Chip Hills Caps Perfect Season Perfectly
May 31, 2014
By John Leerar
Special to Second Half
GRAND RAPIDS – Remus Chippewa Hills coach Sally Schafer wasn’t optimistic about her team’s chances halfway through the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals on Saturday at Houseman Field.
“Things weren’t going the way I thought they had to go the first half of the day,” Schafer said. “I thought we were going to have to score in the upper 40’s to win. And even with a perfect second half of the meet, that wasn’t going to happen. It was going to be an OK day.”
When asked where she thought her team would finish at that point in time, Schafer responded, “Third or fourth.”
However, the lower-than-anticipated point total turned out to be enough, as the Warriors won the meet and their first MHSAA Finals title with 34 points. Lansing Waverly was second with 31.
Chippewa Hills did not win a single event, but scored points consistently enough to build a lead.
“We scored in six events today, which is the most we’ve ever scored in since I’ve been coaching,” Schafer said. “All of the girls came through at the end and ran consistently across the board today. We faltered a little bit, and were disappointed here and there, but when it came down to the last race, they got it done and did what they needed to do.”
The race Schafer was referring to was the 1,600 relay, the last event of the afternoon. The Warriors came into that race 10 points ahead of Waverly, the top seed for that event. Chippewa Hills had to place in the top eight to secure the championship and did so, finishing sixth in a time of 4:03.87.
Senior Megan O’Neil was a major contributor for Chippewa Hills, scoring 16 points by herself with second-place finishes in the 800 and 1,600 runs.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet that (the 1,600) was Megan O’Neil’s last race,” Schafer said. “But she’s going to go on to bigger things. I’m sure she’s very happy her high school career ended like this.”
Schafer also made sure to give credit to her entire team. “This championship still took our entire team. We had 10 girls here today who all helped us win,” she added.
Chippewa Hills finished the season unbeaten.
The LP Division 2 1,600-meter record fell at Houseman Field. Junior Karrigan Smith of St. Johns edged out the previous record of 4:51.67 in that event, running a 4:51.53 while beating the rest of the field by more than two seconds.
“It’s such a great feeling,” Smith said. “This is the first state championship in my school’s history for the girls, so it’s a really important moment for me as well as my team. I’m just so thankful to be here.
“My goal during the race was to stay behind the lead girl and kick it in the last 200 meters. I’m just happy that I could execute today, and it’s a great feeling. I had no idea I was even close to the record until my teammates informed me.”
Spring Lake also made its presence known. The sister duo of Allie and Gabriella LeRoux took first and second, respectively, in the pole vault. Allie, a senior, finished with 11 feet, 8 inches, while her freshman sister Gabriella vaulted 11-5. Junior Carlyn Arteaga won the 800, finishing in 2:16.09.
“I’m happy with my performance today,” Arteaga said. “I’m glad everything worked out. My best time before this was 2:17, so this is a PR (personal record) for me. I qualified for the 400 as well as this race, but I decided to just concentrate on the 800. I wanted to go all in on this race and it paid off. I just started running the 800 as my main event this year, so I’m very happy about how it turned out.”
Senior Brittany Casey of Zeeland East dominated the field events, winning both the shot put and discus. She threw 43-1¼ in the shot put and a 138-10 in the discus.
“I’m still in shock about today. I’m so excited about my performance,” she said. “I was especially satisfied with my discus throw, which was a personal record by about six feet.”
Other field winners include Charley Andrews of Battle Creek Harper Creek in the high jump and Gabriella Collins of Mount Morris in the long jump. Race winners include Alison Rich of Haslett in the 100 hurdles, Josie Yesmunt of DeWitt in the 100 and 200 dashes, Zoe Eby of Carleton Airport in the 400, Hannah Coverdill of Marine City in the 300 hurdles and Kaela Theut of East Grand Rapids in the 3,200 run.
PHOTOS: (Top) Remus Chippewa Hills’ Kylie Schafer runs her leg of the 3,200 relay Saturday at Grand Rapids Houseman Stadium. (Middle) Chippewa Hills celebrates its first MHSAA championship. (Head shot) Karrigan Smith, St. Johns. (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com.)
Preview: UP Girls Finals Paced By Parade of Returning Champions
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 28, 2026
More than two-thirds of last season’s individual champions – winners in 28 of 39 events – will return Saturday to fill out a star-studded lineup at the Upper Peninsula Girls Track & Field Finals.
All three divisions will be hosted by Kingsford High School, with preliminaries leading off the day at 9 a.m. local (Central) time. Tickets cost $11 and are available digitally only via GoFan.
MHSAA.tv will live-stream the meets beginning at 9 a.m. (CDT)/10 a.m. (EDT), viewable with subscription. Check out the Girls Track & Field page for meet information and lists of all qualifiers.
Those described as "seeded" below have received those seeds based on Regional performances or early qualification during the regular season. (Although not noted for most, several individuals below also will run on contending relays.)
Following is a glance at team contenders and individuals to watch in all three divisions:
Division 1
Team forecast: Negaunee is the reigning champion and has won two of the last four Division 1 titles – and might have their most dominant team of this recent run. The Miners scored 105.5 points to win their Regional by 70, while Marquette – last year’s Finals runner-up, won theirs by 22 points over Gladstone. Negaunee outscored Marquette 155-109 at the top of last year’s meet.
Baylie Bourdeau, Negaunee senior: The reigning discus champion will throw for a repeat after finishing third at her Regional, and also will compete in shot put.
Ella Brackett, Gladstone sophomore: She debuted last season in a big way winning the 200 and finishing second in the 400, and she enters this weekend with the third-fastest Regional 100 (13.03) and second-fastest 200 (26.48) and 400 (1:03.24).
Ella Fure, Marquette senior: She’s twice won the 3,200 (including last season) and finished first in the 1,600 once as well, and enters with the fastest seed times in those races (11:56.38 and 5:36.68, respectively) and the 800 (2:28.76).
Maggie Karl, Gladstone sophomore: She has a chance to star entering top-seeded in the pole vault (10-7), tied for the top seed in the high jump (4-10) and fourth in the 100 hurdles.
Sadie Rogers, Negaunee junior: She swept the hurdles titles last season and won the 100 hurdles as a freshman as well, and she has the top seed time in the 100 hurdles (16.24) and 300 hurdles (47.63) and fourth-fastest in the 200.
Taylen Todd, Marquette junior: The reigning long jump champion had the second-farthest at Regionals (16-5) and also could run on two top-seeded relays.
Keira Waterman, Negaunee junior: She’s won the 400 and 800 both of her first two seasons and is seeded first in the 400 (1:02.02), fifth in the 800, seventh in the 200 and third in long jump (15-4).
Division 2
Team forecast: Pickford’s championship last spring was its first since winning Division 3 in 2007, and Rudyard will seek to be next to make a jump as it pursues its first Finals team title since 1977 after finishing 12 points ahead of Pickford at their Regional. West Iron County and Ewen-Trout Creek were 1-2 in another close Regional. The Wykons were only three points behind Pickford at last year’s Final and have finished runners-up three of the last four seasons after winning the title in 2021.
Lauren Adams, Norway senior: She won the 100 and 200 last season and is seeded first in both (13.17 and 27.73, respectively) and second in the 400 (1:03.09).
Brielle Anderson, Painesdale Jeffers junior: The reigning long jump champion had the longest Regional leap (14-10) and also will run the 100.
Amelia Fountain, Rudyard sophomore: She finished first in the 400, tied for second in pole vault, third in the 200 and fourth in the 100 last season and enters this weekend seeded second in the 100 (13.19) and 200 (28.03), first in the 400 (1:02.28) and fourth in the pole vault.
Mira Johnson, Bark River-Harris junior: She’s won the pole vault the last two seasons at 8 foot, which was also her Regional vault this month that is ranked second in Division 2.
Talya Schreiber, Pickford senior: She’s won five individual and a relay championship over the last two seasons, claiming the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 a year ago. She’s seeded this time first in the 800 (2:31.23) by five seconds, first in the 1,600 by more than 16 seconds and first in the 3,200 by nearly two minutes.
Bristol Shamion, West Iron County sophomore: She swept the hurdles races and won high jump as a freshman and is seeded second in the 100 hurdles (17.83), first in the 300 (48.52), fifth in the 200 and first in the high jump (5-2).
Division 3
Team forecast: Newberry was first and Lake Linden-Hubbell second last year, reversing their positions from 2024, and LL-H is a Regional champion this time while Newberry finished second to Brimley earlier this month. LL-H will turn to its relays to make a run at another team title, while Newberry’s distance dominance should keep it in contention and Brimley has interesting possibilities especially in field events, hurdles and relays. Dollar Bay and Crystal Falls Forest Park also have scoring opportunities in several events.
Laila Bell, Dollar Bay junior: Last season’s long jump champion tied for the longest leap (16-0) at Regionals and will run on a contending 400 relay.
Destiny Bleau, Big Bay de Noc sophomore: She’s won the 200 the last two seasons (including as an eighth grader in 2024) and is seeded first in that race (26.12) plus the 100 (12.83) and 400 (1:00.87). She’s also seeded third (tied) in the high jump at 5-0.
Kiera Isaacson, Dollar Bay senior: She’s won the high jump the last two seasons and her 5-2 at Regionals was tied for highest in Division 3. She will join Bell on the 400 relay.
Tallulah Slabosheski, Brimley senior: She swept the throws as a junior and enters this weekend with the second-seeded shot put (32-2½) and top discus toss (115-8) .
Abby Taylor, Newberry junior: She won the 800 and was second in the 1,600 and 3,200 to her sister Samantha (see below) last season. She’s seeded first in the 800 (2:29.68) and second to her sister in the 1,600 (5:44.72) and 3,200 (12:41.50) this time.
Samantha Taylor, Newberry senior: After claiming two straight championships in the 1,600 and adding the 3,200 win last spring, she’ll enter her last Finals seeded first in both at 5:18.58 and 11:45.51, respectively.
Avery Visnaw, St. Ignace senior: The reigning pole vault champion ascended 10 feet at Regionals to outpace the division by a foot, and she’s also seeded third in the 100 hurdles (17.28) and fourth in the 300.
PHOTOS (Top) West Iron County's Bristol Shamion wins the high jump with a jump of 5-0 during the Western Peninsula Athletic Conference championship meet May 20. (Middle) From left, Crystal Falls Forest Park's Audrey Williams, Marquette's Emma Ziegler and Negaunee's Keira Waterman run the 800 at the Negaunee Lions Invitational on May 8. Waterman took first place, Williams second and Marquette's Ziegler took third. (Photos by Cara Kamps.)