Perfection: Negaunee Girls Finish Undefeated Record-Setting Season as Repeat Champs
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
June 17, 2026
NEGAUNEE — This was a highly-successful track & field season for the Negaunee girls, to say the least.
The Miners finished first in every meet they ran, completing a perfect spring by retaining their Upper Peninsula Division 1 Finals title May 30 at Kingsford.
The team set eight school records during the season, including a pair by junior Keira Waterman. Her record in the 800 (2:19.78) took place at the U.P. Finals, and she broke the 400 with the top performance (58.5) at the Negaunee Lions Invitational on May 8.
“We had lots of fun,” she said. “I think the season just went by so fast. I was pretty confident we would do well. It feels great to get the school records, which is sometimes unexpected. We were so supportive of each other. This was a fun group to be with.”
Junior Sadie Rogers set a U.P. Finals and school record in the 300-meter hurdles in 45.04 seconds and established an additional school record in the 200 (26.21). Rogers also holds the school record in the 100 hurdles (15.75), which she set a year ago.
She is now a three-time U.P. champion in the 100 hurdles and a repeat winner in the 300.
“You just think about the next hurdle and go on,” she said. “I try not to stutter-step, and get into a rhythm. The 100 is such a fast race. There’s no margin for error. I had a good finish in the Finals, which I think set the tone.”
In the 200, Rogers was runner-up to Marquette freshman Jordyn Anthony who was clocked in a personal-best 26.11 seconds.
The Miners set a school and league scoring record in the Mid-Peninsula Conference meet at Gwinn with a whopping 317 points. Manistique was runner-up at 85.
“We scratched three of our top runners because we were going after the (school) 400 record,” junior Izzy Francisco said. “We got that by six seconds and were surprised by that, but I’d say our biggest highlight was the Lions meet because we didn’t know if we were ready to go. Winning that meet made us realize we were right where we wanted to be.”
Rogers, Waterman, Riley Conklin and Brynn Wieciech combined to set the school record in the 1,600 relay (4:02.64) while putting the finishing touches on their 16th consecutive M-PC title.
“One of our goals is to get under four minutes next year,” Rogers said. “I think it’s cool that our team is so deep.”
Beside winning the M-PC, the Miners were crowned Western Peninsula Athletic Conference champions for the fifth-straight time.
“These girls are very competitive,” coach Vickie Paupore said. “I never saw so much depth among the hurdlers. We were down by 10 points early in the U.P. Finals. We really got pushed by Marquette. Kiera ran the perfect race in the 800. I never had a girl go under 2:20 (through 30 years of coaching).”
Francisco joined Rogers, Waterman and sophomore Elvira Coyne in the 400 relay which set the school record at 50.47 in the Marquette County Meet on May 26.
“It felt good to do that,” Coyne said. “We weren’t really going for the record. It just happened to work out. We always supported and pushed each other and went into the U.P. Finals with a positive mindset. Marquette was our biggest challenge, especially in the distances. Our hard work paid off. It was a lot of fun receiving the (championship) trophy.”
Coyne also set a school record while placing second in the 100 (12.61) at the Finals, topping last year’s record run by Macyn DellAngelo by one tenth of a second.
Junior Priya Morey earned her first U.P. title with a throw of 110 feet, 5 inches in discus.
“I think last year’s experience helped me a lot,” she said. “I had a lot better idea of what to expect. Having my teammates there also helped a lot. Last year I was there to have fun. This time there was a little more pressure.”
Morey says winning the Ram Scram at Harbor Springs on April 24 was a major motivator for the team.
“That was a confidence builder,” she added. “Our coaches just put in so much work to make a happy environment. When we went downstate, our coach came over and watched us because the timing of everything allowed her to do that. She’s such a motivator and great leader. We had such a great time this season. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to throw.”
Rogers was the team’s leading scorer this season with 229¼ points. Waterman collected 213¼, followed by Coyne 195¼, senior Nori Korsman 177¼ and senior Josie Mechling 132. Korsman also is the owner of the school’s pole vault record at 10 feet and finished her career with more than 500 points.
Waterman recently competed at the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association Champions of Champions meet at Davison, where she placed fourth in her 800 race.
“That was quite a learning experience,” she said.
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.
PHOTOS (Top) Negaunee's Keira Waterman reacts to breaking the school record in the 1,600 relay (with Sadie Rogers, Riley Conklin, and Brynn Wieciech) as she crosses the finish line during the Mid-Peninsula Conference finals May 18 at Gwinn. (Middle) Negaunee's Sadie Rogers leads and eventually wins the 100 hurdles April 21 at Marquette. (Below) The Miners pose for a team photo after winning the UP Division 1 Finals championship May 30 at Kingsford. (Photos by Cara Kamps.)
Health Challenges Can't Ground Dobies
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
May 18, 2016
MACOMB TOWNSHIP – Look at Kayla Dobies and one can see a vibrant young woman with an engaging personality that locks on to those around her.
Look at Dobies’ accomplishments, athletically and academically, and one will marvel at her ingenuity and perseverance.
Hidden are ailments that would prevent a lesser person from achievements that flow from Dobies in a variety of forms.
Dobies, 18, is a senior at Macomb Dakota and has been accepted to Princeton University. In addition to her studies, Dobies plans on competing collegiately in cross country and track and field. The high jump is her best event – her best is a jump of 5 feet, 7 inches. But she is also a fine distance runner. Dobies placed eighth in Lower Peninsula Division 1 her freshman season in the high jump and was all-state again her junior season as she placed fourth in the 800-meter run.
Her best cross country time is 18:27, a school record. She qualified for the MHSAA Finals in cross country her junior and senior seasons but failed to place. The reasons will become obvious later.
For six years she practiced taekwondo and holds a first and second degree black belt in the sport.
As a junior she started a robotics team at Dakota, but did not compete. Although Dakota did not fare well in the state competition this year, the team competed at the world championships, a four-day event held in late April, in St. Louis, and won. The name of the team is the Thunder Chickens, and among Dobies’ responsibilities was as an assistant mechanic. When one of the machines broke down, she would assist in fixing it, thus earning the nickname, ‘Baby Chicken’.
Dobies has a 4.07 grade-point average entering her final semester and scored a 33 on her ACT. She was named a winner this winter of the MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award and was one of six finalists for the recently-awarded Detroit Athletic Club Female High School Athlete of the Year.
She plans on entering the pre-med program at Princeton and possibly majoring in neuroscience.
As impressive as is her list of accomplishments, Dobies often has had to miss competing because of her illnesses. Every day Dobies confronts them. She tries to hold them off with daily medication, and sometimes even that doesn’t work.
Topping this list, Dobies is an asthmatic. Offshoots are the allergies from which she suffers. She’s also anemic and suffers from hypoglycemia, a blood sugar disorder. She can’t eat candy. She can only consume pure sugar. And she can’t eat fast food or pizza, or other like fatty foods because of their trans-fatty acids.
It’s the pizza part that upsets Dobies most, even as that seems like one of the lesser obstacles she continuously must hurdle.
“I have every type of asthma you can imagine,” she said. “I use a breathing machine at night and two inhalers every day. I get allergy shots. I’m allergic to mites. I have to have special sheets on my bed to help prevent an attack.”
The attacks continue to occur. The reason she did not compete in robotics her junior year was her health. Most days, Dobies is fine. The medication she takes helps combat her diseases, but it’s not foolproof. When the seasons change, Dobies suffers most.
A leg injury kept Dobies from possibly making all-state in cross country her junior year, and this past November she suffered an asthma attack at the MHSAA Finals. Though cross country and running in general is one of her favorite sports, fall changing to winter is the worst season for Dobies.
“When others are improving their times, my times get worse,” she said. “I was in the hospital a couple of days during the cross country season. When I have an asthma attack, it’s not fun.”
Because of her condition, Dobies prefers to run in warm weather – the hotter the better. That’s why she’s hoping for warm weather, at least warmer weather, Saturday when Dakota competes at the Division 1 Track & Field regional at Warren Mott.
The spring didn't start well for Dobies. She suffered a pulled quadriceps (right leg) in the first meet of the season, and it wasn’t until three weeks ago that she could run the way she knows she can.
“I’m better now,” she said. “I’ve just got to get my times to drop.”
No one will doubt that she will. Dobies has always been highly motivated. This comes from her parents, Jeff and Jody Dobies, and she’s received a push from others including Dakota assistant track coach Tom Zarzycki. Jeff Dobies introduced his eldest daughter to soccer when she was 2 years old, and sports has been a big part of her life ever since.
“I watched the Olympics at Beijing and I saw the high jump,” she said. “I said, I can do that. So I asked my dad, what’s that? And he told me it was the high jump.”
Ever the inquisitive child, Dobies was inspired after viewing the Disney animated film “Mulan” to try martial arts.
“I’ve always liked sports,” she said. “I’m really, really passionate about everything. Take robotics and martial arts. I figure if you’re going to do something, do your best.
“Like running. I love to run. High jump is the reason I got into running. It gets down to a deep level. I just love running. I love running with my friends. I love running to compete.”
Whatever the task, whatever the challenge, anything Dobies dives into she gives it her best.
Her most recent project is experimenting with rats. It’s a class project, one she must complete to earn a grade. What she’s attempting to prove, with the aid of the rats, is that fear is innate.
“I’m still working on it,” she said. “I don’t expect to change the world.”
But she might.
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Macomb Dakota's Kayla Dobies (14) rounds the bend ahead of three competitors during the 800 at last season's Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final. (Middle) Dobies stands with other Scholar-Athlete Award winners in March at the Breslin Center. (Top photo by Carter Sherline/RunMichigan.com.)