Record-Setter Dzurka Dreaming Big, but First Focused on Goal #1: Stay Healthy
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
April 22, 2026
When it comes to end of season goals, Midland Dow senior Zach Dzurka is keeping it simple: Get there.
To an outsider, that aspiration might seem overly simple for a runner who has the state’s fastest 300-meter hurdles time and is ranked fourth in the 110 hurdles this spring, regardless of division. But after the opportunity to compete at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals was taken away from him a year ago, Dzurka is taking nothing for granted.
“Just try to keep on PRing (setting personal records) and hope to not get injured,” Dzurka said. “I’ve always been super injury-prone for some reason. But the goal is to keep myself healthy until states.”
Dzurka set a pair of Dow records on April 17 at the Graves/Swayze Relay Meet in Midland, running the 300 hurdles in 37.82 and 110s in 14.47. His 300-hurdle time is the fastest in the state so far this year, and just 0.03 seconds off last year’s Division 1 Finals championship time, run by Will Smith of Belleville, who has since graduated.
“I wouldn’t say surprising is the right word; this is totally expected for him,” Dow coach Jenna Oskvarek said. “He’s been working his butt off to make sure he can reach his goals. It was kind of only a matter of time, we knew (times this fast were) going to happen, we just didn’t know when. We couldn’t be happier.”
Dzurka, who also holds the school indoor record for the 60-meter hurdles (8.33), had already claimed the 300 hurdles record a year ago and was unbeaten in both outdoor hurdles events throughout the 2025 season.
But a persistent hamstring injury ended his season early.
“It wasn’t anything so extensive that it was season-ending, but we didn’t want to push it and injure him more long-term,” Oskvarek said. “It was more of a conversation with Zach about, ‘This is why we’re making the decision we are, so what do we need to do to support you to get you back to where you want to be?’ As much as we wanted the team to have success and wanted him to run, it’s not about us. He was completely understanding. There was disappointment, of course, but he knew why we made the decision we made and was totally on board. He could see the long-term reasons.”
Dzurka said the injury was never fully diagnosed, but it also wouldn’t go away.
“One practice I was hurdling and I felt like a mild sharp pain, and it would not stop,” he said. “It hurt each time I would hurdle. I thought it was going to get worse if I kept going. I was doing all the hamstring exercises, but it wouldn’t stop. It was really weird, because it finally stopped, literally the day after (the Finals). That was annoying.”
Dzurka said he has been battling smaller injuries since his sophomore year, when he suffered a bulging disc in his back during a soccer game. In that moment, his feet got crossed up after making a pass, and when he fell to the ground took all the impact on his knees, which triggered the back issue, as well as arthritis.
He believes a lot of the soft-tissue injuries he’s dealt with stem from that back injury, which he’s mostly managed, but does still continue to work through.
“I would look up online how to fix back pain or how to fix bulging discs,” he said. “Then I would just brute-force the exercises until the pain went away. I was a pretty good coach for myself.”
Dzurka gives a lot of credit to Oskvarek and the Dow coaching staff for helping him get healthy – and keep him that way.
“We’re staying hopeful and staying careful as we do with all our athletes, so we can maximize his success and make sure not to run him into the ground,” Oskvarek said.
When healthy, Dzurka continues to thrive on the track in events he wasn’t introduced to until he was a freshman. He recently signed to run at Saginaw Valley State, where Oskvarek believes the resources and training available will allow Dzurka to take another leap forward.
“We always talk about how, especially at Dow, we’ve had such luck with such amazing athletes over the years, but we tell them that if you’re having this much success in high school, once you get to college, it’s just another ceiling to be broken,” Oskvarek said. “We prepare them to know that you’re having so much success here, imagine what you can do in college.”
Dzurka said the 400 hurdles will likely be his specialty moving forward, as he’s already seeing he’s more built for longer races.
“Before the season I said I was going to go sub-14 in the 110s, and that’s something to shoot for,” he said. “But I have super long legs that take a long time to get going, so I don’t know about that. But before the season I was joking with my buddies that I was going to go sub-37 in the 300 hurdles, and that’s actually possible.”
Sub-37 seconds would put him in rare company, as just four Michigan runners have ever done it. And, if he accomplishes his first goal of getting to the Finals in good health, could very likely put him at the top of the podium.
“It really would mean a lot because of how much I know I’ve put into the sport,” Dzurka said. “Even at indoor states, I came in third place this year, and at indoor states last year, I had my first-ever false start. So, getting to redeem myself would be great.”
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) Midland Dow’s Zach Dzurka, with baton, takes off to start a relay race. (Middle) Dzurka, middle, leads a hurdles race during an indoor meet at Saginaw Valley State. (Photos courtesy of the Midland Dow athletic department.)
Saginaw's Martin Leaps Into All-Time Elite
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
May 1, 2019
Sometimes greatness can come from random circumstance.
One spring day after having their basketball taken away during lunch, then-Saginaw High sophomore Tony Martin and his friends improvised by playing the game without a ball. With one of his track coaches looking on, Martin received a “pass” from a teammate, ran to the free-throw line and took off, touching the rim before returning to the ground.
“You’re long jumping at our next meet,” the coach said, introducing a new event to the sprint specialist, and a star was born.
In the two years since that fake basketball game, Martin has become arguably the best long jumper in Michigan history. He recently leapt 26 feet, 6 inches, which according to michtrack.org smashed the previous record by a Michigan high schooler of 25-2½, set by Lansing Everett’s Marcel Richardson in 1988.
“I felt it when I hit the board, and when I was in the air, because I had more time in the air to move my legs and reach,” said Martin of his record-breaking jump, which he achieved April 25 in a home dual meet against Saginaw Arthur Hill. “I had more of a fold in my legs when I was landing. I felt it in my spine when I was stretching. My reaction was, I looked at it and it said 26-6, and I had to look again because it’s an unbelievable jump. I had to look at it again and again when they marked it.”
Martin, who opened his senior season at Saginaw by breaking the school’s 45-year-old long jump record, came into the year looking to set school and state records. As the calendar turns to May, he’s setting his sights farther.
“Right now, it would have to be me breaking the national record,” Martin said. “It has to be the national one now, because really there’s no other one. The only other thing I could think about is actually hitting the Olympic standard.”
The national high school record as regarded by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) is 26-4¾, jumped by Tulane Union, California’s James Stallworth in 1989. Others consider the national record to be 26-10, set in 2009 by current San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Marquise Goodwin while a high schooler at a USA Track & Field junior championships meet. The Olympic standard is 8.22 meters, which is a little more than 26-11½.
The MHSAA record book includes only Finals performances, and the MHSAA generally confirms records to the National Federation record committee that have occurred only during Finals, where officials are on hand to certify results and conditions including wind speed. (The MHSAA Finals record of 24-2¾ was set in 2017 at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 meet by Salem’s Mason Phillips.) However, an official will be on hand at Friday’s Bay City Western Invitational to monitor the long jump and certify the national record if Martin breaks it.
Martin’s 26-6 would tie for seventh all-time nationally, with only four people ever jumping farther at the high school level. Among them is United States Track & Field legend Carl Lewis, who had an official high school best of 26-8¼.
“I’ve watched him jump against Mike Powell every day,” Martin said of the epic 1991 showdown between Powell and Lewis at the 1991 World Championships, where Powell broke the world record. “That’s what I study, that video of Mike Powell breaking the record. That’s like my favorite track video ever (along with) videos of Usain Bolt. It’s definitely an honor joining somebody that I’ve watched.”
Saginaw coach DeEddie Sanders believes Martin can reach those goals.
“He’s got the potential, if he keeps working hard, to make the Olympic team,” Sanders said. “That’s what he wants, and I know he’s going to keep working hard.”
Martin, who has signed to compete for Michigan State University, came into this season plenty accomplished. He is the reigning Division 2 MHSAA Finals champion in the long jump, and a returning state placer in the 100 (fourth) and 200 (third) meters. He was also part of Saginaw’s fifth-place 400 relay team.
Last season’s Finals were a high point for his career, but also something he saw as just the beginning.
“It was pretty exciting,” Martin said. “It was emotional, because I was really tired at the state meet my sophomore year from jumping. I was not ready for the state meet at all (as a sophomore), so I had to win something (as a junior). That’s my goal (this year); I have to win all three for me to be satisfied, really. That is my goal, and I feel like I really have a chance this year.”
Martin has official personal bests of 10.71 seconds in the 100 and 21.71 in the 200, although he’s been hand-timed at 10.25 and 21.5. He said his goal is to get under 10.5 and 21 officially (fully automatic time), which would certainly put him in the running for a sprint double at this year’s Finals.
He should be a heavy favorite in the long jump, of course, and a lot of that can be attributed to taking a longer approach. After lining up about 80 feet from the pit in past years, Martin was urged to move backward to about 100 feet by the coaches he spoke with on his college visits. That allows him to build up more speed before takeoff.
“Ever since I changed my mark from indoor to outdoor, because I got faster, every time I jump is a (personal record), or over my best from last year,” Martin said.
In his first meet of the season, Martin showed that off, jumping 24-¼ to eclipse his previous best of 23-4¾, and the Saginaw High record of 23-7¾ set by Larry Foster in 1974.
“That was something that I cherished for a long time,” said Foster, who went on to play football and basketball at Northern Illinois, and now lives in Atlanta. “I’m glad I was alive to see him break it. I didn’t think it was going to last 45 years. I thought maybe in the 80s or 90s, somebody would break it. But my daughter, she was born in ‘74, and when she turned 45, I realized that was a long time. I’m so proud of that young guy. He did a fantastic job.”
Foster, who said he went to school with Martin’s grandmother, said he was able to speak with Martin and congratulate him after the record was broken.
“In a way, I was hoping it would (last) a little longer,” Foster said. “But 45 years, that’s long enough for me. When he goes to college, I’m going to follow him. I’m very proud of him.”
What Foster will be following is an athlete who believes he can further tap into his potential at MSU – a potential that even amazes Martin himself.
“To me, it’s unbelievable, because I’m only in high school and I’ve only been jumping since my sophomore year,” Martin said. “I’m kind of surprising myself every meet. It’s kind of unreal.”
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) Saginaw High sprinter and long jumper Tony Martin prepares to launch. (Middle) Martin is taking aim this spring at MHSAA Finals and national records. (Photos by Scott Keyes.)