Lehman's Concord Run Nears Final Turn
By
Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
April 29, 2016
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
CONCORD – Lindsey Lehman was just 4 years old when the family dog went on a full-speed run – with her trying to hold on – and she did a good job of keeping up with it.
“Those little legs kept up with that dog, and I thought then about how fast she ran across the yard,” Lehman’s mother, Kathy, remembered.
The speed was no mirage. It was an early flash of athletic ability. Lehman, a senior at Concord High School, won the Lower Peninsula Division 4 championship in the 200 last spring and was runner-up in the 100. But running fast isn’t Lehman’s only talent, and it doesn’t nearly tell her story or reflect what is ahead of her athletically.
Lehman has been a three-sport standout at Concord. She is a two-time Jackson Citizen Patriot Player of the Year in volleyball, and last week she signed to play basketball at nearby Spring Arbor University. And, obviously, she’s a track MHSAA Finals champion.
Despite the early flash of speed, track was not an initial priority for Lehman, whose mother is the volleyball coach at Concord. Her father Matt coached boys basketball and now is the principal at the K-8 school.
“Track was kind of an afterthought,” Matt Lehman said. “She really wasn’t that interested in softball, although she did a little bit growing up. It was mainly basketball and volleyball. We kind of convinced her – I was coaching middle school track – and I said, ‘Why don’t you give track a try? It’s a great sport to keep you in shape.’
“She found out she was good at it, and it might have been her best sport.”
Is track her best sport? Possibly. Is it her favorite sport? Well, her answer was, “whatever sport is in season.”
That is one reason why she had such a difficult decision to make about college. Some of the bigger schools like Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Grand Valley State and Saginaw Valley State looked at her for track. Other schools looked at her for volleyball.
Ultimately, Lehman chose basketball and Spring Arbor, a mere 5 miles from Concord.
“It was a really difficult decision,” she said. “I’ve played basketball and AAU my entire life, and my dad was a coach and I was a manager, and that was a reason why I wanted to play basketball.
“At Spring Arbor, my parents and the community can come watch me play on the college level. I was looking at the bigger cities, and that’s why I liked Grand Valley. I love Grand Rapids. But I decided to stay close to home.”
Family tradition
Athletics have been a part of Lindsey’s life practically from the day she was born. And her mother says even before that.
“She’s been on the court since I was pregnant with her,” Kathy Lehman said.
Kathy was a very good athlete at Concord some 30 years ago. But Lindsey hasn’t exactly duplicated her mother’s trail.
“It’s been kind of an honor to watch her follow me, but she’s taken her own path,” Kathy Lehman said. “I was a hitter in volleyball, she’s a setter. I was a forward in basketball, she’s a guard. She handles the ball 20 times better than I could ever dream of, and she’s much faster. I played softball, she ran track, so she has laid out her own path, but it’s been nice that it’s at the same school.
“She is the fifth or sixth generation of Snows (her mother’s maiden name) to graduate from Concord. It’s a tradition that is handed down. Her great-grandfather’s picture is hanging up on the wall, and he played basketball here.”
Lindsey was the rare setter who not only led her team in assists, she also led the team in kills. As a junior, she led the Yellow Jackets to the MHSAA Quarterfinals, and this season, with most of last year’s team absent due to graduation, the team still won its fifth consecutive Big Eight Conference title.
In fact, Lindsey said it was during volleyball season that she had what might have been her proudest moment, even including the championship in track.
“Last year in volleyball, when we beat Bronson,” she said of defeating the eventual Class C champion. “Bronson beat us twice that year, and we beat them the third time. That was a great feeling.
“I like achieving goals on my own, but as a team, it just feels better because you can share it with teammates and friends. This year, we were such a young team in volleyball, and we did so well, and it was a great feeling to watch everybody get better.”
It is hard to imagine that feeling being any better than how she must have felt last spring when she barely edged her good friend to win the Division 4 championship in the 200 after finishing a close second in the 100. The race was so close that the finish was not immediately posted.
“It seemed like it took forever,” Lindsey said. “The both of us really had no idea who had won.”
Lehman’s winning time was 25.92 seconds. Jennifer Davis of Reading also was clocked in 25.92. Lindsey’s mom watched as her daughter paced in anticipation of the announcement of the final result.
“She was going back and forth, and just watching the anticipation and then seeing her face when she realized that she had won was fantastic,” Kathy Lehman said. “Just seeing her face light up at that moment was my proudest moment.”
It had to be especially sweet for Lindsey as she had lost the 100 in a race that was nearly as close as the 200. She was timed in 12.42 seconds, while the MHSAA title went to Mason County Eastern’s Jordan Goodman, who tied the LP Division 4 meet record at 12.40.
This year, Lehman has a goal of not only repeating as champion in the 200 but adding the title in the 100.
“I want to do better than I did last year,” she said. “I probably think more about the race that I lost than the one I won. I don’t like losing.”
Maybe the thought of losing is what drives her. Her parents both spoke highly of her work ethic and desire to be the best she can be.
‘She has always been a hard worker, but she has a drive that she doesn’t like to lose, and if she loses one time, she doesn’t quit,” Kathy Lehman said. “She is going to keep working to get there. Her brother is probably her best incentive because she hated losing anything to her brother.
“Sometimes it would be knock-down, drag-outs, but eventually she would sometimes best her brother. It’s always been a good competition between them.”
Lindsey still has most of the track season ahead of her, but she knows that it might be her last time in the sport. She isn’t sure if she will try to run track as well as play basketball at Spring Arbor. It hasn’t been addressed with the school, and while it has not been ruled out, it certainly is not the priority.
She also has developed a new respect for referees. This past year, Lindsey has served as a referee for sixth-grade games, and it was an enlightening experience.
“Last year, I never said anything, but I got mad at the refs sometimes,” she said, “but this year, I don’t because I know what they are going through. I don’t like being yelled at.”
Close to home
Although she had plenty of options, Spring Arbor made an offer that was too good to pass up.
“She had a chance to go to a four-year university and not have to pay nearly the amount of money she would have had to pay to go to other universities,” Matt Lehman said. “It’s an opportunity for the rest of her life.
“If someone had said at the beginning of the process that she was going to end up at Spring Arbor to play basketball, I would have said, ‘I’m not sure that would happen.’ I wouldn’t have bet on that.”
The transition to college basketball won’t be easy, but Spring Arbor coach Ryan Frost believes she has what it takes to possibly make an impact as a freshman.
“That is up to her,” he said. “You never know how a kid is going to adjust. She will have some really good seniors to learn the college game from. We have a nice group coming back. We’re excited to get her in the mix for that.
“Athletically she’s a super athlete. She has a lot of skill. She’s a competitor. She fits the mold of what we look for in a guard. She will be very similar to some of the guards we have and our style of play. We press a lot and get up and down the floor. She sees the floor real well as a point guard, and she can score, too.”
And, while her parents would have supported any decision that she made, having her at college just 5 miles away will allow them to attend most of her games.
“It has gone by so fast,” Matt Lehman said. “This is my little girl, my little gym rat who was by my side at practices and huddles with me. She’s graduating from high school and going on to college to play basketball.
“She was a gym rat from the get-go, and more than any of my children when I was coaching basketball, she was in the gym with me. She always wanted to come to practice. She was just 4 or 5, but she always wanted to be a part of it. She always had a ball in her hand, and she did the same thing with Kathy in volleyball.”
Lindsey is a pretty solid student, too, as she has a 3.85 grade point average.
“She’s a 3.85 student because of her work ethic,” Matt Lehman said. “She has balanced everything. She likes sports, she’s a good student, and she’s a good kid. I don’t have to worry about her.
“She’s a smart aleck in a good way, and she’s an easy kid to get along with. She knows how to talk to other students and how to talk to adults. She’s very well-rounded. I’m just proud of her because she didn’t accomplish this because her mom was a coach and her dad was a coach and an administrator. She accomplished it because she has talent and she worked her tail off. That’s on her.”
Chip Mundy served as sports editor at the Brooklyn Exponent and Albion Recorder from 1980-86, and then as a reporter and later copy editor at the Jackson Citizen-Patriot from 1986-2011. He also co-authored Michigan Sports Trivia. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Concord's Lindsay Lehman runs her leg of a relay for her track team. (Middle) Lehman signs her letter of intent with Spring Arbor, surrounded by father Matt, mother Kathy and younger sister Bradie . (Photos courtesy of the Lehman family.)
Northern Hopefuls Chase Dream Finishes
June 2, 2017
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
TRAVERSE CITY – Can Gaylord’s Casey Korte, despite missing three weeks in May with shin splints, defend her MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 title in the long jump?
Can Benzie Central’s ironman, Brayden Huddleston, medal and earn all-state honors in four Division 3 distance races?
Can Harbor Springs sophomore Jeremy Kloss – the top seed in the 1,600 and 3,200, along with his teammates in the 3,200 relay – pull off a trifecta in Division 4?
Can the Traverse City West 400-meter relay team win the school’s first boys MHSAA Finals title in a running event?
In northern Michigan, those four storylines will be among the most compelling Saturday at the MHSAA track & field championships.
Casey Korte
The 17-year-old multi-sport athlete has been battling nagging leg injuries the last two seasons, but still won the long jump last June with a leap of 18-0¼.
Shin splints forced Korte to take three weeks off last month. She returned for the Regional and kicked off the rust by winning the long jump (17-01.25) and helping the 800-meter relay team qualify for the MHSAA Finals.
“It’s good,” she said of her health.
Her distance in the long jump was third best among state Regional performers.
“Usually my goal every meet is to be in the mid-17s,” she said. “Nobody was close to it (17-1¼) at the Regional so I was good with it.”
Korte had an interesting warmup Tuesday at Gaylord’s Meet of Champions. She won the 100, high jump and was on the victorious 800-meter relay, but took second in the long jump at 15-5½.
“Usually I don’t do the long jump last,” she said. “I do it second. But the way the meet was set up I did it after all my other events, and after it had rained and gotten cold and windy. My legs wouldn’t let me take off and jump.”
Korte does not expect similar problems Saturday.
“My goal is to double as a state champion,” she said. “Last year, during long jump, all the factors came together. I was feeling good, the high jump was going well, the wind was perfect. Everything went well. I’m hoping it happens again.”
Korte finished fourth in the high jump at last year’s Finals, but did not qualify in that event this year.
Nonetheless, it’s been a banner senior year for Korte. She was the team Most Valuable Player and an all-region pick in volleyball, then followed it up with a first-team all-state campaign in basketball, averaging 19.8 points, 12.3 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game. Korte signed to attend and play basketball at Cornerstone University.
But her focus now is on the track. And what would it mean to her if she could repeat in the long jump?
“It would show that my hard work paid off,” she said. “A state championship isn’t just handed to you. You have to work hard for it. It would be awesome to know I did that. It’s still surreal that I was the state champion last year. There are times I still can’t believe it.”
Brayden Huddleston
Huddleston is preparing for an event-filled day at the Division 3 Finals. The senior is seeded second in the 800, seventh in the 1,600 and eighth in the 3,200. He also runs a leg on Benzie’s 3,200-meter relay, which is seeded third.
His goal? Medal in all four.
His goal? A podium finish in all four events.
“It’s pretty rare (to run four distance races at the Finals), especially if you’re a kid that has a shot to potentially win,” Benzie Central coach Asa Kelly said. “We talked. I said, ‘You’ve got to be a little crazy to do this.’ He said, ‘I want to.’
“He’s one of those exceptional kids that when he does something, he does it really well. He’s a 4.0 student, a salutatorian. I said, ‘You could be one of those rare kids that could be all-state in four distance races.’ That doesn’t happen too often. He’s committed 100 percent to this. It’s going to take a lot of careful planning (Saturday), as far as warming up, cooling down, diet, fluids. I think he’s going to do great.”
Huddleston, who will run at Bradley University, said he’s ready.
“They say it’s crazy to do (four distance races) at state finals, but I like that challenge,” he said. “I’m ready to put forth my best effort and see what I can do.’
Huddleston said he’s most concerned about the quick turnaround between the 800 and 3,200.
“I’m most nervous about that,” he said. “I think there’s only one heat in the girls two-mile at state finals so the turnaround will be quick. But I think I’m in good shape. This is the most fit I’ve ever felt.”
Huddleston won the Ryan Shay 1,600 meters in a season-best 4:19.84 at Tuesday’s Traverse City Record-Eagle Honor Roll meet. That time ranks second to St. Louis’ Evan Goodell’s 4:18.18 in LP Division 3 this year.
“I was shooting to see how close I could get to the school record of 4:14.7 by Jake Flynn,” Huddleston said. “I fell a little short, but I was running by myself, and running into a wind for half the lap. You take those things away and it puts me right in the ballpark. I was happy with my effort. It’s good to be rolling into the state finals.”
Huddleston smiles when he talks about a second seed in the 800.
“I’ve always looked at myself as a distance runner,” he said. “The two mile has been my best event. But this year I ran a couple open 800s, and I fell in love with it. It’s a strategic race.”
The 3,200 will be his last race of the day.
“He knows going in there will be guys who will be fresh,” Kelly said. “What a badge of honor if he could go out there and say, ‘This is my fourth event and I’m going to try and be all-state and beat some guys who haven’t run at all today.’”
Jeremy Kloss
Kloss will toe the line in three Division 4 distance races. His Regional times of 4:26.71 in the 1,600 and 9:49.52 in the 3,200 were best in the division. The Rams also had the top 3,200 relay time of 8:20.69.
Kloss, who was second in the LP Division 4 Cross Country Final, said he’s peaking at the right time.
“With the state meet coming up, it was time to kick it into gear, get motivated, get serious,” he said.
Kloss, who is coached by his father Mike, said he would like to achieve some goals he set at the beginning of the season – to run in the high 9:30s in the 3,200 and low 4:20s in the 1,600.
“I think I can,” he said.
Jeremy is the youngest of four brothers to run for the Rams. His mother, Emily, coaches the girls team.
“I was born in early October and wasn’t even a month old when I went to my first state finals cross country meet,” he said.
His brother Jake ran on the school’s LP Division 4 cross country championship teams in 2002 and 2003.
Jeremy Kloss was sixth in the 1,600 and 3,200 as a freshman. He said the 1,600 is his favorite event because it combines the speed of the 800 with the endurance of the 3,200.
“It’s the perfect medium,” he said.
And has he received any advice from his older brothers – Jake, Ben and Scott – who will all be in attendance Saturday?
“No, other than ‘Why aren’t you running faster?’” he said with a laugh.
Kloss would like the last laugh tomorrow.
“I’m very excited for it,” he said.
TC West 400-meter relay
In Division 1, Traverse City West enters the 400-meter relay seeded second to Rockford (42.57) with a time of 42.63 seconds.
“First is obviously a goal,” senior Dalton Michael said. “It’s there, but we’ll see.”
Twins Donovan and Dalton Michael lead off the relay, followed by Lukas Sawusch and Erik LaBonte. Dalton Michael was the state’s Mr. Soccer in the fall.
“We’re all multi-sport athletes,” LaBonte said. “We’ve been working together the whole (spring). We’re getting better.”
The Titans placed seventh in the relay a year ago, but Donovan Michael is the only returnee. Dalton missed his junior season of track with a dislocated knee. LaBonte was bothered by a hip injury.
But that’s in the past.
“We’re coming into (Saturday) knowing we’re a good team,” Donovan Michael said. “If we have a good day, we could do really well.”
Coach Tom Brown said the Titans will need a school record-breaking performance to be in the hunt. The 42.63 in the Regional tied the school mark.
“I think we’ll have to run in the 41s,” Brown said. “That’s something Rockford did (41.6 at the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association state team meet last weekend).”
Detroit Cass Tech, led by three Big Ten football recruits, won the 400 relay last June in 42.26.
“I think we can go faster,” Sawusch said. “Our handoffs haven’t been great, so we need to work on that this week.”
Focusing on the exchange zone has been a point of emphasis in practice.
“The 4X1 is all about handoffs,” Brown said.
The Titans believe they have the speed.
“We’ve had 22 kids in school history run sub-11.3 – 18 different kids in the last seven years,” assistant coach Jason Morrow said. “The kids have worked hard at it.”
LaBonte, who also plays football, is the lone underclassmen in the group. Sawusch is headed to Spring Arbor to run track. The Michaels will play soccer at Western Michigan University. Dalton, who earned All-American honors from the National Soccer Coaches Association, became the second Titan to win Mr. Soccer, after Casey Townsend earned the honor in 2006 and 2007. Dalton had 29 goals and eight assists this past fall for West. Donovan added 20 goals and 20 assists.
What would it be like to add a Division 1 championship medal in track to his Mr. Soccer award?
“It would be a dream come true,” Dalton Michael said. “It would be one to remember.”
Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. 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) Harbor Springs’ Jeremy Kloss carries the baton during a relay this season. (Middle top) Gaylord’s Casey Korte lands a long jump. (Middle below) Benzie Central’s Braydon Huddleston. (Below) Traverse City West’s 400 relay, from left: Dalton Michael, Lukas Sawusch, Erik LaBonte, Donovan Michael. (Top photo courtesy of the Kloss family, middle top photo courtesy of the Gaylord Herald Times.)