with 4-5 really good athletes and win it, because there are so many schools,” Whitmer said. “But up here, if you don’t have the numbers … when you get in with Marquette and the Sault and bigger schools, you have a different strategy. You’ve got to get as many kids in there as you can.”
Gladstone had 40 athletes on its boys team this spring. Just fewer than half – 18 – qualified for the Finals during the Braves’ 24-point win at their May 16 Regional. Of that 18, 15 placed among the top six to score in their events at the June 1 Finals.
While Marquette has owned UPD1 over the last decade with seven titles since 2010, Gladstone was similarly dynastic winning six straight from 2004-09 and then again in 2013. But compared to that most recent previous champ, this Braves team enjoyed an important variety of talented athletes – with a boost from a comeback by one of the program’s best all-time.
Bruce had hip surgery in January and didn’t start racing again until May. But whereas Gladstone didn’t place anyone in the 1,600 and 3,200 during the 2013 title run, Bruce won both races this time both at the Regional and Finals. He didn’t get up to speed to break his school records set in both in 2018, but still came through with 20 points at the championship meet and likely would have scored more if he’d run the 800 – the only event at this year’s Finals where Gladstone didn’t have a placer. Bruce was held out of that race to keep his still-recovering legs fresh for the others. He also didn’t run on the 3,200 relay, which without him still cut 25 seconds off its previous best to place third.
“I don’t think the kids think they could’ve done it,” Whitmer said of winning it all. “He kept encouraging them and gave them confidence there was that possibility.”
Thibault did repeat as winner in both hurdles races and took third in the 100 and second in the 200. Sophomore Blake Servant won the discus by more than five feet, and junior Luke Van Brocklin just missed breaking the school record in the 400 while finishing second in a fast, tightly-contested race. Senior hurdler/sprinter James McKnight and junior thrower Greg Chenier also placed in multiple individual events.
Also adding to the Braves’ championship score were senior Jake Strasler, juniors Louis Berube, Jarret St. John and Kyle Van Brocklin; sophomores Wyatt Madden, Lucas Hughes and Ethan Milam; and freshmen Giovanni Mathews and Hunter Potter.
Gladstone won all but one of its meets this spring – finishing behind Marquette in late April at an event that allowed unlimited entries. Sadly, the Braves had additional motivation as well this season after longtime athletic director and assistant coach Matt Houle died Nov. 9. He had coached since the mid-1980s and remained part of Whitmer’s staff since the latter took over as head coach in 2002.
Whitmer had planned to retire with Houle, but not this soon. He’s eager to continue working with the program they helped build, already excited about a strong distance runner coming up and his team’s improving field events.
“I’ll be 64 this year, my wife is a family physician up here, and all six of our kids went to Gladstone High School and graduated from here,” Whitmer said. “I’m just going to keep plugging away, and I enjoy it. We have a great bunch of kids.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2018-19
April: Garden City baseball – Read
March: Holland West Ottawa boys swimming & diving – Read
February: Lowell wrestling – Read
January: Farmington United gymnastics – Read
December: Warren Woods-Tower wrestling – Read
November: Rochester Adams girls swimming & diving – Read
October: Leland boys soccer – Read
September: Pickford football – Read
August: Northville girls golf – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Gladstone poses with its championship trophy after winning the UPD1 Finals. (Middle) Adam Bruce finishes his title-winning run in the 3,200. (Photos by Cara Kamps.)
Hackett Catholic Prep's Baldwin Carrying Hopes from Home to Paris
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
July 12, 2024
KALAMAZOO — Heath Baldwin studied Spanish at Hackett Catholic Prep, but he will need to brush up on some French as he heads to Paris to compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
The recent Michigan State University grad, who earned a master’s degree in marketing and research analytics, will compete in the decathlon, a two-day event Aug. 2-3 at the Stade de France.
While the Olympics will be televised in the United States, because of the time difference, Baldwin’s events will take place locally during the early morning hours.
Wishing him a Bon Voyage, more than 200 former classmates, friends, family and well-wishers plus six television crews congregated Thursday for an impressive sendoff, starting with the Hackett “Summer Ensemble” playing the school fight song.
A 2019 Hackett grad, Baldwin led the track & field team to three Regional championships, two MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 titles, was an individual five-time Finals champion, holds four school records and was named track & field Athlete of the Year for all divisions his senior season by the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association.
“I went through a lot at Hackett, obviously, with my dad (Roger) passing away (in 2016) and I always had a great support system of people who took care of my family and made sure we were doing good,” Baldwin said. “They’ve stuck with me through college, too, following me in all my events and to this point, so it’s cool that I’m doing well now and they’re along for the ride.”
The ride will begin Tuesday when Baldwin travels to Germany to train before heading to Paris.
“Everything’s starting to feel more real,” he said. “I think once I get to Germany and start to train with other people, we’ll be able to get a little competitive. I think it will be fun training in Paris.”
Facing a huge crowd in Paris should not be a problem, he said.
“The more people will only help me. I’m a big adrenalin guy. I feel like I get more nervous talking at an event like this than I do for the Olympic Games.
“Once I get out on the track, everything just feels natural to me.”
Naturally a no-brainer
Baldwin’s Finals championships for Hackett had come in high jump, long jump and both hurdles races. Tackling the grueling decathlon was a no-brainer.
“I was good at the hurdles, high jump, long jump, which are three very technical events in the decathlon, so if you’re good at those three, you usually can pick up the other ones pretty easily is what they say,” he said.
“Also, I played baseball as a pitcher, so that correlated with the javelin. A lot of college coaches recruited me off that, I think.”
Baldwin said knew 2024 was an Olympic year, “so I thought it was something I maybe could do. After last year, when I scored above 8,000 points (in the decathlon) for the first time and came in sixth at the USAs, it became a little more realistic for me.”
The personable athlete not only qualified for the Olympics at this year’s U.S. Track & Field Trials in Eugene, Ore., but won the decathlon with a personal best 8,625 points.
He finished first in the shot put (54 feet, 2½ inches), high jump (6-11¾), 110 hurdles (13.77 seconds) and javelin throw (218-9).
Other decathlon events are the 100 dash, long jump, 400 run, discus, pole vault and 1,500 run.
Baldwin earned Great Lakes Region Indoor and Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year honors and was named first team Academic All-American with a 3.8 GPA.
"We were awestruck at his athletic achievements (at Hackett),” said Judge Paul Bridenstine, the “Voice of the Irish.”
“While he continued to play football, basketball, baseball exceptionally at Hackett, his athletic life was transformed when he was introduced to (former HCP track & field coach Simon Cholometes).”
Cholometes said Baldwin’s success is something that didn’t come out of nowhere.
“Heath put the wheels in motion a long time ago and worked harder than most people can even fathom,” he said. “I can remember 5:40 in the morning, Heath running sprints up that hill over there,” he said, pointing. “A foot of snow, running sprints up that tall hill.
“In college, he’s a Big 10 champ, three-time All-American, Great Lakes Region Indoor and Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year, MSU’s Athlete of the Year twice, holds five school records plus Big 10 records in heptathlon and decathlon.”
Family won't be far
Baldwin plans to be in Paris for the opening ceremonies and will be cheered on by his mom Suzann, sister Hope and brothers Aiden and Gowan.
The Olympian also will have a remembrance of his late father with him. He has a tattoo of his dad’s signature on the inside of his upper left arm.
Losing his father “was a big part of my life and obviously changed my perspective in the way I train and the way I live in a way he’d be proud of,” Baldwin said.
“We set some big goals going into this year and it’s been a dream. I love representing the Kalamazoo community and Michigan, Hackett and Michigan State.
“I like to remember everybody I compete for, and I think that gives you a bigger purpose when you go out there. That’s definitely something I’ll be doing at the Olympics in Paris. I’m excited to represent there and hopefully go for a medal.”
PHOTOS (Top) Health Baldwin, seated, signs a hat during his sendoff Thursday at Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep. (2) Baldwin clears a hurdle during the 2019 MHSAA Finals. (3) A hurdle was gifted to Baldwin on Thursday. (4) MHSAA trophies Baldwin helped win decorated the stage for his sendoff. (Sendoff photo by Pam Shebest.)