Slattery's High-Scoring Day Helps Hackett Catholic Prep Prevail by Slimmest of Margins
By
Brian Freiberger
Special for MHSAA.com
May 30, 2026
HUDSONVILLE – Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep junior Clara Slattery made sure her name will remain known after Saturday.
The junior took home Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals championships in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles, along with a blazing fast 200-meter time of 25.26 to win her third event of the day.
All of those helped the Fighting Irish claim the team championship with 44 points – just one more than Hudson. The title was the program's first in this sport.
“It means a lot since last year I struggled in the 200 and 300, and it was good for me to get back. It helps show me that my training is paying off,” Slattery said. “I will take with me most from this season being around my friends and teammates, especially those seniors that are graduating. They really help when they're screaming at me, pushing me to go even harder.”
Frankfort finished a close third in the team standings, with Fowler fourth and Whitmore Lake and Gobles tied for fifth.
Alcona senior Addi Beatty broke LPD4 Finals record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.22. She also had quality performances in the high jump and long jump, finishing fifth and fourth, respectively.
“I have been working for this for years,” Beatty said. “Last year I got state runner-up (in the 100), and I was a little sad about it, so it's good to come here this year and win it all.”
Concord sophomore Annie Saenz placed her name into history as well after breaking the 25-year-old girls high jump record with a leap of 5 feet, 8 inches. To go along with the meet record, Saenz now holds the school record as well.
“It feels great. I've been working hard to get the records … that’s been my goal all season. I hope to just keep working hard, keep reaching higher heights, and, like, be happy about this, but focus on the next thing,” Saenz said.
Mancelona junior Leili Frollo took home the top honor in pole vault with a height of 11 feet to win her first Finals championship. Despite attempts being hours in-between, Frollo remained focused.
“It was kind of slow because people were checking out for an event, so I waited hours between my jumps, which is really different for me,” Frollo said. “I was just really glad that I had my coaches and family supporting me. I am super excited. I've been wanting this for a while, and I worked so hard, so I feel so proud of myself that I was finally able to accomplish that.”
Gobles 3,200 champion Libby Smith blazed her way to the title with a time of 11:16 in a highly-contested race.
“I just went out racing. I was worried about time. I didn't even start my watch. I can't even look at this,” Smith said.
Around the 900-meter mark, Smith hit the turbo boost, and luckily she had enough in the tank to finish the race because 1,600 champion Kaylie Livingston of Whitmore Lake was at her heels.
Gobles’ 3,200 relay team of Smith, Lauren Shaffer, Ava DeYoung and Madison Cooley also earned a championship.
“I’m not giving up by myself when it gets hard; I just keep pushing through,” Smith said.
Lilly Szappan from St. Charles won the adaptive shot put with a throw of 18 feet, 8.7 inches.
“It just proves to me that I can do more than I think I'm capable of at times,” she said. “A lot of people say that just because I am different, that I can't do as much or can't do as well. But this just proves everybody wrong. And it proves to myself that I can do good things.”
Other champions included Saginaw Nouvel Catholic Central’s Claire Long in the 400, Kingston’s Norah Kiley in the 800, St. Louis’ Tess Farkas in the shot put, Unionville-Sebewaing’s Ryleigh Ewald in the discus and Buckley’s Brooklynn Frazee in the long jump. Frankfort’s 400 relay, Portland St. Patrick’s 800 relay and Kingston’s 1,600 relay also were winners.
PHOTOS (Top) Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep's Clara Slattery, second from left, charges over a hurdle on the way to winning the 100 hurdles championship Saturday. (Middle) Alcona's Addi Beatty, middle, runs to the 100-meter dash title. (Click for more from Ken Swart/RunMichigan.com.)
Williams Races to Place with All-Time Best
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
April 18, 2019
Bridgeport girls track coach Rick Popp said he believes his star sprinter Payten Williams has the potential to be a world champion.
The high praise is something Williams appreciates, as she said it shows her coach has faith in her. But does the senior have that same faith in herself?
Williams was as quick to answer that as she is on the track: “Yes.”
“Payten is crazy fast,” Popp said. “She’s been the fastest girl in the state of Michigan the past two years. When you watch her run, her leg speed is insane. We don’t have a boy that can beat her in the 40 meters. The girl is just crazy lightspeed right now.”
While a world championship is a lofty goal, it’s hard to argue with Popp’s current assessment of Williams, the reigning MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 champion in the 100 and 200 meters. During the past two years, she’s lost just two races, and both came at the MHSAA Finals her sophomore year. She placed fourth in both. She wasn’t unbeaten as a freshman, but she still finished first more than she didn’t and placed sixth at the Finals in the 200.
Her personal best in the 200 meters is 24.26 seconds, which she ran in July 2018 at the United States Track and Field Junior Olympics in North Carolina, placing 10th. That time would be an MHSAA Finals record in all but Division 1. Her personal best in the 100 is 12.06, which she ran at the 2018 MHSAA Finals, when she won by nearly half a second – second place came in at 12.55.
“Every state record should be gone,” Popp said, alluding to Williams breaking them. “Every all-time state record should be gone. When she’s dialed in, she’s lightspeed. She flies off her feet better than most anybody I’ve ever seen.”
Williams said she’s always been fast, but it took good coaching to help her reach these heights. That’s something she said she began to receive while in middle school from her AAU coaches, and that has continued into high school with them and Popp.
As things started to click, Williams started thinking big.
“It felt great – it felt that I was going to become something,” Williams said. “I had a lot of people looking up to me, so I knew I had to keep going further. Making it all the way to the Olympics is something that’s big for me.”
She said she’s made a decision on which college she will be attending, but that she isn’t ready to make an announcement.
Her focus for now is on finishing her high school career strong. That includes breaking the 24-second and 12-second barriers in her respective races, although she was quick to note that the 100 isn’t really her race despite the fact she’s been dominant in it for two years.
“The 200 is my race,” she said. “I just like the race; it’s hard to explain it.”
She said that even after winning the 100 at last year’s Finals, she was more concerned with the 200 she still had to run. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t happy about the double.
“It felt great,” she said. “My mom was like, ‘You’re going to get this. You’re going to become a state champion.’ I was like, ‘No mom, don’t think that.’ But then she was right.”
The times are more important to Williams than winning races. With such lofty goals and recent championship results, focusing on racing the clock could be her best path to reaching them.
“I just focus on getting to the finish line and how I run,” she said. “I don’t think about anything else. I just think about myself and the track.”
Williams has yet to run an outdoor race this season, but she did win a pair of indoor races at Saginaw Valley State in late March, claiming the 60 meters in 7.74 seconds and the 200 in 25.41.
She said she’s been off to a slower start this season, as she’s had to devote more time to her family, specifically helping care for her grandfather. While she didn’t want to elaborate, she did say that she’s getting back to practicing full time and expects to have another strong season.
There’s plenty for her to work for, including repeat championships, state records, getting closer to her Olympic dreams, and her family.
“I’m pushing myself by using my strength as my motivation,” she said. “And I’m doing it for my granddad.”
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: (Top) Bridgeport's Payten Williams, far right, surges through the finish in winning the 200 meters at last year's Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals. (Middle) Williams, middle, leads the 100 as contenders power through the final paces of that sprint. (Click to see more from RunMichigan.com.)