#TBT: Onekama Star Lends a Shoulder
September 17, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Jaylee Brown, a 2012 graduate of Onekama and current member of the Northern Michigan University cross country and track and field teams, recently received a Student-Athlete Sportsmanship Award from the NCAA Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct.
Brown encountered a runner sitting on the course near the end of a 2013 race at the University of Minnesota. While others passed by, Brown hoisted the runner and helped her through the finish line.
Brown ran for the Bear Lake/Onekama co-op cross country team from 2008-11, placing among the top 57 at the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Final all four seasons including placing 24th as a sophomore and 27th as a freshman. She also was a four-time top-six placer in LP Division 4 in pole vault, winning the championship as a senior.
The following explanation of Brown’s selfless act is courtesy of the NCAA website:
While running in the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by Minnesota last Sept. 28, Brown reached the top of the final hill of the cross country race when she noticed a runner sitting on the course.
It was Lillie Koerner of Dordt College, who had fallen and appeared dazed. Many runners ran past Koerner on their way to the finish, but Brown stopped.
“It looked like she was in a lot of pain,” Brown said. “I kept looking at her and looking at the finish. As I got closer, (Koerner) looked like she was reaching out.”
Brown put Koerner’s arm around her shoulder and told her they would finish the race together. After they crossed the finish line, Brown escorted Koerner to the athletic training tent, where she could receive medical treatment.
“It was the right thing to do,” Brown said. “For her to come all that way and not be able to finish really would have broken my heart because I know how hard it is.”
“I felt like it was my job to help her,” Brown added. “I would hate for that to happen to me. I know I would want someone to help me.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Bear Lake/Onekama's Jaylee Brown heads toward the finish line during the 2011 MHSAA Cross Country Finals at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Brown, running for Northern Michigan University, helps Lillie Koerner of Dordt College toward the finish at University of Minnesota a year ago. (Top photo by RunMichigan.com; middle courtesy of NCAA.org.)
Forsyth Closes Career as Legendary, Romeo Caps Memorable 1st Title Run
November 4, 2023
BROOKLYN — Dathan Ritzenhein’s time of 14:10.4 at the 2000 MHSAA Cross Country Finals has become the stuff of legend.
During the 23 years that have followed, no other runners has come remotely close to breaking the record set by the three-time Olympian from Rockford.
Years from now, perhaps Rachel Forsyth’s performance Saturday at Michigan International Speedway will be just as revered.
She not only set the girls course record, she obliterated it.
Running solo from the gun, Forsyth ran a scorching 16:28.5 to shatter the course mark of Lansing Catholic’s Olivia Theis in the 2017 Division 2 race.
It’s worth noting that some of the greatest high school cross country runners in the country have graced MIS since the MHSAA moved its Finals there in 1996.
Megan Goethals of Rochester (2009) and Zofia Dudek of Ann Arbor Pioneer (2019) won Foot Locker national championships. Others have gone on to become college All-Americans.
It wasn’t even Forsyth’s fastest time this season. She ran 16:07.5 to win her Regional meet. Forsyth was more fixated on beating that time than taking down the course record.
“I just handled it like a normal race,” Forsyth said. “Me and my friends goofed off. We got ready as we normally did. No one put too much pressure on it.”
It was the second MHSAA championship for Forsyth, the other coming two years ago when she ran 17:09.32.
After that, she began to struggle with an eating disorder which put her life in jeopardy. She was hospitalized at the University of Michigan’s Mott Children’s Hospital and was then admitted to the Eating Recovery Center in Illinois.
She was finally healthy enough to rejoin her team on the race course in late September last year, but had lost much of her spectacular fitness. She finished 62nd in last year’s state meet.
“It’s very surreal, because I missed so much,” Forsyth said. “So, to be able to be at my best …”
At this point, Forsyth began choking up before she finished the sentence … “is very special.”
Forsyth said the process of making healthy decisions is still difficult, “but the benefits of doing what I have to pays off 100 percent.”
Forsyth reached the finish line before anyone else hit the three-mile mark in the 3.1-mile race. Finishing a distant second was Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills senior Selma Anderson, whose time of 17:13.6 would have ranked 11th in MIS history coming into a record-setting day across the board.
“It was pretty cool to watch, but I know I couldn’t run with her,” Anderson said. “So, I was just going to focus on my race.”
Forsyth hoped to cap her record-breaking day with a team championship celebration, but Romeo had something to say about that, putting up a winning total of 65 points to claim its first Finals championship and after finishing runner-up a year ago. Pioneer was second this time with 126 points.
Freshman Annie Hrabovsky of Romeo established herself as a future championship contender, placing fourth in 17:28.7. Sophomore Natalia Guaresimo was seventh, sophomore Emmerson Clor 13th, junior Lillian Deskins 22nd and junior Olivia Purdy 41st for Romeo.
The Bulldogs had four runners cross before Pioneer had two.
PHOTOS (Top) Ann Arbor Pioneer's Rachel Forsyth takes the final paces of her record-setting run Saturday at MIS. (Middle) Midland Dow's Victoria Garces (200) and Romeo's Annie Hrabovsky run side-by-side down the closing stretch. (Photos by Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)