Just Halfway Done, Tatum Well on Way to Rewriting West Bloomfield Record Book
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
April 18, 2025
WEST BLOOMFIELD – Batting .500 is impressive in baseball or softball, but it’s even more so these days when talking about the track & field program at West Bloomfield.
When gazing at the school record book for the girls program, junior Kamryn Tatum has her name listed at the top for six of the 12 running events.
She owns the school records in the 100, 200 and 400-meter dashes and is a part of three relay teams (400, 800, 1,600) that own school records.
All of those have been established over the last two years. And if all that wasn’t enough evidence that it’s been quite a start to her high school career, Tatum already also owns three individual MHSAA Finals championships.
Two years ago as a freshman, Tatum won the 200 (24.20) and 400 (55.74) dashes at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 state meet, and followed those up by winning the 200 (24.63) at last year’s MHSAA finale at East Kentwood.
So, what’s the expected encore this spring? Well, more championships and really fast times, of course.
“She’s always a student of the sport, but she’s always driven to beat her previous times,” West Bloomfield head coach Nick Stration said. “She’s always trying to get better. You don’t have to coach her much because she always wants to get better.
“Her will to win is what stands out. She is one of the fiercest competitors I’ve been around.”
Tatum is the younger sister of two past West Bloomfield standouts – current assistant coach Raven Tatum, who ran at Wayne State and Indiana Tech; and current Michigan State football player Dillon Tatum.
Kamryn said she has never actually raced Dillon, but good-naturedly said she’d have a good shot if they did now.
“I believe I would win, especially since Dillon is all about football now,” Kamryn said. “He’s much stronger and bigger, so that makes a difference on how fast or slow he can run. However, back in high school he would have beaten me for sure.”
Kamryn said she started running track at age 7, but didn’t really enjoy it at first, only doing it because her siblings were racing.
But the love of the sport eventually developed.
“When I got to middle school, that’s when I started having fun,” she said. “I was breaking school records, winning, and getting lots of exposure. Overall, I am somewhat searching for my purpose and enhancing my passion in running.”
It certainly didn’t take long for Tatum to make her mark on the rest of the state with those two Finals titles as a freshman, and the thought of her still having two more seasons at West Bloomfield to go faster has to make other runners cringe.
As a junior, Tatum’s college recruitment is peaking. At the moment, she said she has not received any scholarship offers, but she has been communicating with both in-state and out-of-state coaches.
“My biggest goal right now is to work on my self-confidence,” she said. “From my perspective, it’s been a little tough so far, but I will continue to put in the work and believe in the plan God has for me. I would love to beat my freshman personal records and break more school records and hopefully earn a medal (or two) at the state meet and nationals.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) West Bloomfield’s Kamryn Tatum (5) runs the final leg of the 400 relay at last season’s LPD1 Finals. (Middle) Tatum, left, leads the 200 last spring at East Kentwood. (Photos by John Brabbs/RunMichigan.com.)
West Marching to Finals Hoping to Build on 4th-Straight Regional, League Titles
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
May 23, 2025
Reese Smith is hoping the third time is the charm.
Not that any of the previous efforts by the Traverse City West junior could possibly be considered failures.
And if her third-straight appearance at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Track & Field Finals next weekend at East Kentwood High School doesn’t result in a championship, it will be filled with love — for her teammates and everything else the Titans accomplished this year.
West, coming off a fourth-straight Regional championship and a fourth-straight Big North Conference title, have high hopes of capturing the 3,200 relay at East Kentwood. The Titans also have their eyes on the 1,600 relay. Smith anchors both.
“I really love the team and the bonds I’ve made with the girls on my team, especially the relays teams,” Smith said. “I feel like we’ve gotten really close, and that makes a difference when you are racing together and working together to get what you want to accomplish.”
West has qualified for 3,200 relay Final all four of Smith’s seasons, finishing 15th two years ago and third last season. Alyssa Fouchey, a senior, also ran on those first three qualifiers. Junior Bailey Wenzlick is back for her second straight, and the team’s fourth is sophomore Tessa Mascari, who will be experiencing her first 3,200 Final as well after narrowly qualifying for the 1,600-meter as a freshman last year.
Mascari also qualified this year for the open 1,600 and 3,200-meter races.
“I love this team, and I am very honored to be running a 4x8,” Mascari said. “We have a really strong team, and we’re definitely all trying to place.”
Smith will also be running the 800 with hopes of bettering her fifth-place finish from a year ago. The Titans also finished 15th in 2024 in the 1,600 relay with Smith, Wenzlick and Fouchey competing. Emily Kelsey is the fourth member of that relay this season.
“We’re pretty competitive in the 4x800, so we’re really trying to place in it,” Smith said. “And, the 800 I really want to place also and the 4x4 we’re not as competitive in, but I am still going to do all my effort in all of them.”
West also qualified sophomore Audrina Redmond in the pole vault and Olivia Kandow in the 100 hurdles. And senior high jumper Madeline Bildeaux is back for her second Finals appearance; she placed seventh last year.
“I am a lot less nervous than last year because I have been there before,” Bildeaux said. “I am going to try to represent myself the best that I can. How ever it goes is just how it was meant to be.”
Bildeaux also looks at the Finals as a bonus to the final chapter of her high school career. The all-state volleyball player is committed to continue playing that sport for Navy this fall.
She is one of six seniors on the West track team. All six were coached in middle school by Libby Shutler, who took over the Titans’ varsity this spring. Shutler ran the middle school program for six years, joined by Daryl Stallworth, who took over the West varsity boys team this season.
Shutler was thrilled to see West continue its conference and Regional championship strings as she transitioned to the varsity, succeeding retired coach Diane Goss.
“I am the first-year coach who was handed a very talented group of young ladies,” Shutler said. “It’s kind of like 54 daughters I have.”
West won both the Regional and conference titles on the track of cross-town rival Traverse City Central. Capturing individual conference championships were Kelsey (200, 26.35; and 400, 59.91); Smith (800, 2:16); Bildeaux (high jump, 5-2) and Redmond (pole vault, 10-0).
Bildeaux against reached 5-2 in the high jump to claim the Titans’ lone individual Regional title. Smith finished second in the 800, and Mascari was second in both the 1,600 and 3,200. Both are looking forward to the challenge of participating in three events against the best competition in Michigan.
“It’s pretty hard especially doing the first and last event,” said Smith, who will run the exact same events she did at the 2024 Finals. “You have to watch what you’re eating all day, make sure you’re getting enough rest in between the events, warming up in enough time and spacing everything out.”
Mascari is glad the 3,200 relay is her first event. She’ll finish with the open 3,200, a distance she hadn’t tried before this season. But the 1,600 field intrigues her the most.
“I have a pretty good heat to compete against,” Mascari said of that event. “If I stay at the top of my heat, I hope to break five (minutes) in the mile. I am really excited to have some good people to compete against.”
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) Traverse City West’s Tessa Macari (2) carries the baton for the 3,200 relay. (Middle) Madeline Bildeaux, left, and Keira Murphy hold up their Regional team trophy as coach Libby Shutler takes their photo. (Photos by Grace McSparron.)