Calumet Invite Produces Northern Stars
September 18, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Calumet Invitational dates back roughly 30 years as an annual staple of the cross country schedule for schools at the northernmost tip of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
A creative move by the Copper Kings last year added some statewide prestige to the event.
Last week, for the second season, Calumet ran the series of races at Keweenaw Mountain Lodge, a resort near Copper Harbor and the northern bank of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
Calumet is the northernmost high school in Michigan. And moving this race another 35 miles northeast more or less guaranteed it's the northernmost event run in the state.
"We figured it was pretty safe. We're the northernmost school in the state, and you can only go four more miles and you're in Lake Superior," Calumet athletic director Sean Jacques said. "Nobody else is going to do anything more north than that."
A total of 10 schools were represented this fall in the races for boys and girls varsity, junior varsity and middle schoolers.
Jacques said the event formerly was run at a golf course in Calumet. But a few years ago, Calumet graduate and former Copper Kings cross country runner Dan Harri moved home from Florida to become general manager at the Mountain Lodge (he's also a renowned chef and has owned restaurants in Miami with Hall of Fame Dolphins coach Don Shula).
Harri had asked a few times about bringing a cross country or golf event to the lodge. Jacques told him last year they'd give it a try, so Harri set up a course that includes golf course, a couple of bridges, trails and finishes with a climb on the No. 1 fairway. It also provides various points for fans to watch runners go by, not always available on other courses.
"We were looking for a little bit of a change, and it's a beautiful course," Jacques said. "We thought if people were willing to make the extra drive, it would be really nice."
Calumet won the boys race this season, just ahead of runner-up Houghton. Houghton's girls were victorious, followed by the host Copper Kings.
Click to read more about this year's event from the Houghton Mining Gazette.
Michigan's claim to an NFL evolution
As part of its NFL preview this month, Sports Illustrated reported on one of the most significant developments for offenses over the last few decades – the silent snap count, which is used regularly by visiting teams because offensive linemen can’t hear the quarterback calling for the ball over the clamor of the home crowd.
And the article explained that the silent snap count might’ve gotten its start at one of Michigan’s smallest high schools – Flint’s Michigan School for the Deaf.
Offensive linemen during the 1980s were feasted on by pass rushers like Lawrence Taylor and Bruce Smith, who built record sack totals by blasting past blockers who seemed a step slow. Turns out, that was true. Defensive players were getting an edge by attacking as soon as they saw the ball move. But blockers (especially offensive tackles), focused instead on the defensive ends and linebackers lined up across from them, and didn’t have the luxury of watching the ball – and since they also couldn’t hear the snap count, started each play a step behind.
Enter the silent count. The quarterback signals to the center that he is ready to receive the ball (with a pat on the back, by raising a foot, etc.). The center then raises his head, and after a predetermined count of at least one second snaps the ball without a sound. This means an offensive tackle doesn’t have to listen for a snap count – he just counts after seeing the center get set.
The SI report recognized longtime offensive line coach Howard Mudd as the guru of the silent snap count. But Mudd recalled a conversation he’d had while working for the Seattle Seahawks with another coach, the late Andy MacDonald, who also had coached early in his career at a school for the deaf in Michigan.
The article doesn’t mention Michigan School for the Deaf by name. But it seems to make sense that the Tartars were the first to use the now-revolutionary count. MacDonald – who played at Central Michigan University and went on to coach at Michigan State and four other colleges and also for the Buffalo Bills – grew up in Flint and attended Flint Northern before playing for the Chippewas from 1950-53. The historical web site Michigan-football.com has results for Flint’s Michigan School for the Deaf dating to 1950, making it a decent assumption that MacDonald might’ve gotten in a little early coaching experience at the school down the road from his home.
Click for the SI story and go to page 4 for the mention of Michigan’s school.
Michigan mourns trooper, running standout
The law enforcement community is mourning the death of Michigan State Police trooper Paul Butterfield, who was shot Sept. 9 during a traffic stop in Mason County. He also was a well-known distance runner during the 1980s and the MHSAA Class A cross country champion running for Bridgeport in 1987.
According to a Ludington Daily News report, Butterfield continued running after high school at the University of Tennessee, and also competed at the 1989 Pan American Junior Games in Argentina.
Butterfield was stationed in Hart after previously serving in Manistee, and lived in Mason County. He also had served in the U.S. Army. Click to read more from the Ludington Daily News.
PHOTO: Calumet's Chelsea Jacques (right) won this season's Calumet Invitational with a time of 21:08.06, just ahead of Ironwood's Jessica Gering at 21:46.16. (Photo courtesy of Calumet athletic department.)
Sinishtaj Ready to End School Year by Putting Last Year's Finals Lesson into Play
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 4, 2026
School might be over or about to be done around the state, but Warren De La Salle Collegiate junior golfer Julian Sinishtaj hopes to heed one lesson learned a year ago at last year’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final.
Heading into this weekend’s championship tournament at Ferris State University’s Katke Golf Course, Sinishtaj reflected on the biggest thing he learned at last year’s Final after completing a 2-under-par round of 69 in a Regional at Twin Lakes on May 27 to qualify for this year’s event individually.
“Just that you’re really never out of it,” Sinishtaj said. “In the beginning of both rounds, I was a couple over (par) through five, six holes. Then I was able to shoot three and one-under. Kind of battled through. This year, I’ve got to get off to a hotter start. I think everybody’s having a good year so far, so (I’m) going to have to go low at states.’”
Sinishtaj is correct that several golfers competing at the event are having good years, but he also is having a strong spring and on the short list of individual contenders.
Named to the all-state Super Team last year as a sophomore, Sinishtaj finished third individually at last year’s Division 1 tournament, just two shots behind champion Ian Masih of Okemos, who was a freshman this year at Grand Valley State.
Sinishtaj hasn’t slumped at all this season, producing four rounds below 70 and winning the title at the Macomb County Championship.
De La Salle head coach Dennis Koch, an alumnus of the school who has coached basketball, football, baseball and golf throughout the Detroit area over the past 21 years, said Sinishtaj measures up to any athlete he’s coached in any of those sports.
“It’s very simple; he has one of the best work ethics I’ve seen in my 21 years of coaching,” Koch said of Sinishtaj, who also is a 3.9-GPA student. “That goes across football, basketball and baseball. He just puts in that much time. There’s not really a formula for it.”
Sinishtaj said since last year’s tournament, he made a change with his putting, and it’s made a world of difference to complement his length off the tee and steady iron play.
“At the end of last year, I changed to a spider (putter), like Scottie Scheffler’s putter,” he said. “I switched to left-hand low. I was right-hand low last year. It’s a little more comfortable.”
Sinishtaj said the golf bug bit him when he was young, as his father introduced him to the game when he was 5 years old, and then he “started taking it seriously around 8 or 9 years old.”
As he grew, his game took off.
“I was pretty small my whole life and never really hit it far,” Sinishtaj said. “I just kind of grew at like 12, 13. I started playing good. I’ve gained probably 20, 30 yards each year consistently from probably age 13 to now.”
As a result, Sinishtaj can regularly move the ball 280-290 yards off the tee, something Koch said was also a priority over the offseason for Sinishtaj in addition to enhancing his putting.
“He said that his emphasis was on ball speed,” Koch said. “He’s been trying to improve his swing speed and hit the ball farther. And if you can hit the ball a little further as a golfer, that makes life a little easier. Think of all the best golfers that hit the ball a mile. Their scores are a little better because they have shorter approaches.”
Sinishtaj will be busy this summer with junior tournaments and likely figuring out college opportunities as he enters his senior year in the fall.
In the meantime, he hopes he can take what he learned at last year’s season-concluding tournament and complete what’s been a little unfinished business on a Katke course with which he’s familiar.
“I don’t think the greens are hard,” Sinishtaj said. “They’re pretty flat and wide. But off of the tee there are a lot of blind shots. Being able to find the right target and commit to those swings will be key.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.