Generations of Dedication, Pride Fuel Milford's 34-Year Regional Hosting Run
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
May 22, 2026
It may seem a bit of a stretch on the surface, but it makes perfect sense to Brian Salyers.
How can planning a wedding feature work much along the same lines as a school hosting an MHSAA Lower Peninsula Regional track meet for 34 straight seasons?
Easy, contends Salyers. Both take an immeasurable amount of planning.
"I have a couple friends who planned a wedding," said Salyers, Milford's girls track coach. "I told them I'd hosted a track meet, and they're so much alike. There are so many things you entrust other people with. There is so much work to be done, you're hoping things go smoothly."
Like a wedding, Salyers said Milford takes great pride in the event's final outcome. The meet's philosophy includes more than being a stepping stone of funneling deserving athletes along to the MHSAA Finals. At Milford, Salyers said organizers have worked diligently for more than three decades to ensure the participants not only leave with lifelong memories, but also that the meet brings together an entire community.
Volunteers from the school work alongside Milford natives not connected in any way to a track program in a multitude of roles from timing races to rototilling and raking long jump pits, selling dogs and T-shirts and taking tickets. Alumni from up to 45 years ago faithfully return to the school to pitch in whenever needed while also taking a moment to rehash old memories with former track teammates.
Put it all together, Salyers said, and the meet is special.
"It's a melting pot," Salyers said of the mostly unpaid volunteers who work the meet. "It's like, who can come and do it this year? It's not always a fluid list because we pull from such a large group."
The large group has been banding together since 1993. Started by former Mavericks track and cross country coach Gene Balawajder, the school hosted its first Regional in 1988. After moving to a nearby site for a couple years, the Regional landed back at Milford for keeps 34 years ago. Whether it was those first Regionals in the late 1980s or the three and a half decades since, Salyers said the school and community's philosophy hasn't wavered: Take care of the athletes foremost, but also bring the community together to ensure that care happens by organization, identifying issues and swiftly taking action to solve problems.
Milford athletic director James Marszalek said the school handily recruits about 30 people for various positions, only a "handful," he said, who are paid. He said the key to ensuring a smooth meet begins with the volunteers and longtime meet organizer Chris Ceresa, a former athletic director and current assistant coach.
"The No. 1 thing is making sure we have competent people in the right positions and that we make sure it's a day the kids will remember," he said. "But it definitely takes an army."
Ceresa said much of the meet's success comes down to planning and the unselfishness of alumni. For instance, at this year's meet there were five alumni working the long jump, four on the throwing events and two on both the high jump and pole vault as well as many involved as timers.
Ceresa begins recruiting for the following year's Regional at the current event. There he seeks commitments from officials and event workers 12 months in advance.
"We take it very personally; the staff is very committed to the meet," he said. "If you talked to our colleagues at other schools, I think they would tell you they love to come here. It's quite a spectacle, a matter of pride."
The meet even features an unofficial system of where and how volunteers are used. Meet newcomers typically start out in smaller roles, eventually working themselves into the meet's most prestigious position: being an official timer for races. Unfortunately, when the meet became the last Regional in the state to go to electric timing more than a dozen years ago, there was no need for about 20 volunteers who worked as hand timers at the finish line.
Milford boys track coach Eric Hincka ran in the meet as a junior and senior before graduating in 1998. He said while some Regionals typically run more smoothly than others, because of the hours upon hours of organization and the quality of the volunteers, the Milford event annually draws praise from visiting coaches and participants. And that's no accident, he said.
"Every year you hear horror stories of meets which have problems," he said. "We try our best to see that everything is done right so we don't run into problems. We want to honor the kids – it's our philosophy and we take pride in it.
"At Milford, it's multi-generational. Gene as the founder set the standard, and we're just trying to follow in his footsteps."
The athletes notice, Milford senior distance runner Kyle O'Rourke said. Headed to run at Michigan State next season, O'Rourke's pedigree in the meet is three-generational. His grandfather has clerked and also made T-shirts for volunteers while O'Rourke has had an older brother and sister run at the Regional. His mother also ran in the meet.
"It's touching for me to see all the old alumni to come back and work; a highlight of the season," said O'Rourke, a six-time all-stater in track and cross country. "They treasured their time here, and now many of them are part of a community that unites to make this meet run well.
"Yeah, it comes in handy (competitive-wise) that this meet is home for us. But there is also a certain pride in us hosting it. I think we all take pride in how we conduct ourselves at the Regional."
PHOTOS (Top) A relay runner sets up in a starting block during the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Regional hosted by Milford on May 15. (Middle) Runners move toward the starting line before their relay. (Below) Milford’s Kyle O’Rourke rounds a curve during a relay. (Photos courtesy of the Milford athletic department.)
Performance: Salem's Mason Phillips
May 13, 2017
Mason Phillips
Salem senior – Track & Field
Over the last week, Phillips has emerged from a key contributor to Salem’s No. 3-ranked boys track & field team to become one of the most incredible stories of this spring season. A four-year football player for the Rocks, Phillips had run track as a freshman but not the last two years before coming back to the team this spring – and at the May 6 New Balance Invitational at Farmington unloaded a wind-aided long jump of 24 feet, 1 inch, vaulting him into MHSAA title discussion and earning him the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week” for May 1-7.
Phillips took up long jumping a mere three weeks ago – to help his team score some points when one of its long jumpers was out – but if he can replicate that 24-1 jump without the wind at next month’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals, he would tie the all-Finals record set in 2009. Phillips actually set the school record previously with a 22-10¾ leap at the April 29 Brighton Invitational. At Farmington, he also set a school record in the 200 meters at 22.07 seconds (and since broke it again going 22.06 at Friday’s Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship meet). He also runs on undefeated 400 and 800 relay teams.
A wide receiver in football, Phillips caught track coach Dale Maskill's attention pulling in athletic one-handed catches during warm-ups in the fall – and is a different athlete than the one who ran his only other season of track as a 4-foot-11 freshman. Phillips has since grown a foot, and his newfound talents are opening up opportunities as well. He received Division III college interest for football but was set on attending Bowling Green State University and possibly studying sports medicine. But he’s now getting interest from college track & field coaches – and should keep turning more heads as this season finishes up.
Coach Dale Maskill said: “He’s a very explosive athlete, very athletic. I feel he could compete in pretty much every event on the track. He works hard every day; he comes to practice and he’s the first one there, he works on whatever needs to get done, does his workout and makes sure he gets all his technical work in afterward. He’s dedicated to performing well, and he did that before he knew how good he could be – and his good performances have motivated him even more.
Performance Point: “I was actually really loose, really stretched up, and it was great weather, and I just jumped. I honestly had no idea (it was 24); I thought I’d jumped 22 or something like that. When they called it out (at 24), I was really, really surprised. I felt like I didn’t go as far. … I only started three weeks ago, and I’m already doing this. It’s just crazy.”
Great choice: “I’m just really happy I came out (for the team). The coaches were talking to me about it, and I felt like I should. It’s my last year so I had to. Honestly, freshman year I wasn’t really fast, and I thought (track) wasn’t for me until this year."
Natural jumper: “I know most of it, but my technique still needs help. I only started three weeks ago. Actually in middle school I did high jump. … After that (24-1) jump, it’s an obligation now; I have to stay in it, help the team out. It kinda feels unreal. I was always doing this for fun, and actually it’s gotten really serious now. It’s really just excitement, not much pressure.”
Bigger, faster, stronger: “Probably (from being) in the weight room, and with football, and I just got taller … and I’m eating a lot more. In between sophomore and junior year I started growing like crazy. My strides are a lot longer, making me faster, and I jump farther with my legs extended too.”
Teammates again: “Our track runners are really working hard, and they’re really athletic too. They also played football with me. (So I’m) a lot more comfortable, running with people I have a bond with.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2016-17 school year, Second Half and the Michigan Army National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2016-17 honorees:
May 4: Lillian Albaugh, Farwell track & field – Read
April 27: Amber Gall, Shepherd track & field – Read
April 20: Sloane Teske, East Grand Rapids tennis – Read
March 30: Romeo Weems, New Haven basketball – Read
March 23: Jaycie Burger and Maddie Clark, Pittsford basketball – Read
March 16: Camden Murphy, Novi swimming & diving – Read
March 9: Ben Freeman, Walled Lake Central wrestling – Read
March 2: Joey Mangner, Chelsea swimming & diving – Read
Feb. 23: Isabelle Nguyen, Grosse Pointe North gymnastics – Read
Feb. 16: Dakota Hurbis, Saline swimming & diving – Read
Feb. 2: Foster Loyer, Clarkston basketball – Read
Jan. 26: Nick Jenkins, Detroit Catholic Central wrestling – Read
Jan. 19: Eileene Naniseni, Mancelona basketball – Read
Jan. 12: Rory Anderson, Calumet hockey – Read
Dec. 15: Demetri Martin, Big Rapids basketball – Read
Dec. 1: Rodney Hall, Detroit Cass Tech football – Read
Nov. 24: Ally Cummings, Novi volleyball – Read
Nov. 17: Chloe Idoni, Fenton volleyball – Read
Nov. 10: Adelyn Ackley, Hart cross country – Read
Nov. 3: Casey Kirkbride, Mattawan soccer – Read
Oct. 27: Colton Yesney, Negaunee cross country – Read
Oct. 20: Varun Shanker, Midland Dow tennis – Read
Oct. 13: Anne Forsyth, Ann Arbor Pioneer cross country – Read
Oct. 6: Shuaib Aljabaly, Coldwater cross country – Read
Sept. 29: Taylor Seaman, Brighton swimming & diving – Read
Sept. 22: Maggie Farrell, Battle Creek Lakeview cross country – Read
Sept. 15: Franki Strefling, Buchanan volleyball – Read
Sept. 8: Noah Jacobs, Corunna cross country – Read
PHOTO: (Top) Salem's Mason Phillips jumps a school-record 24-1 during the New Balance Invitational at Farmington. (Photo courtesy of the Salem boys track & field program.)