Reeths-Puffer ‘Ironman’ Slows Down to Help Team Surge
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
May 6, 2021
Klay Grant’s strategy going into last week’s Greater Muskegon Athletic Association city track meet seemed, at first, counterintuitive.
“My plan was to try and run each event as slow as possible,” said Grant, a junior at Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, before adding:
“And still win.”
His plan to conserve energy – essentially sacrificing fast times for himself to try and gather as many points as possible for his team – worked to perfection as Grant became the first athlete in the 65-year history of the GMAA meet to take first place in the four longest events.
Grant’s “Ironman” performance and four first-place finishes accounted for 40 of his team’s 132 points, helping the Rockets edge six-time reigning champion Fruitport and win the meet for the first time since 2006.
Grant started his record-breaking night by running the anchor leg on R-P’s winning 3,200-meter relay team (8:40.84), then followed with wins in the open 1,600 (4:42.94), 800 (2:07.25) and 3,200 (10:29.69).
“Klay is all about the team,” explained Reeths-Puffer boys track coach Don Ketner, who is in his 15th year. “He’s the kind of kid that would give the shirt off of his back for you, and that’s basically what we asked him to do on Friday night.”
The GMAA Meet, known locally simply as the “City Meet,” dates back to the 1950s, and during its long history many male and female athletes have won four events. However, that feat normally happens with sprinters in short events and relays or with an athlete who picks up a win or two in the field events before the running finals begin.
Grant was the first to capture all four of the longest running events, but he said that individual feat was secondary. He said the best part was helping to deliver a memorable night for Reeths-Puffer, as his family is heavily invested in the Muskegon County school district and its track & field and cross country programs.
Both of his parents, Darren and Angie Grant, are Reeths-Puffer graduates and runners who went on to run in college at Indiana Wesleyan and now teach and coach in the R-P district. Darren Grant, who teaches fifth grade, is the Rockets’ head cross country coach and assistant boys track coach. Angie Grant teaches special education at the middle school and is the head girls track coach.
“It was fun to be a part of such a great night,” said Grant, 17, who plans to go into the ministry and pursue Biblical studies in college. “Faith encompasses everything that I do, so it felt great to use my gifts to help out my teammates and coaches.”
Grant, who is also laser-focused in the classroom with a gaudy 4.333 GPA, is the third of four children. His older siblings are Cole and Kenna, and younger brother Kye is a talented runner on the Reeths-Puffer middle school team.
While running has always been a part of his life because of his parents, his primary sport growing up was soccer. In fact, it wasn’t until last year that he focused exclusively on track and cross country, which is why he believes he can greatly improve his times.
Perhaps the key race of the entire GMAA meet last week was the opening 3,200-meter relay, which Fruitport was favored to win. Ketner gambled that by putting Grant on the anchor leg, he might be able to catch up and pass Fruitport.
As it turned out, strong performances on the first three legs by freshmen Jackson Allen and Tate Bradley and senior Caden Tufts had the Rockets in the lead when Grant got the baton – allowing him to cruise to the tape and make a major statement in the process.
Grant then had a nice stretch of time to rest before his next race, the 1,600, but that was the first of three long races over a short period of time.
After pulling away from Jackson Helmer of Mona Shores in the 1,600, Grant had just three events of rest before getting back on the track for the 800 – the event he will likely focus on for the upcoming Ottawa-Kent Conference Green meet May 13 and the Division 2 Regional on May 20.
Then came the shortest turnaround of the night, with just the quick 200-meter run coming between the 800 and the 3,200.
Grant knew he could empty the tank in the 3,200, and it didn’t take long for Grant and his senior teammate and training partner Brett Schlaff to separate themselves from the rest of the field. With those two running 1-2 ahead of the pack, it was clear that the Rockets would pick up 18 points in that event and clinch the meet title.
The only drama remaining was whether Grant would make history or if the fresher Schlaff would prevail.
“With about 300 meters to go they were still close and I said out loud: ‘Klay is so nice, he’s going to let Brett win,’” said Ketner.
Grant ended up pulling away over the final 200 meters to win the race and make history. Schlaff took a strong second, and the Rockets were on top of the Muskegon city track world for the first time in 15 years.
“My times were nothing special that night, that’s for sure,” said Grant. “But this meet wasn’t about me. This meet was all about the team.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Klay Grant (1) competes in the 800-meter run at the Rocket Invitational on April 16 at Reeths-Puffer. Grant won the race. (Middle) Grant cruises to victory in the 1,600-meter run at the GMAA city meet. (Photos by Payden Challinor.)
Gaylord Pole-Vaulting Pair Rewards Coach's Commitment with Conference Sweep
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
May 15, 2026
The future of the Gaylord pole vaulting may be hanging in the balance.
Success in the field event depends not only on speed and jumping ability — but also coordination, strength and balance.
The Blue Devils and veteran head track & field coach Matt Warren may have to struggle to keep the balance going next year. But it’s not the first time the program is facing the possibility of losing assistant coach Jeremy Savoie.
“It's hard if you don't have somebody who has passion for pole vaulting to coach, and Jeremy is a selfless human being,” Warren said. “He has the passion for helping and molding kids, and it comes through very, very, clearly, with the pole vault program. And when he steps down, it's going to be a big loss for us.”
Savoie’s investment in pole vaulting has led to Gaylord capturing both Big North Conference individual championships for the first time in school history. Senior Lillian Mason, who set the school record earlier this year clearing the bar at 10-9, won the girls conference title on one of the most challenging days of a very challenging spring. Sophomore Calvin Cosby, also a school record-holder, won the boys league title. Cosby, who owns the boys record at 15-3, was third at the conference meet last year when Savoie’s son Nickolas was runner-up.
Savoie started coaching pole vault during the spring of 2000. A former high school vaulter himself, he got involved because of his family – the same family he struggles every day to balance along with work and coaching. He nearly walked away from coaching after last spring’s season when Nickolas, one of the best vaulters in the school’s history, graduated.
After receiving a letter from Mason, and talking things through with her family and his own, Savoie decided to stick around this year.
“I was really done when Nickolas finished. … We had the whole emotional track banquet and low and behold, here we are again,” Savoie said. “Lillian started with me as a freshman. She had to really work at it, and over the last two years, she didn’t take any time off. She works at it year-round, lifts, runs, does the drills and just works her tail off.”
Now, though, Savoie’s youngest daughter plays junior varsity softball for the Blue Devils. He is finding himself caught at times between watching his daughter play softball, including summer ball, and helping other student-athletes in what has become another year-around sport.
In addition to family balance struggles, Savoie also has battled work-life challenges as a technician for a local auto dealership.
“It is a sacrifice on our family because for three months, I lose about 20 hours of work every week and I'm walking away from my own paycheck to help support my family and pay my bills,” Savoie acknowledged. “Fortunately, I still do good enough that it doesn't massively affect the family, but it is still a burden that you have to keep in check.”
And the guilt of missing his youngest and only daughter, Ava, at times in softball is adding to the toll.
“Ava made the high school team this year for JV, and now I have to deal with feeling guilty because I'm at practice and I'm not watching her play her game, or ‘Hey, coaches, I'm going to have leave today at 4 o'clock to go watch Ava,’” Savoie said. “The whole time I'm over there sitting there watching my daughter, cheering for her to do good with the softball team, I'm feeling guilty because I'm not with the kids, pole vaulting.”
The vaulters found themselves facing a significant head wind as Gaylord hosted the conference meet this year.
“Winning these Big North Championships – that's a big deal,” Warren said. “It was a very difficult weather day, so it was ‘who can adapt the most to deal with the conditions?’ That's good coaching there to be able to choose which pole is best in these conditions … how long should the run-up be and all of those things. So I was proud of the adjustments and being able to overcome adversity.”
Gaylord coaches now expect Cosby and Mason to make a run for Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals championships May 30 at Hamilton. The record-holders already have met the qualification standard, so they won’t have to depend on qualifying during today’s Regional at Cadillac.
“I know Calvin wants to be the state champion, and obviously so does Lillian,” Warren said. “We’re in a challenging division for pole vaulters. There will be good competition, but they’re definitely looking both to get all-state honors.”
Another Finals challenger will be Petoskey’s Sarah Bailey, a familiar conference foe and an offseason training partner. Bailey and Mason trained together all winter on Sundays at Boyne City High School. Boyne has the indoor vaulting equipment, and volunteer coaches from all over northern Michigan – including Savoie – are there to help student-athletes regardless of what schools they attend.
“There is a group of northern Michigan coaches that have decided to make pole vaulting a passion of theirs, not just Gaylord High School,” Warren said of the Sunday offseason training. “These kids buy into that stuff where they see coaches caring, giving of their time. There's a lot of good coaches that participate.”
Perhaps seeing one of his vaulters win a Finals title will keep Savoie around. The success and growth of junior newcomer Reese Summerland may help too. Summerland runs sprints and does the high jump as well for the Blue Devils.
“I didn't really come into this looking for really much out of it other than getting to spend time with my boys,” Savoie admitted, while noting he first coached when his son Anthony wanted to try vaulting as a freshman and Gaylord did not have coaches for it. “Reese is a junior this year, then Calvin's a sophomore, I still have some skin in the game. As long as the school's still willing to work with me to let me watch my daughter play softball, I have no reason to make the choice between the two.”
Savoie will leave the Blue Devils in good hands, should he not continue coaching.
“Jeremy is very committed but we're just going to have to carry on, and I’ve learned a lot from Jeremy,” Warren said, adding he expects the other coaches in the area to continue the offseason work. “That’s his program – that’s his baby. I believe this is going to be his last year, but you never know when you have someone the caliber of Calvin. I can’t speak more highly about Jeremy and what he’s accomplished in the last six years. Now we got other kids just trying the vault and, it's success that breeds success.”
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) Gaylord’s Lillian Mason, left, and Calvin Cosby were the Big North Conference pole-vaulting champions this season. (Middle) Cosby clears the bar. (Below) Mason carries the baton during a relay. (Top photo courtesy of the Gaylord athletic department. Action photos by Dylan Jespersen/Gaylord Herald Times.)