Coach Predicts Title, Ithaca Girls Answer
June 13, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
There’s a clear difference between prediction and expectation. But the Ithaca girls track & field team had to decide which way coach Gene Lebron was leaning when he told his athletes they’d win an MHSAA championship this spring.
Erica Sheahan knew it was more than a pep talk.
Lebron had called his cross country team’s 2014 championship as well – and that gave this spring’s Yellowjackets plenty of faith in their coach’s fearless forecast.
Ithaca’s girls track & field team – the Applebee’s Team of the Month for May – dominated its Tri-Valley Conference West competition at last month’s league meet and also won its Division 3 Regional for the second straight year – and second time total in program history.
and it’s impossible to overlook what the Yellowjackets then accomplished four days after May ended – win the first MHSAA Finals championship in program history, scoring 57½ points to edge Adrian Madison by 3½ at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 meet at Comstock Park.
“This group of seniors, we accomplished a lot together and we set our goals high,” said Sheahan, who repeated as LP Division 3 long jump champion. “Coach told us this would be the year, and we stuck to it and did the best we could to make it happen.”
At the MHSAA postseason level, that first step came at the May 20 Regional at Shepherd, which Ithaca won by 52 points over the runner-up Bluejays. The Yellowjackets then won their league meet on May 25 with 215 points, doubling up the field while finishing first in seven individual races, two field events and all four relays.
Ithaca also started May with a 12½-point win at the Shepherd Invitational over Cadillac, which went on to tie for 17th in LP Division 2 this month, and third-place Fowler, which won the LP Division 4 championship. Ithaca also won the Division 3 portion of the Alma College Scottie Classic on May 14.
By the end of this season, Ithaca had broken school records in every relay, long jump, the 200, 800, 1,600 and 300 hurdles. Lebron said the relay records might not be approached for some time.
“Those records were already set really high, and these girls really performed at a high level this year,” Lebron said. “They really took a stride.They fed off that (2014) championship in cross country. We sent 10 girls to the MHSAA state meet, and six of those girls ran at the (cross country) state meet when we won. When we won in 2014 in cross country, we came back that track season and placed fourth. They kinda knew the writing was on the wall.
"They were disappointed with the state meet in cross country this year; they finished fifth and I thought they should’ve been higher, and they did too. They felt they let one get away, but they came in more motivated than ever for track.”
Sheahan was the only Ithaca girl to win a Finals championship. But she also won the 100 and 200 at the Regional, where junior Courtney Allen won the 800, junior Emily Foster won the 300 hurdles, and some combination of Sheahan, Foster, Allen, Mikayla Fairchild, Kara Kindel, Morgan Most, Blaire Showers, Amelia Freestone, Kurstin Kalisek and Alyssa Mankey won all four relays.
Counting every team Ithaca finished ahead of at an invitational or postseason event, the Yellowjackets were an incredible 145-2 this season, finishing third at the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association meet but winning every other time they competed.
Lebron has been around plenty of championship teams. In addition to his, Ithaca is best-known for its football team that’s won five of the last six Division 6 titles. He sees every day the sacrifices made by athletes hoping to reach the highest level.
But to him, the level of commitment by the girls on this spring’s team still stood out. Some played volleyball in the past, but switched the cross country to better prepare for track season. As a team, they lifted weights during the offseason three times a week at 6:30 a.m., and informally the distance runners and some sprinters would get together every Sunday for a long run.
Equally “extraordinary,” the Yellowjackets have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.755.
Indeed, football does enjoy most of the statewide shine for the community of 3,000 about 45 miles north of Lansing. But the girls running program has made a reputation as well the last two school years.
“They’re diehard with football. They’re all friends with those guys. But they want their own success,” Lebron said of his athletes. “Every team at Ithaca lives in the shadow of Ithaca football. But I don’t think that’s a negative thing all together. I think our girls are motivated by them. We’re going to cast our own shadow.
"Football is football; it’s America. But these girls have done a good job making a name for themselves.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2015-16:
April: Lake Orion boys lacrosse – Report
March: Hancock ice hockey – Report
February: Petoskey boys skiing – Report
January: Spring Lake boys swimming & diving – Report
December: Saginaw Heritage girls basketball – Report
November: Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard volleyball – Report
October: Benton Harbor football – Report
September: Mason and Okemos boys soccer – Report
PHOTOS: (Top) A pair of Ithaca runners complete a handoff during their Regional meet May 20 at Shepherd. (Middle) The Yellowjackets pose with the first MHSAA Finals championship trophy won in program history. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Eastern Upper Peninsula Power Reigns in Girls Distance Races
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
May 8, 2025
PICKFORD — Girls distance runners don’t have to look far to find competition in the Eastern Upper Peninsula.
That’s especially true in Division 3, where Pickford junior Talya Schreiber is setting the pace.
Last fall, Eastern U.P. runners grabbed the top four places at the U.P. Division 3 Cross Country Final at Munising. Schreiber won that race for the first time in 2023, followed by Newberry’s Samantha and Abby Taylor, then retained her title in October.
Abby Taylor was runner-up, with Samantha placing third and Engadine eighth-grader Molly NcNamara taking fourth in that most recent championship race.
“I started at a younger age,” Schreiber said after the Web Morrison Invite at Pickford on April 26. “I ran my first cross country meet in sixth grade. That was definitely a learning curve, but I got hooked on that feeling. The first meet went well.
“Once I got into seventh grade, I knew I wanted to make a future of it. In my freshman year, we moved from Cedarville to Pickford. It was quite an adjustment with new coaches and athletic program and being a bigger school.”
Schreiber won three individual events April 12 at the Yooper Indoor Invitational at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie. She was clocked at 2:30.64 in the 800-meter run and took the 1,600 (5:15.55) and 3,200 (11:16.96), well ahead of her nearest competitor, Escanaba senior and Northern Michigan University recruit Alisha Mabie.
“That was a good experience,” Schreiber said. “Alisha is doing real well.
“After cross country, I started my track and field training. Every week I worked out at the LSSU track. I’m hoping to break five minutes in the 1,600 and go under 11 in the 3,200.”
At Pickford, Schreiber again posted winning times in the 800 (2:30.32), 1,600 (5:21.49) and 3,200 (11:27.79).
Abby Taylor was runner-up in the 400 (1:09.6) and 800 (2:41.01) and Samantha took second in the 1,600 (5:31.77) and 3,200 (11:52.25).
“Abby and Sam are good athletes,” Schreiber said. “They push me and it results in better times, and Molly is going to be something special. Sam ran a nice 3,200 on our track, and Abby had some nice races.”
The Taylor sisters dominated last Thursday’s Rapid River Invitational, placing 1-2 in the 3,200. Samantha won in 12:12.59, and Abby was runner-up (12:29.35) in a steady cold rain.
Sam also won the 1,600 (5:28.44) and Abby finished first in the 800 (2:26.45). Both were also part of the winning 3,200 relay (10:39.42).
“It’s a family tradition,” Abby Taylor said. “I became interested in eighth grade. I knew it was something I wanted to do. There’s a lot more competition in our area. Although anywhere you go, you have competition.”
She said she trains about 30-40 miles a week.
“Running with these girls in cross country was good preparation for track,” she added. “Running with Talya helps a lot. She makes you better, and Molly draws the best out of you. Molly has a good future.”
They also train together quite often.
“We push each other in practice,” Samantha said. “I try to give Abby advice. She sometimes has a problem with that, but I see the potential in her. I want to see her do well.
“Talya is also a very good runner. We look up to her, and Molly is really good. We enjoy the competition.”
How did the Taylors overcome the elements at Rapid River?
“We went inside the school to do some stretching and stay warm between races,” Abby said. “Our team did really well. … The distances are a big part of our team.”
McNamara, who’s still doing middle school track, could compete with the varsity at the Regional at Rapid River on May 14. Engadine is headed to St. Ignace for an invitational tonight.
Newberry travels to Munising for Friday’s ‘Under the Lights’ Invitational.
John Vrancic has covered high school sports in the Upper Peninsula since joining the Escanaba Daily Press staff in 1985. He is known most prominently across the peninsula for his extensive coverage of cross country and track & field that frequently appears in newspapers from the Wisconsin border to Lake Huron. He received the James Trethewey Award for Distinguished Service in 2015 from the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.
PHOTOS Pickford's Talya Schreiber leads Ishpeming's Lola Korpi on the way to winning the 1,600 during last season’s Upper Peninsula Division 2 Finals. (Middle) Newberry's Samantha Taylor leads sister Abby Taylor during last season’s 1,600 championship race in Division 3. (Photos by Cara Kamps.)