Waverly Paces 1st-Time Winners in D2
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
June 4, 2016
ZEELAND – Quite possibly the most diminutive athlete at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Track & Field Finals on Saturday, sophomore Kayla Windemuller of Holland Christian twice fell to the track at Zeeland Stadium and twice got back on her feet, kept her composure and finished the 3,200-meter run before anyone else.
About an hour earlier, Windemuller won her first individual MHSAA championship, in the 1,600 run.
Nikole Sargent of Flint Powers Catholic also was a double winner taking first in the shot put and the discus. Sargent won the shot put last season as a junior, but said going into this meet that the discus event was a priority. Sargent failed to place in the discus a year ago, fueling her motivation.
Although Tra’chele Roberts of Lansing Waverly took home only one individual first-place medal, her performances helped her team earn the school’s first MHSAA Finals team championship, as it edged second-place Powers, 42 points to 40. Romulus was third with 31 points, followed by Grand Rapids South Christian with 26 and Zeeland East with 24.
Roberts won the 100 dash (12.55) and ran anchor on the winning 400 and 800 relay teams. The 400 relay set a school record with a time of 48.7.
Warriors coach Rex Wilkes, a Waverly graduate, is in his second season running the program and said he kept Roberts, one of three sophomores on the relay teams, out of the 200 dash in an attempt to save her for the relays.
“We didn’t expect this,” Wilkes said. “I was hoping to come out with some fast times. We got some unexpected points in the shot put. Tra’chele can score points on her own. The others can score in the Regionals and run in the relays.”
The other three athletes on the relay teams were sophomores Jazlynn Wilcox and Maya Garrett, and junior Teaghan Thomas.
“It’s very exciting,” Thomas said. “I’ve been at states three times. We’ve been together since the seventh grade. The same girls ran on the relays, and in the same order.”
Thomas led off, followed by Wilcox, Garrett and Roberts.
Last season Waverly also took first in the 400 relay, but no individual placed among the top eight in the 100 dash.
To Wilkes’ point, another factor in the Warriors; breakthrough took place in the field events. Sophomore Malin Smith was sixth after the preliminaries, then moved up to second with a final put of 42 feet. Smith also took fifth in the discus, an event in which she was seeded seventh.
Windemuller was seeded first and third, respectively, in the 1,600 and 3,200 runs, so it’s not surprising she ran well Saturday. She did place seventh in the 3,200 and eighth in the 1,600 last season, so there was some valuable experience gained there.
No one could predict the events that took place and the circumstances that led to her taking first in both this time.
Windemuller, who said she’s 5-foot-1, won the 1,600 (4:58.9) in rather mundane fashion, at least in comparison to her 3,200 trip. She held off a late charge by junior Christina Sawyer of Tecumseh (5:00.2) in a tight race indeed – and Windemuller had to work for it.
“”It made me super nervous knowing she was close by,” Windemuller said. “I was very tired. I gave it everything I had.”
That was small potatoes compared to her extraordinary effort in the 3,200. With approximately two laps remaining Windemuller, Sawyer and junior Erika Freyhof of Hamilton were bunched together at the front. Suddenly, all three fell.
“I got up as quickly as I could,” Windemuller said. “I was still tired from running the (1,600). … I felt so bad. It was like dominos.”
The second spill took place with just over a lap remaining.
“I was in front,” Windemuller said. “When you go down you have to get yourself back up. It was a great learning experience.
“I’m small, but I’m feisty.”
Her time was 10:59.52.
Courageous athletes dotted the green artificial surface, home to both football teams at Zeeland East and Zeeland West. One competitor, in particular, is a multi-sport athlete who played four years of varsity basketball and was a two-sport athlete during the spring season.
Haley Hoogenraad of Zeeland West is one of the state’s top softball players. She will play for coach Carol Hutchins next year at University of Michigan. Hoogenraad competed in the 3,200 relay Saturday morning, then changed uniforms in a car as she was driven to Holland Christian to play in a Division 2 District Semifinal. West lost that noon game to Hudsonville Unity Christian, 12-4, allowing Hoogenraad to get back in a car to be driven back to Zeeland for the 800 run.
Hoogenraad was not just a qualifier in the event. She was seeded first, and as the race unfolded she moved up from fifth place to second with 200 meters left. Hoogenraad grew tired and placed fourth.
“I slid a few times and dove for a few balls,” Hoogenraad said of her time on the softball diamond. “I was dirty. I’m sad of the outcomes, but I tried. I tried to make my move (in the 800) and I said, oh, I can’t. I’m glad I had the opportunity to support my team.”
That would be teams.
PHOTOS: (Top) Lansing Waverly's Tra’chele Roberts runs a relay anchor leg for the Warriors, who went on to win the LP Division 2 championship. (Middle) Holland Christian's Kayla Windemuller. (Photos by Dave McCauley/RunMichigan.com.)
West Marching to Finals Hoping to Build on 4th-Straight Regional, League Titles
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
May 23, 2025
Reese Smith is hoping the third time is the charm.
Not that any of the previous efforts by the Traverse City West junior could possibly be considered failures.
And if her third-straight appearance at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Track & Field Finals next weekend at East Kentwood High School doesn’t result in a championship, it will be filled with love — for her teammates and everything else the Titans accomplished this year.
West, coming off a fourth-straight Regional championship and a fourth-straight Big North Conference title, have high hopes of capturing the 3,200 relay at East Kentwood. The Titans also have their eyes on the 1,600 relay. Smith anchors both.
“I really love the team and the bonds I’ve made with the girls on my team, especially the relays teams,” Smith said. “I feel like we’ve gotten really close, and that makes a difference when you are racing together and working together to get what you want to accomplish.”
West has qualified for 3,200 relay Final all four of Smith’s seasons, finishing 15th two years ago and third last season. Alyssa Fouchey, a senior, also ran on those first three qualifiers. Junior Bailey Wenzlick is back for her second straight, and the team’s fourth is sophomore Tessa Mascari, who will be experiencing her first 3,200 Final as well after narrowly qualifying for the 1,600-meter as a freshman last year.
Mascari also qualified this year for the open 1,600 and 3,200-meter races.
“I love this team, and I am very honored to be running a 4x8,” Mascari said. “We have a really strong team, and we’re definitely all trying to place.”
Smith will also be running the 800 with hopes of bettering her fifth-place finish from a year ago. The Titans also finished 15th in 2024 in the 1,600 relay with Smith, Wenzlick and Fouchey competing. Emily Kelsey is the fourth member of that relay this season.
“We’re pretty competitive in the 4x800, so we’re really trying to place in it,” Smith said. “And, the 800 I really want to place also and the 4x4 we’re not as competitive in, but I am still going to do all my effort in all of them.”
West also qualified sophomore Audrina Redmond in the pole vault and Olivia Kandow in the 100 hurdles. And senior high jumper Madeline Bildeaux is back for her second Finals appearance; she placed seventh last year.
“I am a lot less nervous than last year because I have been there before,” Bildeaux said. “I am going to try to represent myself the best that I can. How ever it goes is just how it was meant to be.”
Bildeaux also looks at the Finals as a bonus to the final chapter of her high school career. The all-state volleyball player is committed to continue playing that sport for Navy this fall.
She is one of six seniors on the West track team. All six were coached in middle school by Libby Shutler, who took over the Titans’ varsity this spring. Shutler ran the middle school program for six years, joined by Daryl Stallworth, who took over the West varsity boys team this season.
Shutler was thrilled to see West continue its conference and Regional championship strings as she transitioned to the varsity, succeeding retired coach Diane Goss.
“I am the first-year coach who was handed a very talented group of young ladies,” Shutler said. “It’s kind of like 54 daughters I have.”
West won both the Regional and conference titles on the track of cross-town rival Traverse City Central. Capturing individual conference championships were Kelsey (200, 26.35; and 400, 59.91); Smith (800, 2:16); Bildeaux (high jump, 5-2) and Redmond (pole vault, 10-0).
Bildeaux against reached 5-2 in the high jump to claim the Titans’ lone individual Regional title. Smith finished second in the 800, and Mascari was second in both the 1,600 and 3,200. Both are looking forward to the challenge of participating in three events against the best competition in Michigan.
“It’s pretty hard especially doing the first and last event,” said Smith, who will run the exact same events she did at the 2024 Finals. “You have to watch what you’re eating all day, make sure you’re getting enough rest in between the events, warming up in enough time and spacing everything out.”
Mascari is glad the 3,200 relay is her first event. She’ll finish with the open 3,200, a distance she hadn’t tried before this season. But the 1,600 field intrigues her the most.
“I have a pretty good heat to compete against,” Mascari said of that event. “If I stay at the top of my heat, I hope to break five (minutes) in the mile. I am really excited to have some good people to compete against.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Traverse City West’s Tessa Macari (2) carries the baton for the 3,200 relay. (Middle) Madeline Bildeaux, left, and Keira Murphy hold up their Regional team trophy as coach Libby Shutler takes their photo. (Photos by Grace McSparron.)