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.)
Oak Park's Dynasty Continues to Thrive as Knights Claim 9th Title in 11 Seasons
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
May 31, 2025
KENTWOOD – Brandon Jiles calls it a cycle, but there's probably a more apt description.
Maybe something that includes mention of a dynasty after the Oak Park girls track & field team Saturday collected its ninth Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals title in 11 years, including third in a row.
Oak Park finished with 86 points to outdistance 47 points from Detroit Renaissance’ 47 at East Kentwood.
It's fine to describe a cycle as part the explanation for the domination, which began in 2014 with an upending of three-time reigning champ Grosse Pointe South. As for the titles, Jiles offers an explanation that includes discipline, training, commitment and mental toughness. Put it all together – plus the development of a monster crew of sprinters – and it becomes apparent how Oak Park has rolled at this level for more than a decade.
"You combine those things with talent and parents who buy in, and that's our culture," Jiles said. "We just do it with a lot of hard work, discipline and talent. Every year is different because the competition is different, and more years means more experience.
"It's part of a cycle. You lose a little each year, but you also gain a little every year. Then you work harder to stay on top. You develop and learn. I think of myself as more of a teacher than coach."
Holland West Ottawa was third Saturday with 46 points, West Bloomfield fourth at 32 and Rockford fifth with 31 points.
Whatever Jiles is trying to sell to younger athletes about striving to replace graduated talent, they apparently are buying. In fact, senior Carrie VanNoy, who won the 100 hurdles (13.7), 300 hurdles (42.59) and was part of two winning relays, offered another piece of the puzzle to Oak Park's success: family.
"We push each other to do their best, and that helps make you great," she said. "The biggest thing is that we're like a family. Everyone pitches in to work hard and be better. Like a family."
Sophomore Nevaeh Burns, who was in on four top-four event finishes, said the program depends on younger performers stepping up to replace seniors. She won the 400 (54.34), was part of the winning 1,600 relay (3:43.52) and 800 relay (1:37.8), and placed fourth in the 200.
"The only difference between these teams is age. When you lose people, you gain others. It's a big deal," she said. "It's just something you have to do. You know your time is coming."
While Oak Park was sprinting to its team championship, there were numerous outstanding individual performances, including West Bloomfield junior Kamryn Tatum winning a third-consecutive 200 title (23.55) in an event that featured all nine runners clocking in under 25 seconds. She also won the 100 (11.66).
"The times in the semis were good, but I still believed in myself and thought we'd all do well," said Tatum, who looks at the three 200 titles three different ways. "My freshman year I was nervous, but I had run in high school with older kids so it was no big deal. My sophomore mindset was I had a little trouble believing in myself. But then I got baptized and put my faith in God, and I'm fine."
Traverse City Central sophomore Lorelai Zielinski topped last year's runner-up finishes in the discus and shot by winning both Saturday with tosses of 155-1 and 46-11¾, respectively. Zielinski credits taking the next step to offseason sharpening of technique, throwing herself into weightlifting 2-3 times a week and the bounce from a successful indoor season.
"I was seeded No. 1, had thrown personal best already and I was excited for this," she said. "It was amazing. I was second in both last year, so I thought it would be amazing to win."
Brownstown Woodhaven’s Maya Justice won the long jump (19-5¼) to complete an unlikely season which was nearly wrecked after an ACL injury during a soccer game May 11. Headed to Kent State next season for soccer and track, Justice admitted there were dark moments during the rehab.
"There were a bunch of ups and downs," she said. "It was terrible because I had been doing the best I ever had in track. There were times when it seemed I couldn't get any better, but in the end I got stronger and faster."
Victoria Garces of Midland Dow won the 1,600 (4:48.74) despite, in her words, only "going all out once" this season. The Division 1 cross country champ in the fall, Garces said the 1,600 event ultimately seemed natural to her.
"I took the lead after the first lap, it felt good, and I just kept going," she said. "My legs felt good, and I wanted to get two wins. The mile didn't take that much out of me."
Other champs included two firsts from Holland West Ottawa from Helen Sachs in the 3,200 (10:16.56) and Collette Wierks in the 800 (2:11.65). West Ottawa also won the 3,200 relay (9:01.69). Greta Caprathe of Rockford took the high jump (5-6), and Isabel German of Lowell won the pole vault (13-0).
PHOTOS (Top) Oak Park's Carrie VanNoy, center, leads the 100-meter hurdle championship race Saturday at East Kentwood. (Middle) Midland Dow's Victoria Garces and Holland West Ottawa's Helen Sachs set the pace in the 1,600. (Click for more from Carter Sherline/RunMichigan.com.)