Record-Setting Sutherland Focused on Final Goals as Glen Lake Career Winds Down
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
May 9, 2025
All that’s left in a stellar athletic career for Colebrook Sutherland is a sprint to the finish line.
There isn’t much he hasn’t done for Maple City Glen Lake. But the four-sport standout and record-setting distance runner does have a few things he’d yet like to accomplish before commencements June 1.
For starters, he’d like to lead his team to a Regional championship next week at East Jordan and maybe set another school record.
But topping his list is to win an individual championship at the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals on May 31 at Hudsonville Baldwin Middle School.
“That’s for sure a goal,” Glen Lake track coach Jason Bradford said. “Any sport the does, he does well. From fall tennis and cross country and then basketball and now track, he’s just one of those athletes that can do anything.”
Sutherland is going into next week’s Regional as the school record holder in four events. One record – in the 800-meter run – was set this year; he ran a 1:57.61 at the Bruce Garland Invitational. The other three were set last year.
Sutherland ran a 4:25.60 to set the 1,600 record and finish fourth at the LPD4 Finals last June. He entered the record books in the 3,200 last year, too, with a 9:50.9 at the Northwest Conference championships. He’s also a member of the school’s 3,200 relay record-setting team along with Dylan Bixby, Dylan Cundiff and Abraham Feeney.
Sutherland had five school records on his mind when this season started. Actually, he’s been thinking about those five since the end of his sophomore year.
With the help of distance coaches George Drown and Jim Harrelson, Sutherland has only the 400 school record left on that list. The 400 belongs to Finn Hogan, who set it at 49.68 seconds in 2021, and Sutherland has clocked a 51.79 but may not run the race again this season. The Lakers have only one more meet before the Regional – this weekend’s Frankfort Invitational.
“I was thinking about five, but I think I want to just focus on the 800 run and continue to improve that instead of using all my time trying to get another,” Sutherland said. “I’d rather try to win states in the 800.”
While Hogan, too, continues to own four school records, Sutherland also now has been part of a coveted and long-sought team accomplishment. He led the Lakers to their first Northwest Conference track & field championship earlier this week, which also was high among Sutherland’s goals for the season as the conference has been dominated by Benzie Central and Kingsley over the years.
Sutherland ran away with the conference championships in the 800 and 1,600 to lead the Lakers, who were followed by Benzie Central, Frankfort, Leland, Buckley, Brethren and Onekama.
Also helping lead the way in the Lakers’ conference title pursuit was Boden Fisher, who won the 100-meter and long jump championships and finished second in the 200, which was won by his teammate Nolan Bretzke. Jacob Plamondon won the high jump for the Lakers, topping the bar at 6 feet, and Dominic Stein won the discus.
The Lakers also won three relay titles. Samuel Dykstra, Hunter Cox, Fisher, Daniels, Noah Scott, Cox, Liam Palmer, Feeney, Eli Maule, Liam McCaw and Lincoln Bailey ran those relays.
“We haven’t always had the depth of some of the other teams in our conference,” Sutherland said. “This year, we actually do have a lot of depth and talent.”
The Lakers do boast a larger roster this spring and often have multiple top-three placers in running events. They’ll lose just five seniors and plan to carry on the success next season with an influx of current eighth graders to go with the current load of sprinters and freshmen.
“We have someone in each event that can compete,” Bradford said. “It helps build a good program.”
The Lakers have a shot at winning the Regional, Bradford acknowledged. A lot depends on individual efforts of many, he said, as the Lakers could place in every event.
“We have a whole week to prepare after Frankfort, and we need to find a happy medium of pushing the kids and keeping them going so they reach their top potential,” Bradford said. “It is going to be a team effort just like the conference meet. It is the interesting thing about track. As a team, we’re always looking to where can we come up with some extra points.”
Bradford, who also coaches the Lakers’ boys basketball team, believes all sports at the school contribute to the success Glen Lake is finding on the track. Growth in the school’s weightlifting program, led by past St. Ignace multi-sport and Central Michigan football standout Gage Kreski, has also been a big factor.
“Every program here contributes to track,” Bradford said. “We see the benefits that start with our lifting program.”
While the Lakers will attempt to advance several to the Finals, Sutherland is assured of being there. He already has met qualification standards in the 400, 800 and 1,600.
Sutherland is looking forward to the competitors ahead as he expects them to bring out his best. He hopes to better his own marks.
“If I actually have people around me, I am faster than 1:57 (his 800-meter school record),” Sutherland said. “I rarely have competition.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. 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) Glen Lake’s Colebrook Sutherland runs his leg of a relay. (Middle) Sutherland, holding the trophy, and his teammates take a photo to celebrate their Northwest Conference championship. (Below) Jacob Plamondon approaches the high jump bar. (Running photo by Meredith McNabb. Team photo by Donna King. Jumping photo by Jill Plamandon.)
Britton Deerfield Boys Following Bigger Numbers to Championship Results
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
May 6, 2026
Each week during boys track & field season, Dustin Longnecker gathers his Britton Deerfield team in his classroom. They call it the “War Room.”
Longnecker and his Patriots stand in front of the white board and go through the upcoming track meet or invitational event-by-event, figuring out where they can score the most points. The fact that BD is even focused on dual meets is a complete change of thinking for Longnecker.
“I’m so blessed,” he said. “I could go on and on about this group. I’ve never had numbers like this. My first year I had eight kids on the boys and girls team combined.
“One year I had this phenomenal sprinter, a high jumper with turf toe and some throwers. I’ve never cared about dual meets because we just couldn’t compete.”
As Longnecker says, this is “the good old days” for BD.
The Patriots finished the Tri-County Conference with a winning record at 3-2-1 and head into Friday’s league meet with a good shot at third place. They won a home invitational Friday against some established programs from the Lenawee County Athletic Association and Cascades Conference.
“Before the season Erik (Johnson) asked me what kind of trophy to get for the Bob Beckey Invite. I said I didn’t care because we’d never sniff that,” said Longnecker, referring to a conversation with his athletic director. “Turns out, we won. It was so great for the kids. We score up to eight places and had all sorts of kids contribute. That was the great thing about it. It is more special when everyone contributes.”
The Beckey Invite was named after longtime coach Bob Beckey, who died in 2016.
Ottawa Lake Whiteford coach Jay Yockey coached at BD previously and was elated to hear BD took home the trophy.
“Bob was also a great guy and coach, and he loved track, but he loved our athletes more,” Yockey said. “So, to see BD win an invite that is named after him is incredible. Bob had a saying that he used often when he was happy. He would say, ‘I’m tickled pink.’ Now he probably would be embarrassed to have an invite named after him, but to know the school he last coached at won that invite, I would have to imagine that he would say that he was ‘tickled pink.’”
Longnecker has had to utilize various strategies over the years as a track coach due to BD’s low numbers. For example, he’s seldom been in favor of pushing kids to run in four events in one day. He’s also never concerned himself with winning dual meets.
“We have a winning record in the TCC for the first time in my career,” he said. “I never thought I’d say that. We just don’t win dual meets. We haven’t had the numbers. This year, the kids have been all about it. We have a really strong freshman and junior class. The great thing about it is that it is really from top to bottom. The kids are still getting better.”
Typically, Longnecker is focused on getting kids to qualify for the MHSAA Finals and run record times at BD.
This year he can do both.
“I was a two-miler in high school,” he said. “I’ve never had a kid who would run it here. This year, I have Donovan McCarthy who runs it. He doesn’t like it, but he likes scoring points.”
McCarthy finished third in the 3,200 at the Beckey Invitational in a great finish.
“He fought a kid from Hudson the whole way,” Longnecker said. “Performances like that is why I love this group.”
The Patriots 400 relay is knocking on the door of a Finals-qualifying time. Freshman Elijah Fortune is a talented athlete who vomited twice and took a nap in the parking lot before returning to the track and helping his team win that race.
BD could get multiple distance runners to the Finals, and all four throwers have had an impact this season, especially senior Andrew Bunker.
“He’ll have both records before the season is over,” Longnecker predicted about Bunker.
Bunker has been an amazing story in his own right. He weighed less than 200 pounds when the Britton Deerfield 8-player football season ended in 2024. He’s now up to 275 and will play college football. He’s become a fitness guru, counting every calorie and working out daily with a stringent routine.
“I try to stay clean,” he said. “I track my protein, carbs and fat. I try to eat as clean as I can. You can’t always eat clean 24/7. I’m in high school. I just do the best I can – a lot of chicken, eggs and rice. I think in that first year we went through dozens and dozens of eggs. (My brother and I would) come home and just devour eggs after the gym – eggs, rice and chicken. You just have to eat what you can.”
Longnecker said Bunker has turned into a great team leader for track, too.
“He’s such a cerebral kid. It’s rare to be around a kid who is that committed to anything,” the coach said.
For Britton Deerfield, which has a high school enrollment of 125, the track numbers might stay high for the next few years. Longnecker credits the middle school coaches with helping kids get interested – and stay interested – in track & field.
“We have a good nucleus right now,” he said. “I think next year we’re going to be just as solid.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) The Britton Deerfield boys track & field team gathers around coach Dustin Longnecker after winning its Bob Beckey Invitational. (Middle) Patriots throwers (from left) Drew Bunker, Zach Gonzalez, Kurina Dotson and McKenna Allshouse show off their trophy and medals won at the Clinton Throwers Meet. (Photos courtesy of the Britton Deerfield athletic department.)