Oak Park Girls Hurdle Competition Again to Regain LPD1 Championship
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 3, 2023
ROCKFORD – For the fourth time in five seasons Saturday, Oak Park’s girls captured the Lower Peninsula Division 1 team title – this time with a meet-best 80 points at Rockford High School.
Last season’s champion Detroit Renaissance was second with 58 points, while Ann Arbor Pioneer was third at 56.
The Knights – runners-up a year ago – won again mainly thanks to their dominance in the hurdles. Senior Nonah Waldron won the 100 and 300 hurdles, but also Morgan Roundtree was third in the 100 (13.86) and second in the 300 (41.54) and Carrie VanNoy was fourth in both the 100 (14.18) and 300 (44.11).
Waldon said the team’s success was all about pushing each other the best they could in practice every day.
“It takes maturity to understand that you all can be great together,” Waldron said. “It took a lot of love for each other to be the best we can be.”
The Knights also were second in the 400 relay (47.71) and 800 relay (1:38.21), and third in the 1,600 relay (3:55.27).
“I think that dealing with losing and some adversity helps you grow,” Oak Park coach Brandon Jiles said. “I think the kids used the experience from last year to catapult them this year. We know it’s a points game. We know there are no style points in team championships. We spread the kids out to do what we needed to do. We’re not a depth team, but a quality team. They showed out, and I’m happy.”
Waldron won the 100 hurdles in a time of 13.56 before really putting on a show in the 300 hurdles. She won that event in a time of 40.37, which was the second-fast time in that event in the nation thus far this year. Waldron, who will run in college at USC, also won both hurdles events two years ago and won the 100 hurdles last year, but had a mishap that cost her last year’s title in the 300.
“Last year, I fell and tore my ankle,” she said. “That did motivate (me) a lot more than before. It made me want it more.”
If it wasn’t evident that Renaissance sophomore Jayla Dace might be the state’s next big sprinting star already, she established that on the biggest stage.
Dace won the 100-meter dash in a time of 11.90 and was a part of winning 400 and 800 relay teams. Dace also took third in the 200-meter dash in a time of 24.56.
“The starting gun is a horn, so I’m not really used to that,” Dace said of her strategy in the 100. “I had to really adapt quickly and to make sure I wasn’t the last person to get out of the blocks. Once you see people in the 100 ahead of you, it’s over. I just had to make sure when I started the race that I really didn’t see anybody.”
In the relays, Dace ran the second leg in the 400 and the first leg in the 800.
“I’m just happy we were able to execute,” Dace said.
Saturday was quite an inauguration into the pressure of a high school state meet for West Bloomfield freshman Kamryn Tatum. But she performed like a veteran, winning the 400 in a time of 55.74 and the 200 in a time of 24.10.
“I’ve been at big meets so I know how to deal with quite a bit of pressure, but I was still nervous because it was my first high school (Finals),” Tatum said. “I just wanted to run until the end of the line.”
Ann Arbor Pioneer junior Rachel Forsyth won the 800 (2:09.96) and 1,600 (4:44.22), and East Lansing senior Anna Delgado finished first in the 3,200 (10:33.87). Forsyth also was part of Pioneer’s winning 3,200 relay (9:01.19), and Detroit Cass Tech won the 1,600 relay (3:52.82) by 12 hundredths of a second ahead of Renaissance.
Howell senior Sophie Daugard was first in shot put (41-7), Allen Park junior Abigail Russell first in discus (148-7½), and Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central junior Brooke Bowers won pole vault (12-3). Farmington Hills Mercy junior Milena Chevallier won high jump (5-11), and Rockford senior Maya Anderson was champion in the long jump (18-6½). Flushing sophomore Ally Ingrahm competed in the adaptive 100 (42.81).
PHOTOS (Top) Oak Park's Nonah Waldron crosses the finish line first in the 100 hurdles Saturday. (Middle) Renaissance's Jayla Dace, right, charges toward the finish. (Below) West Bloomfield's Kamryn Tatum, far left, leads the 200. (Photos by Jamie McNinch [top photo] and Carter Sherline/RunMichigan.com.)
Gladstone's Karl Siblings Talented In Taking to Air in High Jump, Pole Vault
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
May 30, 2025
ESCANABA — Three members of the Karl family have shown over the last few years a major interest in taking flight – at least from a track & field sense.
Gladstone sophomore Andrew Karl and his sister, freshman Maggie Karl, have found success in high jump, following older sister Kristy Karl – the girls school record holder in the event.
The younger two siblings also have shined in pole vault, Maggie tying the school record and Andrew just an inch away from doing the same on the boys side.
Kristy Karl, who has cleared 5 feet in high jump several times this season, owns the school record in that event at 5-foot-1 set a year ago. She will try to surpass that at Saturday’s Upper Peninsula Division 1 Finals at Kingsford.
“I need to put everything together,” she said. “Every time before I jump, I go over what I need to do. I started jumping in middle school. I figured out three-stepping this year and got the whole thing down.”
Kristy, who will attend classes at Bay College this fall, won high jump at 4-10 in the Regional on May 16 in Escanaba, and Maggie shared third place with Sault Ste. Marie freshman Isabelle McCord, both also at 4-10. Kristy also helped Gladstone win the 400-meter relay (52.56) and was runner-up in the 100 hurdles (16.97) on a lean by Escanaba junior Ava Stahlboerger.
Maggie Karl matched the school pole vault record with a winning leap of 9 feet as did senior teammate Chelsey Demeuse, who was edged on a tie-breaker as the Regional concluded Wednesday.
Boys’ pole vault started 12 days earlier, but was suspended after an Escanaba vaulter received injuries in a mishap during the Regional.
“It feels good to get this in,” Maggie said. “It’s so close to the Finals, although I think this is pretty helpful. I just wanted to qualify. How high you go depends on how you run (during the approach). I don’t remember exactly how I got started, but started jumping in seventh grade and I think it sparked an interest.”
Andrew Karl has soared as high as 14-3 in the pole vault this season, just an inch shy of the school record set by Josh Syverson in 2009.
He cleared 13 feet, good enough for third place as the Regional concluded.
“Changing the routine was the most challenging part,” he said. “You schedule your practices in advance. Consistency is key in any event. It’s a matter of deciding when to go hard and when to back off. I had plenty of height, but didn’t have the consistency with my pole.”
Maggie said she and Josh practice each Thursday during the summer at the Gladstone track.
“I think it helps,” she added. “Josh gives me pointers. Kristy doesn’t come down to the track quite as often, but she comes as much as she can and helps me with high jump.”
Josh, who started vaulting in middle school, is about to finish his third year of jumping.
“I like a good challenge, mentally and physically,” he said. “The biggest thing is to not think of it at all while you’re jumping because it becomes second nature. It’s a real balancing act. You’ve got to stick with it. It’s about consistency and never giving up. You just keep going.”
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.
PHOTO Gladstone’s Andrew Karl clears the bar during the pole vault competition at this season’s Negaunee Lions Invitational. (Photo by Cara Kamps.)