Owner of State's All-Time Farthest Shot Put Aiming for National Record, Olympics
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 25, 2026
From the first time Montrose's Addyson Stiverson picked up the shot put at a sixth-grade track & field practice, it was clear there was something there.
Even if she wasn’t quite clear on the name.
“I ran at the first couple practices, and was like, this wasn’t for me,” she said. “They said, ‘You’re strong, try the heavy ball thing.’ I honestly never threw it like a baseball. It wasn’t impeccable, but I kind of knew the basics. I definitely had some sore elbows and shoulders.”
Five years later, Stiverson sits atop the record books as she’s thrown that heavy ball thing farther than any female in Michigan high school history.
Her personal best of 53 feet, 7½ inches, which she threw Dec. 13 at an indoor meet at Grand Valley State University, is nearly two feet farther than the previous record of 51-11 held by Byron great Sarah Marvin, according to MichTrack.org, which tracks records from all meets. (The MHSAA record book is for Finals meets only.)
And as she enters her junior outdoor season having already won the shot put twice and discus once at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 Track & Field Finals, Stiverson’s goals go well beyond the state’s borders.
“(Competing in the Olympics) is the goal,” Stiverson said. “Throwing in 2028 would be nice, but I think a good goal is to be a good contender in (2032). Even going to trials in 2028 and getting close to making the team would be a big win for me.”
It’s a huge goal, but not at all outlandish for Stiverson, who is already fielding scholarship offers from between 20 and 30 major Division I programs and is part of the Nike Elite Team, which includes 40 of the country’s top high school track & field athletes.
She also trains with Dane Miller at Throws University in Reading, Pa. Miller has trained two national champions and 12 World Team members.
“When he texted me like a month or two after we went out there and he was like, ‘I want to coach you,’ I was like, holy crap. I was kind of fan-girling for a moment,” Stiverson said. “He’s like one of the only reasons I throw as far as I do. When he first started coaching me, he was like, you’re not doing this anymore, we’re doing this. He cut out all the bad stuff.”
Stiverson’s 53-7½ would rank seventh all-time on the National Federation of State High School Associations list. The listed record there is 57-1¼, by Alyssa Wilson of New Jersey. But Wilson threw 58-1 during the summer after her senior year, and that’s the record Stiverson is chasing.
Plus a little more.
“She always has that goal in the back of her mind of breaking that 58-1,” said Adam Stiverson, Addyson’s father and Montrose’s girls track coach. “She kind of has a little future goal that no one really talks about it: Could a high school female thrower ever hit 60 feet?
“She wants to compete in college no matter what, and she wants to get better. There’s always room for improvement. If she can fix some things, get a little bigger, a little stronger, 60 feet could be possible. But let’s get 55 feet out of the way, 56 feet out of the way, 57 feet out of the way. If we can get to 57, then we can talk about that 60, because then we’d know that 58-1 is coming.”
While chasing down national goals, Stiverson has been dominating locally.
She’s never been beaten in the shot put during the high school season, and she’s never finished lower than third in the discus, despite it being much less of a focus for her, as she doesn’t want it to affect her form in the shot.
“I’m not going to lie, I don’t touch a disc that much,” Stiverson said. “I give it maybe 75-25, maybe 70-30 during the season. I feel like if I give it too much attention, it could mess up my shot.”
While throwing is her main focus now, Stiverson did play varsity basketball as a freshman and sophomore at Montrose. She also played football all the way through freshman year.
At 5-foot-9, her all-around athletic ability and explosiveness are a great base for her throwing ability, and while she hasn’t shown it off in a while, she can run, too.
On the day she set the Montrose school record for the shot put as a freshman, she also won the 100 meters at a Mid-Michigan Activities Conference quad meet.
“That was for team points,” Stiverson said with a laugh. “Our coach said, ‘One of the girls didn’t show up, we need you to run.’ And I had my spikes with me, so I did.”
Stiverson was the Division 3 Finals champion in the shot put both of the past two years, and won the discus in 2025 as well. She was runner-up in the discus as a freshman.
There are still two full seasons to go, but she’s on pace to become the first female thrower in the Lower Peninsula to win four Finals titles in the shot put.
“I think that was my biggest goal when I came into high school; I wanted to be a four-time shot put state champ,” she said. “When it does happen, that would be one of the coolest things. That was a dream.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS Montrose's Addyson Stiverson competes in the shot put at last season’s LPD3 Finals. (Photos by Mary Wilson/RunMichigan.com.)
Fowler Cashes in on Another Champiopnship
June 4, 2016
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
GRAND RAPIDS – Fowler girls track coach Jill Feldpausch might have felt like she won the lottery Saturday afternoon, even though she said she “didn’t have a winning ticket.”
The lack of a “winning ticket” that Feldpausch referred to was her team failing to have an individual champion at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals at Houseman Field. A bevy of solid performances, including three relay titles, led Fowler to first place with 56 points. Concord was second with 44, and New Lothrop was third with 38.
“We don’t have a winning ticket. We have two awesome seniors who really stepped up,” Feldpausch said. “We just do what we train for. We keep coming and working hard, and it seems like every meet they kept setting personal records one right after another.”
It was the seventh state championship for the Fowler girls program and third with Feldpausch as coach. Last year, Fowler was runner-up to Harbor Springs.
“After finishing second last year and third the year before that, our team was ready to finish it and ready to get first,” said Madison Koenigsknecht, one of those two “amazing seniors.”
Julie Thelen, the other “amazing senior,” said, “We got closer and closer every year, and this year it was like the big bang – the perfect finish – and it was just awesome. It was amazing since we all worked so hard all season.”
Koenigsknecht and Thelen ran on two of the three winning relay teams. McKenzie Koenigsknecht, younger sister of Madison, also ran on two of the winning relay teams.
“I think everybody working together in the relays really put us over the edge,” Madison Koenigsknecht said.
Fowler won the 800 relay as the Koenigsknecht sisters teamed with Thelen and Sidney Horak to win in 1 minute, 46.57 seconds. In the 1,600, it was the Koenigsknecht sisters again, this time with Thelen and Taryn Shafer to win in 4:08.23. Both the 800 and 3,200 relay teams broke school records.
That third winning relay was a collection of the classes as senior Madison Koenigsknecht, junior Ashley VanElls, sophomore Kian Becker and freshman Morgan Goerge won in 9:38.0.
“In the individual events, everybody picking up points here and there really made a difference,” Madison Koenigsknecht said.
She was one of those who helped individually as she was third in the 400 in 59.43. Thelen also took third in the 800 in 2:23.64, and Becker was sixth in the 3,200 in 1:41.59.
In the field events, Fowler sophomore Ciera Weber was fifth in the pole vault as she cleared 6-0 to break the school record. Freshman Alyssa Vandegriff was fifth in the high jump at 5-0.5, and Horak was sixth in the long jump (15-11.5).
“It’s just awesome because we’re all one family, and we all work hard and push each other,’ Madison Koenigsknecht said. “Right from the beginning of the season, we knew that this was one of our biggest goals and if we continued to work really hard and push each other that we would be able to do it.”
It was truly a team championship.
“Everybody stepped up, and I’m so proud of them,” she said. “It was all about the team aspect, and our 12 girls here all contributed.”
Concord, which finished second after placing third a year ago, was led by senior Lindsey Lehman, who repeated as champion in the 200 and also won the 100 after finishing second a year ago. She appeared a bit surprised at her victory in the 100 as she was seeded fourth coming into the meet.
“I was shocked that I won the 100,” said Lehman, whose winning time was 12.30 seconds, breaking the Division 4 meet record. “The girl who got third beat me at Regionals, and she’s a really good runner. She’s only a sophomore.”
After winning the 100, Lehman was able to set her sights on repeating as champion in the 200 in what would be the final individual event of her high school career. She won it in 25.70.
“I got out of the blocks really well, and that was one of my better races,” she said. “I just always feel good in that race.
“I wanted to prove that how much work you put in during the offseason can determine the outcome.”
Concord had another individual title. Sophomore Samantha Saenz won the 1,600 in 5 minutes, 10.89 seconds.
New Lothrop, which finished third, had a championship in the 400 relay. Skye Nancarrow, Alex Bedrosian, Sydney Pope and Caitlyn Bruff won in 50.83. Pope and Bruff are freshmen.
Ashley Hermann of Petersburgh-Summerfield repeated in the high jump by clearing 5-4, and Caylin Bonser of Harbor Springs set a Division 4 meet record in the discus with a toss of 141-6. Harbor Springs swept the throws as Erika Lechner took the shot put with a toss of 41-11.75.
Another meet record was broken in the 100 hurdles, where Mary Leighton of Mendon won in 14.53. Sophomore Baleigh Irelan of Reading added a victory in the 300 hurdles in 46.25.
Other winners in the running events included sophomore Alexandra Hannson of Brown City in the 400 (58.11), Kensington Garvey of Blanchard Montabella in the 800 (2:21.58) and Ava Strenge of Battle Creek St. Philip in the 3,200 (10:59.5).
In the field events, Sydnie Avery of Saugatuck won the pole vault at 10-3, and Akwia Tilton of Birmingham Roeper took the long jump at 17-6.
PHOTOS: (Top) Fowler's Julie Thelen (middle) works for valuable points in finishing third in the 800. (Middle) Concord's Lindsey Lehman breaks away for one of her two sprint championships. (Photos by Angie Graham/RunMichigan.com.)