Revived Mancelona Boys Charging Ahead
May 9, 2019
By Chris Dobrowolski
Special for Second Half
Ability alone won’t get it done on the track.
That’s why the transformation of the Mancelona boys track & field team didn’t happen until the Ironmen added confidence to their talent.
“I always thought they could do it,” said Rick Ancel, Mancelona’s head coach. “I always thought we had a lot of talent. They just didn’t believe in themselves, and they ran mediocre. Once they started believing, the workouts changed. The times changed. There are very few people they are afraid of. They get beat on certain days, but they don’t beat themselves up. I think before this change they were afraid before they ever got on the track.”
Since they’ve developed some faith in themselves the Ironmen have been a force to be reckoned with, running undefeated through every regular-season invitational they competed in last year on the way to capturing the Ski Valley Conference title. With most of its squad returning this season, Mancelona has continued to dominate meets and figures to be a shoo-in to capture the league crown for a second straight year when the conference championships are run May 22. The squad has been so impressive that it earned a No. 6 ranking in the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association Division 3 poll two weeks ago.
“It’s kind of hard to think about (being ranked) because a couple years ago we weren’t even winning our conference let alone being ranked at the state level,” said junior Johnny Ancel, one of the team’s three captains, along with classmates Tommy Palmer and Wesley Fulk.
Members of the team or coaching staff point to when Rick Ancel took over as head coach before last year as the pivotal moment when the Ironmen’s outlook, preparation and performance all changed. Ancel, who ran collegiately at Saginaw Valley State, deflects the credit back to his team and its willingness to do what it takes to find success.
“I do remember during the year that the workouts started changing,” said Rick Ancel. “They started going from trying to complete a workout because they had to run that much to trying to improve. Instead of just getting through it, they were doing the workout to get better.”
The fruits of their labor paid off in the form of the league crown, a fifth-place finish in the Regional — which came in their first year competing in Division 3 — MHSAA Finals qualifiers in three events and a school record in the 1,600-meter relay.
“At the end of last year I was feeling pretty good,” said Fulk. “We were only losing two of our (top) people, so the majority of our team was still going to be here. I knew we were going to be better than last season.”
The Ironmen haven’t disappointed. In an indoor meet at Central Michigan University in mid-March, the Ironmen kicked off their season by finishing second among Division 3 and 4 teams, easily surpassing their 11th-place finish a year ago. They followed that by winning their first five regular-season meets outside. Only a second-place finish at the Blue Devil Classic in Gaylord — where Mancelona tested itself against Division 1 and 2 teams — broke up the streak of regular-season first-place finishes that started early last season.
“This year we added some big meets,” said Rick Ancel. “We really tried to ramp up our competition this year.”
Ancel’s veteran squad has welcomed the tougher competition. It’s a core of athletes who individually have the versatility to fill in at a number of different events and compete at a high level. The three captains, for instance, can run any event from the 100-meter dash up to the 800-meter run.
“We can try more people in different spots,” said Fulk.
It comes down to doing whatever the team needs at a particular meet. Even though track & field is in many ways an individual sport, the Ironmen see it from a team standpoint and embrace that perspective.
“We always start every meet and end every meet together as a team,” said Palmer. “You can’t do it alone, obviously. You can’t win a meet with just us three who are here or just one of us.”
Two years ago the Mancelona team had only 11 members. Depth is not an issue any longer, however, as the Ironmen have bolstered their roster and now have nearly every event covered. Sophomore Ryan Rebh is ranked among the best hurdlers in the state in Division 3. Sophomore Jayden Alfred is the reigning Regional champion in the high jump and long jump and has emerged as the team’s top sprinter this season. Sophomore distance runner Tyler McClure is a Finals qualifier in the 3,200-meter run. Junior Michael Wagner is one of the better discus throwers in the Ski Valley Conference. James Dunne, Ben Palmer, Sam Squires and Austin Anderson have been key point scorers as well.
Mancelona also has four top-notch relays — all four should be favored to win conference crowns — highlighted by the 1,600 team. Ancel, Tommy Palmer and Fulk all return for that squad and have their sights set on breaking the school record for a second straight year.
“We’re just trying to find the right day where we all run fast at the same time,” said Johnny Ancel. “We could probably break it again right now. We just haven’t found the day.”
Records aside, the Ironmen seem to have the lineup that could challenge for a Regional title. Mancelona’s last Regional championship came in 2012, but that was in Division 4. Running in Division 3 is a bit more difficult, the Ironmen say, but they are up for the challenge.
“Harbor Springs was (in Gaylord), and they’re in our division. They’re really good. We’ll meet them again at Regionals,” said Rick Ancel. “That will be a tough day for us, but I think we’ve got a shot at winning that.”
Chris Dobrowolski has covered northern Lower Peninsula sports since 1999 at the Ogemaw County Herald, Alpena News, Traverse City Record-Eagle and currently as sports editor at the Antrim Kalkaska Review since 2016. 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) Mancelona’s Ryan Rebh leads the charge through the 110-meter hurdles during a recent meet. (Middle) Jayden Alfred launches during the long jump. (Photos by Chris Dobrowolski.)
Marquette Boys Conquer UP Division 1 Again in Potentially Record Fashion
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
June 1, 2025
KINGSFORD — Was there really ever a doubt the Marquette boys would capture the Upper Peninsula Division 1 track & field title Saturday?
The Sentinels left no doubt as they ran away with their fifth-consecutive championship, scoring a possible state-record 200 points.
Marquette, which won for the ninth time in 10 years, was followed by Sault Ste. Marie (65) and Kingsford (53).
“They’re a real hard-working group,” Sentinels coach Derek Marr said. “We talk about effort and attitude. We give the guys challenging goals and support them with continuous positive reinforcement.”
Marquette senior Michael Cattoor set the U.P. all-Finals pole vault record at 14-7, shattering the previous all-time best (14-0 in Class A-B) by Wade Hodge of Menominee in 1992 and the former D-1 record (13-8) set by Dayton Miron of Escanaba six years ago.
He also topped the previous school record which he shared with classmate Drew Bradley at 14-6 since Wednesday.
Bradley was runner-up this time at 14-0. Ishpeming Westwood junior Louis Salmi placed third (13-6), and Gladstone sophomore Andrew Karl was fourth (12-6).
“I had the guy from Gladstone and Drew here to push me,” Cattoor said. “Drew and I have been pushing each other back and forth. It’s good to have that competition in practice. We’ve been putting in extra time. We stayed about an hour extra each day.”
Marquette grabbed the top three places in the 200-meter dash, led by senior Jacob MacPhee in 22.72 seconds. He was followed by juniors Pierce Pittsley (22.87) and Ford Richardson (22.95).
MacPhee added a first in the 400 relay (50.69), helped the Sentinels set the U.P. Finals record in the 800 relay (1:36.30) that surpassed the 15-year-old record by Kingsford (1:36.73), and anchored the winning 1,600 relay (3:34.44).
Sophomore Lucas Ballard added a first in the 800 (1:58.09). He was followed by Houghton junior Luke Hill (1:59.72) and Marquette junior Beepsee Teeple (2:00.88).
“I’m excited about it,” Ballard said. “We had a good day. It was great running with our seniors for the last time. I’ll probably take a week off and get back in training.”
Sentinels’ senior James Barch earned his first 1,600 title in a personal-best 4:19.52, followed by Sault junior Gabe Litzner (4:20.16) and Ballard (4:21.40).
“I was hoping to sneak under 4:20 in the last meet of the year,” Barch said. “This is pretty satisfying. I ran 4:22 twice. Last year I had a 4:35 here. I decided if anybody took the lead, I’d go with them. If they slowed down, I’d take it. We have a team that’s deep, which makes it fun. It’s nice to have guys to run with. It makes you want to get out and run more. Cross country definitely gave us momentum for track. With all of us around 15 minutes, it makes it exciting.”
Litzner improved on last year’s U.P. D-1 record time by more than four minutes in the 3,200. He ran a 9:31.20 on this sunny and mild afternoon compared to 9:35.63 at the end of last season.
“I didn’t really have much of a strategy,” he said. “I wanted to take the lead at different times to spice things up a little. I’m happy about it. I actually went out a little slow, then picked up the pace in the last 600 meters. I really pushed myself in the end.
“This is a big confidence builder. Things didn’t go quite the way I planned this year. This will motivate me to do some hard training during the summer.”
Litzner will be among several U.P. distance runners in pursuit of the all-time two-mile record (9:22 in Class C) set by Fred Teddy of L’Anse in 1972.
Sault junior Javonte Bellamy captured the 100 title (10.97), missing the U.P. Finals record by just two hundredths of a second, and Negaunee senior Brady Mager broke the 40-second barrier in the 300 hurdles for the first time, winning in 39.88.
Marquette junior Jacob Norman won the 110 hurdles at 15.52, edging Mager by 13 hundredths of a second.
PHOTOS (Top) Marquette's Kyler Sager crosses the finish line first in the 400 relay Saturday. Other members of Marquette's team included Drew Bradley, Pierce Pittsley, and James Goodwin. (Middle) Menominee's Darrent Butler wins the high jump with a jump of 6-4. (Photos by Cara Kamps/RunMichigan.com.)