Gaylord Pole-Vaulting Pair Rewards Coach's Commitment with Conference Sweep
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
May 15, 2026
The future of the Gaylord pole vaulting may be hanging in the balance.
Success in the field event depends not only on speed and jumping ability — but also coordination, strength and balance.
The Blue Devils and veteran head track & field coach Matt Warren may have to struggle to keep the balance going next year. But it’s not the first time the program is facing the possibility of losing assistant coach Jeremy Savoie.
“It's hard if you don't have somebody who has passion for pole vaulting to coach, and Jeremy is a selfless human being,” Warren said. “He has the passion for helping and molding kids, and it comes through very, very, clearly, with the pole vault program. And when he steps down, it's going to be a big loss for us.”
Savoie’s investment in pole vaulting has led to Gaylord capturing both Big North Conference individual championships for the first time in school history. Senior Lillian Mason, who set the school record earlier this year clearing the bar at 10-9, won the girls conference title on one of the most challenging days of a very challenging spring. Sophomore Calvin Cosby, also a school record-holder, won the boys league title. Cosby, who owns the boys record at 15-3, was third at the conference meet last year when Savoie’s son Nickolas was runner-up.
Savoie started coaching pole vault during the spring of 2000. A former high school vaulter himself, he got involved because of his family – the same family he struggles every day to balance along with work and coaching. He nearly walked away from coaching after last spring’s season when Nickolas, one of the best vaulters in the school’s history, graduated.
After receiving a letter from Mason, and talking things through with her family and his own, Savoie decided to stick around this year.
“I was really done when Nickolas finished. … We had the whole emotional track banquet and low and behold, here we are again,” Savoie said. “Lillian started with me as a freshman. She had to really work at it, and over the last two years, she didn’t take any time off. She works at it year-round, lifts, runs, does the drills and just works her tail off.”
Now, though, Savoie’s youngest daughter plays junior varsity softball for the Blue Devils. He is finding himself caught at times between watching his daughter play softball, including summer ball, and helping other student-athletes in what has become another year-around sport.
In addition to family balance struggles, Savoie also has battled work-life challenges as a technician for a local auto dealership.
“It is a sacrifice on our family because for three months, I lose about 20 hours of work every week and I'm walking away from my own paycheck to help support my family and pay my bills,” Savoie acknowledged. “Fortunately, I still do good enough that it doesn't massively affect the family, but it is still a burden that you have to keep in check.”
And the guilt of missing his youngest and only daughter, Ava, at times in softball is adding to the toll.
“Ava made the high school team this year for JV, and now I have to deal with feeling guilty because I'm at practice and I'm not watching her play her game, or ‘Hey, coaches, I'm going to have leave today at 4 o'clock to go watch Ava,’” Savoie said. “The whole time I'm over there sitting there watching my daughter, cheering for her to do good with the softball team, I'm feeling guilty because I'm not with the kids, pole vaulting.”
The vaulters found themselves facing a significant head wind as Gaylord hosted the conference meet this year.
“Winning these Big North Championships – that's a big deal,” Warren said. “It was a very difficult weather day, so it was ‘who can adapt the most to deal with the conditions?’ That's good coaching there to be able to choose which pole is best in these conditions … how long should the run-up be and all of those things. So I was proud of the adjustments and being able to overcome adversity.”
Gaylord coaches now expect Cosby and Mason to make a run for Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals championships May 30 at Hamilton. The record-holders already have met the qualification standard, so they won’t have to depend on qualifying during today’s Regional at Cadillac.
“I know Calvin wants to be the state champion, and obviously so does Lillian,” Warren said. “We’re in a challenging division for pole vaulters. There will be good competition, but they’re definitely looking both to get all-state honors.”
Another Finals challenger will be Petoskey’s Sarah Bailey, a familiar conference foe and an offseason training partner. Bailey and Mason trained together all winter on Sundays at Boyne City High School. Boyne has the indoor vaulting equipment, and volunteer coaches from all over northern Michigan – including Savoie – are there to help student-athletes regardless of what schools they attend.
“There is a group of northern Michigan coaches that have decided to make pole vaulting a passion of theirs, not just Gaylord High School,” Warren said of the Sunday offseason training. “These kids buy into that stuff where they see coaches caring, giving of their time. There's a lot of good coaches that participate.”
Perhaps seeing one of his vaulters win a Finals title will keep Savoie around. The success and growth of junior newcomer Reese Summerland may help too. Summerland runs sprints and does the high jump as well for the Blue Devils.
“I didn't really come into this looking for really much out of it other than getting to spend time with my boys,” Savoie admitted, while noting he first coached when his son Anthony wanted to try vaulting as a freshman and Gaylord did not have coaches for it. “Reese is a junior this year, then Calvin's a sophomore, I still have some skin in the game. As long as the school's still willing to work with me to let me watch my daughter play softball, I have no reason to make the choice between the two.”
Savoie will leave the Blue Devils in good hands, should he not continue coaching.
“Jeremy is very committed but we're just going to have to carry on, and I’ve learned a lot from Jeremy,” Warren said, adding he expects the other coaches in the area to continue the offseason work. “That’s his program – that’s his baby. I believe this is going to be his last year, but you never know when you have someone the caliber of Calvin. I can’t speak more highly about Jeremy and what he’s accomplished in the last six years. Now we got other kids just trying the vault and, it's success that breeds success.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. 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) Gaylord’s Lillian Mason, left, and Calvin Cosby were the Big North Conference pole-vaulting champions this season. (Middle) Cosby clears the bar. (Below) Mason carries the baton during a relay. (Top photo courtesy of the Gaylord athletic department. Action photos by Dylan Jespersen/Gaylord Herald Times.)
Preview: Returning Champs Lined Up to Lead Again at LP Girls Track & Field Finals
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 30, 2024
The power programs that led the way during the 2023 Lower Peninsula Girls Track & Field Finals could be the teams to chase again during this weekend’s meets across the Grand Rapids area.
Buckley in Division 4 and Hart in Division 3 return significant point scorers from last year’s respective title runs, and Oak Park and Detroit Renaissance again look like strong pacesetters in Division 1.
Division 2 might be the most contested meet of the day in the Lower Peninsula – but it’s impossible to count out two-time reigning champion East Grand Rapids.
All four LP Finals will begin with pole vault and long jump beginning at 9 a.m., followed by race semifinals and the 3,200 relay at 10 a.m. and the rest of the running finals starting at noon. Tickets cost $11 and are available digitally only via GoFan.
MHSAA.tv will live-stream all four meets beginning at 10 a.m., viewable with subscription. Check out the Girls Track & Field page for meet information for all four sites and lists of all qualifiers. Those described as "seeded" below have received those seeds based on Regional performances.
Below is a glance at team contenders and individuals to watch in all four divisions:
LP Division 1 at East Kentwood
Team forecast: Oak Park or Detroit Renaissance has won the last five LPD1 team titles, with the other finishing runner-up the last four seasons (not counting COVID-canceled 2020). A year ago it was Oak Park first and Renaissance second, and the Knights have first or second seeds (or both) in five individual races and three relays this weekend. Renaissance has similarly-seeded contenders in three individual races and three relays. Holland West Ottawa is seeking its first team championship and will need some middle-seeded entries to climb but does have Helen Sachs seeded first in both distance races and as part of the top-seeded 3,200 relay.
Brooke Bowers, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central senior – The reigning pole vault champion is top-seeded in that event at 13-0, nine inches higher than her Finals-winning height a year ago, and she’ll also run on the fifth-seeded 400 relay.
Milena Chevallier, Farmington Hills Mercy senior – She set the LPD1 Finals record at 5-foot-11 last year and was just a quarter-inch off tying the all-Finals all-time best height. She’ll also long jump.
Jayla Dace, Detroit Renaissance junior – She was first in the 100, third in the 200 and ran on two winning relays in 2023, and returns this weekend at the top seed in the 100 (12.05), one of several contenders in the 200 and running on the top-seeded 400 relay (47.19) and second-seeded 800 relay (1:40.41).
Rachel Forsyth, Ann Arbor Pioneer senior – The fastest champion in Michigan girls cross country history is looking to add to her 800 and 1,600 titles last season and 3,200 relay titles last year and in 2021. She’s seeded first in the 800 (2:11.26), second in the 1,600 (4:54.92) and 3,200 (10:35.05) and listed as likely to run on the second-seeded 3,200 relay (9:09.35).
Keyanna O’Tey, Sturgis junior – She won the 100 and 200 last season in LPD2, the 100 in a time that would’ve won LPD1 as well, and she’s top-seeded this weekend in this division in the 200 (24.77) and second-seeded in the 100 (12.10) while set to run on both sprint relays as well.
Morgan Roundtree, Oak Park senior – The 2022 champion in 300 hurdles finished second in that race last season and third in the 100 hurdles, but is seeded first the latter (14.08), second in the 300 (43.12) and will run on the top-seeded 800 relay (1:38.37) and second-seeded 400 relay (47.95).
Abigail Russell, Allen Park senior – She’s won the discus the last two seasons and also won shot put as a sophomore, and she enters this weekend as the top seed in both at 151-10 and 47-3½, respectively.
Kamryn Tatum, West Bloomfield sophomore – She made her Finals debut by winning the 200 and 400, and she’ll run both again plus on 400 and 800 relays.
LP Division 2 at Hamilton
Team forecast: East Grand Rapids has won the last two LPD2 Finals championships, last season followed by Sturgis, which is competing in Division 1 this weekend. The Pioneers’ strength has been in distance races, and they have possibilities again. But a couple of teams strong in the sprints could be leading the way this time. Romulus Summit Academy is seeking its first team championship and has the top-seeded 400 and 800 relays and contenders in the individual 100 and 200. Dearborn Divine Child last won a Finals in 2013 and has potential scorers in at least five individual races, plus the top-seeded 1,600 relay and two more seeded fourth or higher. Petosky is another to watch with competitors all over the meet.
Janae Hudson, Marysville senior – The reigning champion in the shot put and fourth-place finisher in discus is top-seeded in discus (146-10) by nearly nine feet and second-seeded in shot (43-3) with a toss six inches farther than last year’s winner.
Kaitlyn Molnar, Grosse Ile senior – Last season’s long jump champion is coming off Regional titles in that event and 300 hurdles.
Drew Muller, East Grand Rapids senior – She’s won the 1,600 the last two seasons and was the LPD2 cross country champion in 2022, and enters this weekend set to run the 1,600 and 800 and on two top-five seeded relays.
Allison Shelton, Ortonville Brandon senior – Last season’s pole vault champion at 12 foot is one of three coming into this meet after winning their Regionals at 11-3, joined by Cadillac’s Madisyn Lundquist and Plainwell’s Ava Collier.
Natalie VanOtteren, Grand Rapids Christian senior – The 2023 winner in the 3,200 and fifth-place finisher in the 1,600 is set to run both and as part of the 3,200 relay.
LP Division 3 at Kent City
Team forecast: Even with last season’s 3,200 winner Jessica Jazwinski out of the lineup this weekend, two-time reigning champion Hart may be the team favorite again. Contenders in two sprints and the two distance races plus the top-seeded 400 relay (50.51) and possible scorers in three field events should keep the Pirates in the mix. Jackson Lumen Christi was fifth last season and is seeking a first team title, and has the top-seeded 1,600 relay (4:09.36) and 3,200 relay (9:33.68) plus the favorite in the 800 among possible scorers throughout the distance portion of the meet. Traverse City St. Francis is seeking its first team title since 2013 and has competitors all over the meet to bolster the top-seeded 800 relay (1:47.11).
Addison Hovey, Hart junior – She won the high jump and was third in the 100 last year, and could supply many more points this time as the top seed in the 100 (12.4) and 200 (25.51) and part of the top-seeded 400 relay (50.51) as well as a strong contender again in her field event.
Destiny McDaniels, Bath junior – She’s looking to follow up last year’s 100 hurdles win and third place in long jump, and is a top-seven seeded contender in both.
Madison Osterberg, Jackson Lumen Christi senior – The reigning champion in the 1,600 also was second in the 800 and fifth in the 3,200 last season, and ran on the runner-up 3,200 relay. She’ll be a big part of any Titans team title pursuit as the top seed in the 800 (2:13.20), second seed in the 1,600 (5:02.97) and running on the top-seeded 1,600 relay (4:09.36) and 3,200 relay (9:33.68).
Emily Peters, Olivet sophomore – She won the 300 hurdles and was part of the winning 1,600 relay as a freshman, and finished seventh in the 100 hurdles as well, and she’ll enter this weekend top-seeded in the 300 (46.10), a potential placer again in the 100 hurdles and running on two top-six seeded relays.
Emmry Ross, Onsted junior – Her 400 and 800 wins last year supplied 20 of Onsted’s eighth-place 24 points, and as the team’s lone qualifier this spring she could make a solo run at an even higher team finish with the top seed in the 400 (56.62) and 1,600 (4:58.73), second seed in the 800 (2:13.79) and ninth seed in the 3,200.
LP Division 4 at Hudsonville Baldwin
Team forecast: Reigning champion Buckley won last season with 52 points, and the two runners who combined for 41 of those are back for the repeat pursuit. Portland St. Patrick was only three points back and has three top-four seeded relays and four individual racer entries seeded fourth or higher. Fowler was fourth last season and might be the strongest all-around hopeful with contenders in every race and relay plus two field events. Hillsdale Academy will look to move up from fifth last season with plenty of power in the distance races and all four relays seeded fourth or higher.
Molly Brown, Addison junior – Last season’s 100 hurdles champion and runner-up in the 100 dash and 300 hurdles is the top seed in the 100 hurdles (14.86) and the 100 dash (12.6) and third-seeded in the 200 (26.39) and 300 hurdles (47.04).
Aiden Harrand, Buckley senior – She’s won six track and two cross country championships total, including in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 last spring. She’s top-seeded this weekend in the 400 (59.10) and second-seeded in the 800 (2:21.37) and 1,600 (5:09.42), the latter of which she’ll be trying to win for the fourth time.
Olivia Findlay, Marlette senior – The reigning high jump title winner at 5-4 jumped that at the Regional to receive the top seed this weekend and also could contend in long jump and the 100 hurdles.
Brooklyn Frazee, Buckley sophomore – She won the 100, was second in the 200 and sixth in the 400 as a freshman, and returns this weekend as the second seed in the 100 (12.67), fourth seed in the 200 and running the 400 again and competing in long jump unless she enters one or more qualifying relays.
Rebecca Moeller, Deckerville junior – She won the pole vault last season at 10-6 and is one of four who won their Regionals at 10-0 to tie for the top seed this time. She’ll also run both hurdles races and the 200.
Rylee Scheurer, Portland St. Patrick senior – The reigning champion in the 200 and third-place finisher in the 100 is top-seeded in the 200 (26.11), third-seeded in the 100 (12.74) and part of the top-seeded 800 relay (1:46.75) and third-seeded 400 relay (51.58).
PHOTO Oak Park’s Kelis Hunter-Young begins her leg of the 1,600 relay during last season’s LP Division 1 Finals. (Photo by Carter Sherline/RunMichigan.com.)