Kloss Raring to Make His Move in D3
April 20, 2018
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
HARBOR SPRINGS – Jeremy Kloss is growing weary of northern Michigan’s cold, snowy spring.
“I’m a little frustrated,” said the Harbor Springs junior, who won the 1,600 and 3,200 meters at last June’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Track & Field Finals. “I really want to get a meet in.”
A mid-April snowstorm blasted the area with more than a foot of snow last weekend. Most schools were closed Monday – and some Tuesday.
Kloss used the extended weekend break to put in an eight-mile run – his longest of the year.
“I had to find roads that weren’t as snow-covered as others,” he said. “It wasn’t the best footing.”
No sport has been able to gain traction.
According to the National Weather Service in Gaylord, this is the coldest and snowiest April on record in the northern Lower Peninsula. Some 37.3 inches of snow has fallen in Gaylord this month, eclipsing the previous record of 27 inches in 1923. Traverse City has had 27.1 inches, surpassing the mark of 17.3 in 2007. In addition, the average daytime temperature has been running 18 degrees below normal in this part of the state.
Harbor Springs had its first three track meets cancelled or postponed. The weather is expected to start turning this weekend, so there is hope the season will get underway next week, about three weeks from Regionals.
“I looked on athletic.net and it appears most schools, even downstate, haven’t had too many meets,” said Mike Kloss, Jeremy’s father and the longtime Rams boys track coach. “That makes me feel a little better. If they’re running downstate, and you’re not, then you feel like you’re behind the 8 ball.
“The weather’s got to give us a break.”
Jeremy sure hopes so.
“I don’t know if my mom (Emily, the girls track coach) has taken the snow tires off her vehicle yet,” he said. “I haven’t taken the sand bags out of my truck.”
Once the season starts, Jeremy Kloss is hoping to build off last year’s accomplishments when he set personal bests in capturing the 1,600 (4:25.73) and 3,200 (9:46.25) at the Finals. He was also on the 3,200 relay team that took third and the 1,600 relay that placed seventh. That helped spark the Rams to a third-place team finish.
Kloss, whose three older brothers previously ran for the Rams, jokingly noted last June before the championship meet that his brothers always had one question for him – “Why aren’t you running faster?”
“If you’ve been around us, you know it’s not an easy crowd at times,” said Mike with a laugh.
The 17-year-old put that to rest and now owns bragging rights in the family with the fastest 1,600 and 3,200 times.
Now he’s hoping to keep dropping and challenge school marks in the 800 (Jacques Henning, 1:56.36), 1,600 (Tec Adams, 4:16) and 3,200 (Adams, 9:24).
“My goals are ambitious,” he said. “Aim high.”
“He’s self-motivated,” added his father. “Like (Monday), he went out and ran eight miles in crappy weather. He has big goals in what he wants to do, and that’s what drives him. He wants to be good. He works hard.”
Kloss finished second to Caro’s Yami Albrecht (15:44.7 to 15:47.1) at the LP Division 3 Cross Country Final in the fall. Then, for the most part, he put training on hold to play basketball during the winter.
“Toward the end of the (basketball) season I would wake up at 6 a.m. and run three times a week, and then on the other two mornings I would go to the gym with a couple buddies for workouts (before school),” he said.
All in hopes of getting off to a fast start in track.
Then, Mother Nature intervened.
Kloss is motivated since he’ll have to now prove himself in Division 3.
“There’s a really good group of (distance runners) in Division 3,” he said. “It’s a tough group to hop in with, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
The field includes Albrecht, Hanover-Horton’s Landon Melling, Cass City’s CarLee Stimpfel, Saugatuck’s Corey Gorgas and Kent City’s Fraser Wilson. Gorgas was second (9:20.16), Stimpfel third (9:30.77) and Wilson fourth (9:36.23) in the Division 3 3,200 last June. In the 1,600, Melling finished second (4:17.04), Albrecht third (4:18.49), and Stimpfel fourth (4:19.55).
“That 9:20 Corey (Gorgas) ran in the 3,200 is fast, and I think he ran that fast indoors (over the winter),” said Mike Kloss. “D-3 is a lot different. In D-4 you might have one or two (vying for the title), but in D-3 you’ll have five or six. It’s another challenge, another step.”
In D-4 a year ago, Kloss won the 1,600 by nearly three seconds and the 3,200 by nearly eight.
“I think Jeremy could have gone 4:20 (in the 1,600) in the right type race,” said his father.
East Jordan coach Matt Peterson agrees that Kloss will face a stiffer challenge in Division 3.
“The times will be quicker and the fields will be deeper,“ he said. “But having said that, he was close to winning the D-3 cross country title. It wouldn’t surprise me if he placed very well or won at the state track meet.
“It goes back to his persistence. That’s the one word I would use to describe him. I’ve seen him run since middle school and I’ve never seen him run what I consider a bad race. I’ve never seen him mentally quit in a race, no matter how he feels. Every runner has an off day where they don’t feel right. He runs through that. That’s huge in anything, including life.”
Peterson and Mike Kloss were college teammates at Ferris State in the mid-1980s. He’s watched Jeremy grow up, starting when Jeremy was just weeks old and his parents brought him along to the state cross country meet.
“He’s a nice kid,” said Peterson. “I’ve watched him run at numerous state meets and the way he conducts himself, his attitude, is unbelievable. I was at the D-4 track meet last spring, and after he won the 3,200 he ran across the track and hugged me – and I’m an opposing coach. I can’t say enough good things about him.”
Mike Kloss will let the next few weeks play out to see what events Jeremy will run come Regionals and, most likely, the Division 3 Finals.
“It’s way too early to make those decisions,” Mike said.
Jeremy, meanwhile, is excited to see what the 3,200 relay can do. Senior Max Sydow and sophomore David Harrell return from a unit that posted a podium finish last year. Sophomore Austin Smar will join the mix.
“If we all drop our times, which I think we can, we can be pretty good,” Jeremy Kloss said.
It will be an important few weeks for Kloss as he also tries to showcase his talents for college coaches. He’s received attention from some Division I schools outside the state, although his preference is to remain in-state.
“I would like to be closer to home,” he said.
For Mike and Emily Kloss, this is their 28th year coaching in the Harbor Springs system. They also lead the cross country programs. Mike recently celebrated his 30th anniversary with the Michigan State Police. Most of those years were spent working the nightshift. Now, he’s working days as a court officer.
His training regimen for distance runners is based on low mileage, high intensity workouts.
“It’s not that we went in with that thought,” he said. “We adapted to it. If I ran kids big miles, we would lose them and we don’t have many spares.
“Jeremy has been gradually increasing (his miles), but I don’t want him to run college workouts in high school. It seems to be working for him.”
Jeremy said there’s another benefit to lower mileage.
“Kids are not getting hurt,” he said. “I can’t remember anyone having a stress fracture. The closest thing we’ve had is a couple kids with shin splints for a week or so. We’re staying healthy.”
As a trade-off, runners are asked to test themselves when they do work out.
“My dad likes to say, ‘A little faster if you can stand it,’” Jeremy said. “We have that quote on our sweatshirts and T-shirts.”
Now, if they just had better weather to start applying it.
Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Harbor Springs’ Jeremy Kloss leads the pack during last season’s 1,600 championship race at the LP Division 4 Finals. (Middle) Kloss crosses first to win the 3,200 title. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
Differing Paths Led East Kentwood Stars to Olympics, but All Included Finals Titles
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
August 19, 2026
When one of his eighth-grade teachers trotted out an assignment to write down an ultimate goal, Brian Hyde didn't even flinch.
Even then, Hyde knew that one day he badly wanted to be an Olympian.
Eight years later, that's exactly what happened for the former East Kentwood distance runner. One of three Falcons to become Olympians, Hyde wound up starring at East Kentwood and William & Mary University before performing in the 1,500-meter run during 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.
"I was in middle school when I first wrote that as a goal," said Hyde, now a pilot for the Utah-based Sky West Airlines. "Like a lot of people, I grew up watching the Olympics, and it was always a dream for me to run there. It was a long-term goal and there are a lot of things you have to go through to make that happen.
"But I think it's good to have goals for things you really want to do. You don't really have to share them, but it's good to have those goals."
Hyde, a 1991 East Kentwood grad, joins hockey player Mike Knuble, who graduated in 1990, and shot putter Tia Brooks-Wannamacher, a 2008 graduate, as former Falcons who went on to the Olympics. What's unique about their stories isn't that they all became Olympians, but the radically different routes all three took to the Games.
All had major success in high school as Hyde won the 1991 Lower Peninsula Division 1 1,600-meter run (4:12.74), Brooks captured the 2008 shot put with a toss of 48-0.5 and Knuble scored 115 goals in 57 career games while helping the Falcons to the 1990 Class A title.
All landed in the Olympics in different ways. For instance, Hyde said his No. 1 goal growing up was always to run in the Olympics. He trained fiercely with that in mind from an early age. While Brooks had designs of becoming a sprinter like her idol Marion Jones, East Kentwood coaches convinced the 6-foot Brooks that her track & field future was more likely as a thrower. A 34-year-old Knuble was on the backside of a 16-year NHL career when he finally earned the opportunity to skate in the 2006 Torino Winter Games in Italy.
Knuble said he had a "stick-to-it-ness" that led to his Olympic participation, Hyde said he grinded out long, solitary hours running on a track, and Brooks credits her Olympic story to a combination of natural athleticism and astute coaches who correctly saw her future more clearly than she did.
All took major steps toward the Olympics post-East Kentwood. Hyde went on to become the school record holder in the 1,500 and 1,000-meter runs at William & Mary, Brooks was a two-time NCAA champ in the shot at Oklahoma and Knuble tallied 96 goals over 114 games at Michigan before becoming the 76th player taken in the 1991 NHL draft.
Knuble said dates, age and even past resumes cannot define an athlete.
"Most Olympic athletes would be in their 20s," said Knuble, who would play 34 games with USA Hockey and scored a goal and had an assist in the Torino Games. "But there was a stick-to-it-ness for me. Guys can get written off – that's how I looked at it. You can get passed over when you're 30, and I didn't want to get written off. I wanted that door to stay open for me. I had kind of a career resurgence in my thirties."
Brooks, who retired from competitive track & field when she was 27, had exactly zero thoughts of becoming an Olympian until the January before the 2012 Summer Games in London. But after winning an NCAA shot put title in 2011 along with placing sixth at the Moscow World Cup and 13th in the world at Beijing's World Games, Brooks began considering London qualification.
"The coaches saw something in me and pushed me," said Brooks-Wannemacher, now a projects manager for the Grand Rapids-based Marvelous Style Outreach program. "They thought I had the potential of being an Olympian. I don't want to say it was happenstance, but I really didn't know much about the Olympics. I was competitive and grew up playing all sports and had a sibling rivalry with my brother where we would make up games to play."
Hyde said he became an Olympian through sheer hard work, dedication and sacrifice. He would miss Friday night Falcons football games, for example, because he was in bed making sure he had enough energy for a Saturday meet. Combine that sacrifice with a burning desire to make the Games and the talent he had as a runner, and Hyde said he was able to meet his personal goals.
"I loved to compete and trying to win," he said. "Sometimes there is a grind to it, but in running you're the only one out there. I would tell myself I'm doing this because I have a meet on Saturday and I want to win. You work, have these long-term goals because you tell yourself, 'I can do this.'
"I have no regrets for my career. You control the things you can control. You tell yourself no one is going to outrace you. It's not like you're not having fun, but I'd never miss a workout. Six days a week with Sunday being my rest day."
Knuble, Hyde and Brooks-Wannemacher agree that it's that work, dedication and looking big picture are keys. Lose sight of one, and it can have a domino effect.
"There are times when you're out there working and no one is watching, no one is paying attention," Knuble said. "But you have to put that work in. It's all about figuring out what you did wrong and then getting back at it."
Brooks-Wannemacher called the desire to become an elite athlete "watering a seed." In her case, the seed was the knowledge that the only way a young girl from a one-parent family was going to college was through an athletic scholarship. Places like Michigan and Michigan State had no interest, and the only offers came from Oklahoma and Central Michigan. While the dream was to emulate Marion Jones, Brooks bowed to the suggestions of East Kentwood coaches who said shot put was a ticket to a free education.
"I had a long talk with my mother and coaches, and they said this is the only way to college," she said. "So I started throwing the shot, broke the freshman record at Kentwood, became a Regional and state champ and I kept going. But people had to believe in me.
"It got so that I enjoyed the process. I had a natural talent, but I would push my body to the limit. But for me, the motivation was going to school for free."
Success aside, all overcame major hurdles to achieve it. Hyde suffered a swelling of the spine and terrible pain caused by a tightening of back muscles and wasn't able to finish a race five months before the summer Olympics. Brooks at one point suffered from a narrowing of the spine and bulging discs in her back amid suggestions from doctors she give up throwing a shot. Knuble was physically healthy, but he had to overcome the life-altering experience of dealing with the death of his father when he was 15.
But all say the dedication to athletics, the people they met along the way, great teammates and the will to succeed helped them to greater things.
"There are moments when it's just you and nobody else," Knuble said. "There's no person out there with you, no teammates telling you what to do, how to act, what to eat. For me, being on a team was structure.
"Timing for all of us is huge. You want to be at your peak when you're competing. You want to beat your best for that one race, that one throw, that one game. For me, I had a body of work to work from. I think the others did, too."
PHOTOS Clockwise from top left: East Kentwood’s Tia Brooks-Wannamacher prepares to launch the shot. Brian Hyde (front) takes a relay handoff for William & Mary. Mike Knuble holds up one of the many trophies the Falcons earned during his time on the ice. (Middle) Brooks-Wannamacher as a high school senior. (Knuble and Hyde photos courtesy of those individuals. Brooks-Wannamacher photo from MHSAA archives.)