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Ishpeming Dominates with Record Total

By John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com

May 31, 2015

KINGSFORD — It was a dominating performance by the Ishpeming boys during Saturday’s Upper Peninsula Division 2 Track and Field Final, to say the least, as they retained their title with a U.P.-record 164 points.

The Hematites were followed by archrival Ishpeming Westwood with 75 and Iron River West Iron County at 64.

Senior Nate Meyer paced the Hematites with four firsts, taking the 100-meter dash in 11.64 seconds, 200 (23.36) and 400 (54.33) and anchoring the winning 1,600 relay.

“I’ve run my 400 faster, but had PRs (personal records) in the 100 and 200,” said Meyer. “I had very good starts, and my brother Zach who runs in college (at Hillsdale College) has worked with me. I don’t think I would have won those races without him helping me.”

Ishpeming grabbed the top three places in the 800. Tommy Potter won that race (2:11.64), followed by Daren Guichin (2:12.38) and Derek Mahoski (2:15.87).

“Nate and Tommy are the backbone of our team, and we surround them with good people.” said Hematites coach Scott Syrjala. “Taking the top three places in the 800 is huge. We have a great group of seniors who are just very competitive.”

Ishpeming captured the 400, 1,600 and 3,200 relays and was runner-up to West Iron in the 800.

Potter added a second in the 1,600 (4:45.92), with Guichin fourth (4:59.31).

Westwood’s Vincente Carlson dominated the 110 hurdles (15.77) and 300 (42.59), finishing more than two seconds ahead of the field in each race.

Brandon Olson provided West Iron with a first in long jump at 19 feet, three inches. Rusty Johnson was runner-up in the 400 (56.23). Teammate Nik Thoney took second in the 200 (23.87), and Johnson placed third (23.96).

Fourth-place L’Anse scored 34 of its 55 points in the weight events, with Levi Hoskins winning discus (139-9) and Ryan Delene taking third (102-4). Brandon Kempainen took shot put (42-7¾) and Hoskins was runner-up (41-0).

Ironwood senior Jared Joki won the 1,600 (4:43.35) and 3,200 (9:58.02).

The 3,200 combined runners in Division 1 and 2, with Marquette junior Lance Rambo the overall winner in a U.P. Division record time (9:50.03).

“I was happy with how everything went, although I would have liked to have kicked it in a little sooner (in the 3,200),” said Joki, who plans to attend Brigham Young University this fall. “Lance got little bit of a gap on me and I did my best to minimize that. My place was to stay with him as long as I could.”

Joki, who hopes to run cross county and track in college, liked Saturday’s cooler weather conditions better than the 86-degree heat the athletes endured a year ago.

“We had nicer weather than we had last year,” he said. “It was more comfortable for running this time.”

Click for full results.

PHOTOS: (Top) Nate Meyer pulls ahead of the field for one of his three sprint championships Saturday at the U.P. Division 2 Final. (Middle) Tommy Potter, right, and teammate Daren Guichin take off at the start of a race; they finished first and second, respectively, in the 800, and second and fourth in the 1,600. (Photos courtesy of Cara Kamps.)

High 5s: 5/22/12

May 22, 2012

None of this week's High 5s honorees knows much about losing. Ann Arbor Pioneer's Drake Johnson is unequaled in his best race, Decatur's Erika Southworth has averaged more than 25 wins pitching each season of high school, and the Remus Chippewa Hills girls track team hasn't lost during the regular season in nearly a decade.

Erika Southworth

Decatur senior

Softball

Southworth, a pitcher, is finishing her fourth varsity season after earning all-state honors after all of her previous three. She both won her 100th game and notched her 1,000th career strikeout last week, putting her in the MHSAA record book in both categories. Southworth is 24-3 this season with a 0.83 ERA and 199 strikeouts, and also leads her team with a .448 batting average and 35 RBI. She's signed to play next season at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and is considering a major in business. Decatur is ranked No. 7 in the state coaches Division 4 poll.

Celebrate good times: "My 100th win was at home, and they gave me a picture that said '100 wins.' It's really nice. ... My 1,000th strikeout was at Climax-Scotts, and my teammates were counting down in the dugout. I was batting one inning, and I could hear them whispering. After the strikeout, my catcher called timeout and came out and gave me a hug. Then the umpire (asked what had happened), called timeout, gave the ball to my coach and announced it to everyone on the field."

Commander-in-chief: Southworth is her class' president and has been part of the student council and National Honor Society. "I like being involved with my class. I've gotten to know a lot of people that I wouldn't usually talk to in a regular school day."

I learned the most about pitching from: One of my high school teammates from a couple of years ago (Kelsey Vliek), her dad (Jeff) got me into it. After that, I just played travel ball, and my coach would help. Then I just went to different pitching coaches." 

Competing with Cole: Southworth has a fun rivalry with little brother Cole, a freshman wrestler and baseball catcher. "We both take strength and conditioning at school, different hours but we do the same lifts. So we try to beat each other that way. ... This year is the first year I've ever pitched to him. I always told my mom it wasn't a good idea. I'd just aim for his face all the time."

The ball starts here: "I like that I start out every play. The pitcher kinda controls the game, controls the pace of the game. I like knowing where most of the balls are going to be hit. (And) I think it's more of a challenge. I always go for more of the challenging things."

(Click to read more.)

Drake Johnson

Ann Arbor Pioneer senior

Track and Field

Johnson, who has signed to play football this fall at the University of Michigan, is a two-time MHSAA Division 1 champion in the 110-meter hurdles, and won both that race (14.25) and the 300 hurdles (38.63) at Friday's Division 1 Regional at Saline. He also ran on the second-place and state-qualifying 1,600 relay and on the third-place 800 relay. Johnson owns the Pioneers' record in the 110 hurdles of 13.7 seconds. Last fall as a running back, he was tops in the state with 2,809 yards rushing, sixth in the MHSAA record book for one season. He also is interested in running track at U-M.

Loving both for different reasons: "I like the thrill of football. I love the games, the scoring, the hype around football. Track, it's just the competitiveness of one-on-one. It's your best effort against their best effort." 

I learned the most about running from: "I've always had my coaches at Pioneer, and my dad (Michael Johnson) has always been my hurdles coach. If I feel like I'm not running as well as I can, I can say, 'Hey dad,' and he'll say come to the track a couple times and we can fix it."

As a running back, I try to be like: "Not a single person, but a combination of Tyrone Wheatley and Eric Dickerson. Just watching videos with my dad, I got interested in seeing what (Dickerson) ran like. He really was amazing at what he did."

My favorite thing to do that isn't a sport is: "I love watching movies. Any movie I can find. I love the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movies, and I love the 'Oceans' (Eleven, Twelve, etc.) movies."

Up next: Johnson will major in philosophy and psychology, and eventually wants to be a psychiatrist. "Just knowing how people think. ... I always tried to see things from other people's points of view. I'm an open-minded person, and (I enjoy) the whole study of trying to see how people think."

(Click to read more.) 

Remus Chippewa Hills girls track and field

Heading into last week, the Warriors were riding a 74-dual meet win streak, and edged Mount Pleasant by 1.5 points to win their Division 2 Regional on Friday. Chippewa Hills, competing in the Central State Activities Association tonight, also won its 10th-straight league championship meet Tuesday. Most of the Warriors are underclassmen -- the team has only one senior.

(Click to read more.) 

This spring's previous honorees