Preview: Past Multi-Race Champs Highlight Impressive Field Returning to Kingsford
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 30, 2025
Plenty of candidates appear prepared to step into the spotlight at this weekend’s Upper Peninsula Boys Track & Field Finals.
Several returning champions return across the three divisions to be hosted Saturday at Kingsford High School, including distance standouts Luke Hill of Houghton, Dan Goss of Munising and Kalvin Kytta of Chassell after all three won multiple Finals titles a year ago. Pickford’s Gunner Bennin also is back after winning multiple races in 2024, and Menominee’s Darrent Butler joins Kytta as past champs looking to win for the third-straight year.
Preliminaries will begin the day at 9 a.m. local (Central) time. Tickets cost $11 and are available digitally only via GoFan.
MHSAA.tv will live-stream the meets beginning at 9 a.m. (CDT)/10 a.m. (EDT), viewable with subscription. Check out the Boys Track & Field page for meet information and lists of all qualifiers. Those described as "seeded" below have received those seeds based on Regional performances or early qualification during the regular season.
Following is a glance at team contenders and individuals to watch in all three divisions:
Division 1
Team forecast: Marquette has won the last four Division 1 championships and all but one since 2015. Kingsford has finished runner-up the last three seasons, but Houghton and Negaunee might have the most opportunities to make a push this weekend although the Sentinels’ immense talent and depth again will make them difficult to catch.
Lucas Ballard, Marquette sophomore: He’s expected to take a much larger scoring role after finishing fourth in the 400 and running on a winning relay as a freshman. He’s seeded first in the 800 (1:59.87) and 1,600 (4:36.82) and slated to run on the top-seeded 1,600 relay (3:30.41).
Darrent Butler, Menominee junior: The two-time reigning high jump champion won by four inches last season and is seeded first at that same height (6-2) while also seeded sixth in long jump and set to run on the third-seeded 1,600 relay.
Mathew Frantti, Calumet senior: He’s looking at a potential big finish to his high school career as the top seed in both the shot put (46-3½) and discus (143-9) after finishing third in the shot last season.
Luke Hill, Houghton senior: He won the 800, 1,600, finished third in the 3,200 and ran on the champion 3,200 relay last season. He returns seeded second in the 1,600 (4:38.08) and fifth in the 800 and 3,200, and running on the top-seeded 3,200 relay (8:46.55).
Gabe Litzner, Sault Ste. Marie junior: One of the most highly-regarded distance runners statewide, Litzner won the 3,200 and finished second in the 1,600 last season. He’s seeded second in the 3,200 (9:34.88) and third in the 1,600 (4:40.44) this weekend.
Jacob MacPhee, Marquette junior: He’s back after winning the 400, finishing second in the 200 and running on two championship relays in 2024. He’s seeded first in the 200 (22.53), 400 (51.17) and will run on the top-seeded 800 (1:33.23) and 1,600 relays.
Kyler Sager, Marquette senior: He’s the reigning long jump champ and ran on a winning relay as well last spring. He’s seeded first in long jump (19-11¾), third in the 100 dash (11.32) and will run on the second-seeded 400 relay (45.14).
Division 2
Team forecast: Pickford has won the last two Division 2 titles, with Munising last season’s runner-up and those two also finishing first and second, respectively, at their Regional earlier this month. West Iron County won the other Division 2 Regional and could make a nice jump from ninth at last year’s Final.
John Anderson, Pickford junior: Last season’s high jump champion is seeded first (6-0) with a jump four inches higher than his winner a year ago. Anderson also finished fourth in the 110 hurdles, seventh in the 300 and ran on a runner-up relay in 2024, and he returns top-seeded in the 110 (16.86) and third-seeded in the 300 (46.63).
Gunner Bennin, Pickford junior: He’s looking to add to his 200 and 400 titles and fourth place in long jump from last season, seeded second in the 100 (12.01) and first in the 200 (24.37) and 400 (54.71) and running on the top-seeded 800 relay (1:37.91).
Dan Goss, Munising senior: The reigning champion in the 1,600 and 3,200 is seeded second in the 3,200 (10:57.73), fourth in the 1,600 and 800, and also third in the 400 (55.61).
Jayden Niemi-Alcorn, Rudyard senior: He won the pole vault last season by 1½ feet and has the top seed in that event by six inches this weekend.
Division 3
Team forecast: Newberry rose from runner-up in 2023 to champion last year, but won its Regional this month by only two points ahead of Brimley. Engadine also was a Regional champ by two points, while Lake Linden-Hubbell and Crystal Falls Forest Park won theirs by larger margins. Engadine and Lake Linden-Hubbell are seeking first Finals team titles, and Forest Park is seeking its first since 2010.
Vic Giuliani, Crystal Falls Forest Park sophomore: He debuted last season with a high jump championship and also finished fifth in both the long jump and 100 dash. He’s seeded fourth in the high jump this time and also will run the 200 and 400.
Kalvin Kytta, Chassell senior: He’s won the 3,200 the last two seasons and added 800 and 1,600 championships last year. He enters Saturday seeded second in the 800 (2:09.37) and 1,600 (4:47.27) and third in the 3,200 (11:16.88).
Matthew Rahilly, Newberry senior: After finishing second in the long jump, third in the high jump and running on two top-three relays a year ago, Rahilly is seeded first in the 200 (24.06) and long jump (20-1) and tied for second in the high jump (5-10). He won the long jump and ran on a winning relay as a sophomore.
Michael Rexford, Escanaba Holy Name junior: The reigning long jump champion is seeded second in that event (19-8), tied for the fourth seed in the high jump and expected to run on the second-seeded 3,200 relay (9:11.29).
Ethan Snyder, Cedarville sophomore: He finished second in the 1,600 as a freshman and returns top-seeded in that race (4:44.45), the 800 (2:08.14) and second-seeded in the 3,200 (11:01.70).
PHOTO Marquette's Ford Richardson hands off the baton to Evan Balko in the 1,600 relay on May 9 at the Negaunee Lions Invitational. The Sentinels broke the meet record in the race they had set the previous season. (Photo by Cara Kamps.)
'Lapeer Through and Through,' Schmidt Surpasses Half-Century in Coaching
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
April 2, 2025
Manny Schmidt still wants to be at track practice.
After 50-plus years coaching in Lapeer, the man they call Coach Manny has not lost his love for helping student-athletes – and at this rate, he might go another 50.
“I told my wife years ago that the first day I don’t feel like going to practice, that I’d rather be somewhere else, that’s the day I’m done,” Schmidt said. “And it hasn’t happened yet. Obviously, you have bad days and things like that. But track, and right now practice, it just keeps me going.”
Schmidt, who is the head boys track & field coach at Lapeer, began coaching track as an assistant in 1974, and has remained there – and Lapeer East, then back at Lapeer when the schools merged back together – ever since. On Friday, April 11, he will be honored at an event at Lightning Rounds in Lapeer for his years of service to Lapeer athletes. The event begins at 7:30 p.m., following the Lapeer Lightning Co-Ed Relays.
“Manny has been a staple of Lapeer Athletics through many different renditions over the years,” Lapeer athletic director Shad Spilski said. “His willingness to help student-athletes grow and achieve their goals is all he wants out of his athletes. Manny spends, and has spent, countless hours over several decades providing athletes multiple opportunities to hone their skills. He not only coaches, but he is one of Lapeer athletes’ biggest fans and supporters. You will always find him at other sporting events cheering on athletes and his coaching colleagues. He truly is Lapeer through and through.”
Schmidt came to Lapeer to teach English in December of 1972 after graduating from Western Michigan University. He had attended high school at St. Joseph Catholic, and was unfamiliar with Lapeer.
But it didn’t take long for him to fall in love with the school community after receiving the assignment.
“Almost immediately,” he said. “I started in December; the teacher had left and I got the job in December. Three days later, they had a staff Christmas party that I got invited to, and all of my close friends over the years, many of them, I guess, I met at that party.”
Coaching was always something Schmidt wanted to do. He played basketball and ran track in high school, and had a basketball coach who made a big impact on his life. He wanted to do the same for others.
In the spring of 1974, during his first full year of teaching English at Lapeer, he got that chance as the assistant track coach. He has since coached cross country – working to start the Lapeer East girls program in the 1990s – junior varsity football and middle school basketball. He also served as a basketball official for more than 30 years.
“I just liked being part of it,” he said.
Throughout his five decades coaching track, Schmidt has worked with athletes in every event. While middle and long distance are what he’s long enjoyed coaching, he’s currently working with the Lapeer throwers and high jumpers, as head cross country coaches Russ Reitz and Bill Spruytte are also coaching track.
“In our program, we have four of us (Schmidt, Reitz, Spruytte and Anthony Merlo), and we all have equal voice, we all coach together,” Schmidt said. “On any given day, and that’s the nice thing, I could be with anything. I could be with the hurdlers.”
This past year, Schmidt returned to the Lapeer cross country staff as an assistant, saying he was honored that the current coaches respected him enough to call him back.
But for them, it was an honor to have him.
“Working with Manny is like having access to decades of knowledge,” said fellow cross country assistant Christine Cerny. “It is such a privilege to be able to draw from that and learn from that myself. It’s so awesome to be able to coach alongside him after he has coached my kids.”
During his time, Schmidt has coached multiple generations of Lapeer families, including his own. His children Corrinne and Jennifer both ran for him, as did his grandchildren Morgan, Mason and Colton.
And by his side the entire time has been his wife, Val, who worked as a scorekeeper during meets.
“When I started coaching, she would be the person at all our home cross country meets and all our home track meets who sat there and kept track by hand,” Schmidt said. “Probably the happiest person with this new technology is my wife – now she doesn’t have to do it. When we have invites, she’ll do medals and stuff like that.”
Technological changes have been abundant for high school athletes over the past five decades, not just in competition but outside of it. Schmidt recalls returning to Lapeer from away meets and having athletes line up at the school’s two payphones to call their parents.
“Now, when we get back, everyone has called home and their rides are there waiting,” Schmidt said.
Throughout his time, Schmidt has done plenty of winning and coached several athletes who have moved on to compete at the college level. But the relationships he’s created are what he values most.
“Nobody’s luckier than I am with where I taught and where I coached, and who I’ve coached with over the years,” Schmidt said. “You have to look forward to going to work, and I hate to use the word ‘work’ with coaching. It is, I guess. But there’s just so much good with it.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Clockwise from the top left: (1) Manny Schmidt (standing, second from left) coaches the Lapeer White Junior High girls basketball team. (2) Schmidt, top middle, takes a photo with Lapeer’s boys track & field team last spring. (3) Schmidt, left, has coached three of his grandchildren including Morgan Turk. (4) Schmidt, far left, takes a photo with the 2011 Lapeer East cross country teams. (5) Schmidt, standing far right, coaches Michelle Brundage during the 1991 Meet of Champions. (Middle) Schmidt looks on during an event. (Photos provided by the Lapeer athletic department.)