Spring Lake Girls Win Meet's Final Race to Clinch 1st Finals Championship
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
May 30, 2026
HAMILTON — It’s not unusual for a track & field state championship meet to come down to the final event.
What was unusual Saturday was the number of teams that still had a chance to win going into the last event of this year’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Girls Finals.
Going into the 1,600 relay – the meet’s final event – the top four teams were separated by just three points, making for quite a dramatic finish.
Leading by one point heading into the event, Spring Lake held on to the top spot, winning the 1,600 relay to clinch the team title with 42 points total.
The Spring Lake team of Cora Parker, Macy Subka, Kaleigh Clark and Meghan Guczwa won in an LPD2 Finals-record time of 3:55.25, breaking the old record of 3:56.07 set in 2000 by Battle Creek Lakeview.
Holland Christian was runner-up with 35 points, while Ludington was third with 31.
“I was a ball of anxiety up in the stands,” Spring Lake head coach Marina Samp said. “But it was great seeing them go out, get the early lead, hold on, never let go, hammer it home and get the record on top of it.”
It was Spring Lake’s first Finals title in girls track.
“We knew this was possible,” Samp said. “We were just like, ‘Can we make it to the end? Can we put together the perfect season? This is what we were going for.”
Both Dearborn Divine Child junior Aubrey Wilson and Ludington freshman Eliza Schwass made runs at winning three individual titles before settling with a pair apiece.
However, “settling” for two individual titles was still obviously thrilling for both.
The 2025 champion in the 100 and 200-meter dashes, Wilson repeated in both, winning the 100 in a personal-best time of 11.50 and the 200 in 24.10.
Wilson also was going for the title in the 400 dash, but didn’t quite have the energy in that race, finishing eighth. Haslett’s Chrstina Dixon finished first in 55.69 seconds.
However, after that result, Wilson quickly regrouped for the 200 and left no doubt in that sprint.
“I just kept walking and kept in focus,” Wilson said of bouncing back for the 200. “Even though I performed bad in one race, I didn’t bring it to my other one. I’m happy about that.”
Wilson said she might try to run the 400 and go for three individual titles again at next year’s Finals meet.
“It’s a lot of hard work and dedication, but hopefully next year I’ll perform better,” she said.
Schwass was attempting to win the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 and looked to be on track for that quest after winning the 1,600 in 4:53.12 and the 800 in a meet-record time of 2:08.62, topping the previous record of 2:09.92 set by Layla Jordan of Goodrich in 2024.
But as was the case with Wilson in the 400, Schwass just didn’t quite have enough left in the tank, although she still finished second in the 3,200 in a time of 10:43.09. Pinckney junior Jaelyn Ray won in 10:36.99.
Schwass said she determined earlier this year that she could go for the win in all three events, and nearly pulled it off in her first high school championship meet.
“I wasn’t too nervous,” she said. “I just kind of focused on my training and telling myself I was ready for this.”
The other multi-event winner Saturday was Subka, a junior who swept the two hurdles races after finishing third in the 300 and not placing in the 100 last year.
Subka said the big difference was a new indoor athletic center that the school opened during the winter, which took her training to a whole new level.
“I’ve been able to be there all winter,” she said. “I also play soccer in the spring. A lot of technical work, and soccer I get a lot of conditioning from.”
The field events saw a pair of repeat champions in Stevensville Lakeshore’s Leigha Whitman in the long jump and Wayland’s Evie Mathis in the pole vault.
Also claiming championships Saturday were Grand Rapids Christian in the 400 relay, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in the 800 relay and Holland Christian in the 3,200 relay, Freeland’s Payton Maxey in the shot put, North Branch’s Aubree Deshetsky in the discus and Hastings’ Bella Friddle in the high jump. Sturgis' Vivian Massey won the adaptive shot put.
PHOTOS (Top) Spring Lake's Megan Guczwa sprints the final leg of the 1,600 relay Saturday at Hamilton. (Middle) Dearborn Divine Child's Aubrey Wilson pushes through the finish of a sprint championship. (Click for more from Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)
Many Do Their Parts to Drive Lakes 3-Peat
June 1, 2019
By Adam Niemi
Special for Second Half
KINGSFORD – Lake Linden-Hubbell cruised to its third straight MHSAA Division 3 UP Finals championship Saturday.
The Lakes scored 112 points, well ahead of runner-up Felch North Dickinson's 62.
"It's just unbelievable. We knew where we were on paper; we had the most points from our seeding. We know that that never works out," Lake Linden-Hubbell head coach Gary Guisfredi said. "We talked to the girls about how important it was to work for our personal bests, which we got a lot of those today. We also talked about how important it is to, if we're seeded fifth, to get to fourth and bump up. We had that today. We had multiple girls who were not seeded one through six, came out of other heats and actually placed. It really was just an amazing day."
Rock Mid-Peninsula was third (56), followed by Brimley (45) and Stephenson (42) to round out the top five.
The Lakes' third straight title came on the strength of gritty determination and hard work, embodied by Sienna Anderson's comeback from an ACL injury a year ago. She took second in the 100 hurdles behind Brimley's Hayley Gamberdella.
The Lakes took five firsts including wins in the 400 meter and 1,600-meter relays. Mariah Willmer won the 800 run. Jamie Hendrickson won the high jump, and Camaryn Crouch won the pole vault.
Lake Linden-Hubbell's biggest calling card was getting multiple girls piling points in the same event. Three Lakes took the top three places and 24 points in the pole vault, led by Crouch. It was around then that the Lakes padded the lead.
"All of a sudden we went from close, to not so close anymore," Guisfredi said. "I'm just really, really blessed with this group. I'm so happy for them because they've just worked so hard. All the kids work hard, but this has been a fun group."
Masyn Alexa's big day helped North Dickinson's small team to a runner-up finish.
The Nordics sent just six girls to the UP Finals. Lake Linden-Hubbell had 16.
"We really competed well today. Hats off to Lake Linden. They had a great day," North Dickinson head coach Mike Roell said. "We got beat by a really good track team today, but we beat a lot of good track teams to come in second here today. We're really proud of our kids. All year we've been working hard, and it paid off today. I can't say enough. Masyn Alexa broke two school records in the 200 and 400 dashes. She kind of carried us through this thing. We had a lot of young girls that worked their tails off and scraped up enough points to get runner-up. We're really proud of that."
Alexa, a junior, won and set a school record in the 400 with a time of 1:00.86. She held the previous record from last year.
"I've been working to get that record for a long time,” she said. “I ran high 1:01 three different times last year and once again this year. In practice two days ago I was three hundredths of a second away from getting it. I was hoping today I could get it, and I ended up getting it. My coach was at the 200 mark, marking my time as I came across. Then I knew what I was at so I could finish strong.
"I wasn't sure if I had it or not. I knew I was close. I heard all the cheers as I went across. I didn't know whether I had it or not. When I looked, my mom was nodding so I knew I had it."
Alexa also set a new record in the 200, improved by 13 hundredths of a second.
Alexa barely edged Stephenson's Amanda Starzynski to win the 200, by nine hundredths of a second. She was also the fourth leg of the 400 relay that took second behind Lake Linden-Hubbell.
The Nordics also took second in the 800 and 1,600 relays. Hannah Clark placed fourth in the pole vault. Briana Smith was third in the long jump. Skye Ledzian was third in shot put and fifth in discus.
Starzynski leaned forward while crossing the finish line to edge Alexa in the 100 dash by a hundredth of a second. She also anchored the Eagles' 400 relay team that took fifth, and won the long jump.
Baraga's Jaylyn Lindemann won the shot put at 31 feet, 3.5 inches.
PHOTOS: (Top) Rock Mid-Peninsula's Camryn Croadsell, left, and Lake Linden-Hubbell's Joslyn Perala charge toward the finish in the 400 relay. (Middle) North Dickinson's Sophie Mattson runs the 3,200. (Photos by Cara Kamps.)