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.)
Coach Predicts Title, Ithaca Girls Answer
June 13, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
There’s a clear difference between prediction and expectation. But the Ithaca girls track & field team had to decide which way coach Gene Lebron was leaning when he told his athletes they’d win an MHSAA championship this spring.
Erica Sheahan knew it was more than a pep talk.
Lebron had called his cross country team’s 2014 championship as well – and that gave this spring’s Yellowjackets plenty of faith in their coach’s fearless forecast.
Ithaca’s girls track & field team – the Applebee’s Team of the Month for May – dominated its Tri-Valley Conference West competition at last month’s league meet and also won its Division 3 Regional for the second straight year – and second time total in program history.
and it’s impossible to overlook what the Yellowjackets then accomplished four days after May ended – win the first MHSAA Finals championship in program history, scoring 57½ points to edge Adrian Madison by 3½ at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 meet at Comstock Park.
“This group of seniors, we accomplished a lot together and we set our goals high,” said Sheahan, who repeated as LP Division 3 long jump champion. “Coach told us this would be the year, and we stuck to it and did the best we could to make it happen.”
At the MHSAA postseason level, that first step came at the May 20 Regional at Shepherd, which Ithaca won by 52 points over the runner-up Bluejays. The Yellowjackets then won their league meet on May 25 with 215 points, doubling up the field while finishing first in seven individual races, two field events and all four relays.
Ithaca also started May with a 12½-point win at the Shepherd Invitational over Cadillac, which went on to tie for 17th in LP Division 2 this month, and third-place Fowler, which won the LP Division 4 championship. Ithaca also won the Division 3 portion of the Alma College Scottie Classic on May 14.
By the end of this season, Ithaca had broken school records in every relay, long jump, the 200, 800, 1,600 and 300 hurdles. Lebron said the relay records might not be approached for some time.
“Those records were already set really high, and these girls really performed at a high level this year,” Lebron said. “They really took a stride.They fed off that (2014) championship in cross country. We sent 10 girls to the MHSAA state meet, and six of those girls ran at the (cross country) state meet when we won. When we won in 2014 in cross country, we came back that track season and placed fourth. They kinda knew the writing was on the wall.
"They were disappointed with the state meet in cross country this year; they finished fifth and I thought they should’ve been higher, and they did too. They felt they let one get away, but they came in more motivated than ever for track.”
Sheahan was the only Ithaca girl to win a Finals championship. But she also won the 100 and 200 at the Regional, where junior Courtney Allen won the 800, junior Emily Foster won the 300 hurdles, and some combination of Sheahan, Foster, Allen, Mikayla Fairchild, Kara Kindel, Morgan Most, Blaire Showers, Amelia Freestone, Kurstin Kalisek and Alyssa Mankey won all four relays.
Counting every team Ithaca finished ahead of at an invitational or postseason event, the Yellowjackets were an incredible 145-2 this season, finishing third at the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association meet but winning every other time they competed.
Lebron has been around plenty of championship teams. In addition to his, Ithaca is best-known for its football team that’s won five of the last six Division 6 titles. He sees every day the sacrifices made by athletes hoping to reach the highest level.
But to him, the level of commitment by the girls on this spring’s team still stood out. Some played volleyball in the past, but switched the cross country to better prepare for track season. As a team, they lifted weights during the offseason three times a week at 6:30 a.m., and informally the distance runners and some sprinters would get together every Sunday for a long run.
Equally “extraordinary,” the Yellowjackets have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.755.
Indeed, football does enjoy most of the statewide shine for the community of 3,000 about 45 miles north of Lansing. But the girls running program has made a reputation as well the last two school years.
“They’re diehard with football. They’re all friends with those guys. But they want their own success,” Lebron said of his athletes. “Every team at Ithaca lives in the shadow of Ithaca football. But I don’t think that’s a negative thing all together. I think our girls are motivated by them. We’re going to cast our own shadow.
"Football is football; it’s America. But these girls have done a good job making a name for themselves.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2015-16:
April: Lake Orion boys lacrosse – Report
March: Hancock ice hockey – Report
February: Petoskey boys skiing – Report
January: Spring Lake boys swimming & diving – Report
December: Saginaw Heritage girls basketball – Report
November: Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard volleyball – Report
October: Benton Harbor football – Report
September: Mason and Okemos boys soccer – Report
PHOTOS: (Top) A pair of Ithaca runners complete a handoff during their Regional meet May 20 at Shepherd. (Middle) The Yellowjackets pose with the first MHSAA Finals championship trophy won in program history. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)