Reigning Champs Lead Again at Zeeland
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
June 4, 2016
ZEELAND – Orchard Lake St. Mary’s coach Sean Clouse said his team felt the pressure of defending the school’s track and field championship all season.
Noah Jacobs of Corunna said the goal of breaking the nine-minute mark in the 3,200-meter run has been with him since the cross country season ended.
Both St. Mary’s and Jacobs made history Saturday at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Track & Field Finals held at Zeeland Stadium.
St. Mary’s became the first boys team to win back-to-back titles since Farmington Hills Harrison won three straight (2001-03), as the Eaglets nosed out Mason, 46 points to 44. Zeeland East was third with 33 points, Macomb Lutheran North was fourth with 33 and Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills placed fifth with 29.5.
Kahlee Hamler of St. Mary’s won the 100 dash (10.99) and was on the winning 800 relay team that set a meet record with a time of 1:27.71.
Jacobs became the first LP Division 2 runner to break 9 minutes in the 3,200, as he won with a time of 8:55.57.
Alex Klemm of Macomb Lutheran North set the meet record in the high jump with a jump of 7 feet. Klemm’s previous best was 6-11. Klemm will attend University of Michigan on a track scholarship, and he said he hopes to compete in the long jump and pole vault in addition to the high jump.
“It’s pretty unreal right now,” Klemm said after winning his first individual title.
Both Hamler and Jacobs are juniors.
There were other strong individual performances, including the showing by Mason’s athletes in the field events and another of the state’s top distance runners, Morgan Beadlescomb of Algonac, taking the 1,600 run with a personal-best time.
But it was the Eaglets’ hurdlers and sprinters, led by Hamler, and Corunna’s Jacobs who rose to the top.
“As far as times, it was a bad day,” Hamler said. “But we got things done. It was one of my slower days. My personal best is a 10.75 (in the 100, two weeks ago in the Regional). I wasn’t loose enough. I wasn’t in my right mindset.
“Oh yeah, we had pressure. We worked hard to get here.”
In addition to the sprints, the Eaglets picked up valuable points in the 300 and 110 hurdles. Richard Bowen won the 300 (37.46) and Shermond Dabney placed third. Dabney was fourth in the 110, and both ran on the 800 relay.
Jacobs finished second to Beadlescomb at the LP Division 2 Cross County Final last fall by four seconds. Beadlescomb scratched from the 3,200 on Saturday, saying his right knee wasn’t 100 percent healthy. Jacobs won the event last season with a time of 9:27.49, but lost the competitor who might’ve helped him set a fast pace.
“The clock will tell you what I wanted to do,” Jacobs said. “I wanted to break nine (minutes). It makes it hard (when a runner is so far out in front). For me to reach my goal, that’s what I’ve got to do. They didn’t want to go out that fast.
“It’s so surreal. I’m so blessed. I’m so fortunate to stay healthy. The weather cooled down a bit. It was a perfect day. This is my favorite event. If I had to choose from running in the 3,200 relay with my teammates or this I’d take the relay and run with my teammates in a heartbeat. But, individually, this is it. It’s the kind of event I can thrive in.”
It was a bittersweet ending for Beadlescomb. He wanted to run both the 1,600 and the 3,200, but it wouldn’t have been the right decision.
“I won, but I wasn’t too happy,” he said. “I was tired. I don’t know how to explain it. It just happens. When I wanted to make a move it wasn’t there. I had to go back to third. The second time I tried it was there.”
When told he set a personal best in the 1,600 (4:13.18), Beadlescomb was flabbergasted.
“A good race for me is when I start at 2:07 (at the halfway point) and I would hold on from there,” he said. “Today I started with a 2:10. It was crazy.”
Justin Scavarda of Mason won the discus with a throw of 182 feet, 6 inches and the shot put with a put of 57-10½. Mason’s Jarrett VanHavel won the pole vault (15-3), providing the punch for the Bulldogs’ strong team total.
PHOTOS: (Top) The Orchard Lake St. Mary's boys team celebrates its second straight MHSAA championship. (Middle) Algonac's Morgan Beadlescomb leads the pack on the way to winning the 1,600. (Photos by Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)
Monroe St. Mary's Boys Finish Meteoric Rise with 1st Finals Team Title
By
Todd VanSickle
Special for MHSAA.com
May 30, 2026
KENT CITY – This was a season of first for the Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central boys track & field program.
And for the first time in school history Saturday, the Falcons won a Finals championship, scoring 39 points to claim the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 title.
Elk Rapids (32) took second and Reed City (31) was third.
“What an amazing day,” said SMCC coach Roman Smith. “This is very exciting. This is the first year our boys have even won a league meet. We went from being winless to state champions. It is pretty special. We have special group of kids.”
Monroe St. Mary’s 400 relay team earned a first place (42.20). The team included Cole Reinhardt, Gavin Swartout, Vince Harris and Brady Reinhardt.
“We had a plan going in to it,” Smith said. “As a coach you look at what your kids can do and seed times, and you hope that they live up to that.”
Monroe St. Mary’s first-year coach felt comfortable with how his relay teams were expected to perform, but knew it would take more to pull off a team championship.
“We knew we had to have some special things happen with our individual medalists, and those things happened,” Smith said. “When you have a kid seeded 23rd and he ends up with a third-place finish in the 100 meters, it really helps when it comes to points.”
Smith was referring to Gavin Swartout, who ran 10.82 seconds in the 100 meters for third place. Wyatt Dehring, of Clinton, won the sprint (10.75).
“I just told my kids to run your marks; go run the times you know you can run and let the chips fall,” Smith said. “It was a battle towards the end. When people were saying we won mathematically, I didn’t believe it. I didn’t want to talk about it.”
Elk Rapids slid into second place late in the meet.
“We are a young group and worked hard to get here,” said Elk Rapids’ coach Cameron Ward. “This means everything. It is still a surprise. It was a great team effort, and hopefully there is more to come.”
The Elks’ were led by freshman Garett Godden, who took second in the 100 meters (10.79) and 200 meters (21.80), the latter after he ran a personal best in the prelims (21.66). All told, he competed in four events.
“With all this running, your legs get so tired,” Godden said, who was making his first Finals appearance. “(This meet) is definitely bigger and a lot more people. It gives me adrenaline.”
The Elks also won the 1,600 relay (3:23.58) with Noah Liggett, Miles Prabhaker, Gavin Hamilton, and Godden. The same team took second in the 800 relay (1:30.07) behind Adrian Madison’s Wade Garza, Bryson Ballantyne, Derrell Tillman and De’Lante Garrison (1:30.01).
Jonesville’s 3,200 relay team (8:01.99) rounded out the relay winners with a team of Nicholas Fowler, Collin Fucile, Ashton Potwin and Caleb Blonde.
In the field events, Montague’s Isaac French won the shot put (54-1), and Bronson’s Brayden Fritz threw the discus 164-2 to claim the title. The top high jumper was Tayeden Redding, of Warren Michigan, with a clearance of 6-6, and Tucker Wiginton, of Springport, pole vaulted a winning height of 15 feet. Reed City senior Jack Deitsch repeated in the long jump (23-5¼).
Charlevoix’s Hunter Eaton ran a personal best to win the 1,600 meters (4:16.08).
“At the 600-meter mark, I was like let’s hammer down and see what happens,” Eaton said. “I was going into today fearing nobody. Try to win. That was the goal.”
It was his third individual Finals title. Last year, he also won the 1,600, and he was the Division 3 cross country champion in the fall.
Eaton also finished fourth in the 3,200 (9:34.53). Logan Youngman, of Hillsdale, won with a personal best performance (9.26.08). Monroe St. Mary’s Christian Craanen took second with a personal best (9:29.35).
Lansing Catholic’s Leland VanAlstine won both the 300 hurdles (14.19) and 110 hurdles (14.42). Detroit Edison senior Dennis Jackson repeated as the 400 champ with a season-best time (48.11) and finished second in the 200 meters (21.80) after finishing fourth last year. Landon Rogers, of Red Arrow (Three Oaks River Valley/New Buffalo), won the 800 meters (1:56.15). Central Montcalm's Zade Kooistra finished first in the adaptive 100 and shot put.
PHOTOS (Top) SMCC's Brady Reinhart, center, runs the final leg for his team's winning 400 relay Saturday. (Middle) Elk Rapids' Garett Godden sets the pace for the winning 1,600 relay. (Click for more from Mary Wilson and John Willoughby/RunMichigan.com.)