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.)
Knudsen's Early Perseverance Sign of Character to Come During Record-Setting Leland Run
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
April 11, 2025
What was, nearly wasn’t.
When the Buckley Invitational — weather permitted — takes place today, Ella Knudsen will begin to cap off a dream career at Leland.
The way her career began, frankly, was a little more like a nightmare.
Knudsen, the most decorated distance runner in the school’s history, is expected to challenge today for top honors in 400, 800, 1,600 and 3,200. Last year, weather forced cancellation of Buckley season-opening invite, but this year’s the forecast was much more encouraging.
Knudsen’s career — or at minimum her freshman season — was nearly cancelled as well as she tried to cross the finish line at her first high school event, the 2021 McBain Cross Country Invitational.
On an extremely hot August day, onlookers thought her difficulties finishing were caused by heat exhaustion.
“Her very first cross country first race could have been an end-all,” said her coach and mother Ann Knudsen. “It really talks to her determination, and her power of positivity overcoming adversity.”
Ella, one of the 10 student-athletes recently selected by MHSAA this year from Class C and D member schools to receive scholarships through the MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award program, vividly recalls the moment.
“It was my first time truly racing a 5k, and as I was going down the last hill to the finish line about 15 feet from the finish line I heard three to five pops in my left hip,” Ella said. “My momentum from the hill carried me through the finish line, where I collapsed and was caught by people at the finish line.”
Event staff tried to keep Knudsen moving, but she went into shock. It took a few minutes for Knudsen to gather herself enough to communicate she was suffering extreme hip pain.
Her injury later was diagnosed as a hip avulsion fracture, and it was expected to sideline her for the season. That type of hip injury occurs when a tendon or ligament pulls off a piece of bone.
“I looked at it as a challenge,” Knudsen said. “I continued to show for my team, racing other spectators to various positions on the course with my crutches because I wanted to be there for my team and encourage them in every way possible and lift them up.”
The Comets trained the summer ahead of Knudsen’s first season with high hopes of qualifying for the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals. She had noticed hip pain during training, but was pushing through it.
The Comets’ Finals dreams were shattered — but for the moment only.
Doctors told her there was very little chance she’d return to running that first fall. Regionals were out of the question, they told her. But, Knudsen recovered fast enough to lead the Comets in the Regional. She placed fifth, and her team advanced to the championship race at Michigan International Speedway. She also led Leland in the Final with a ninth-place finish.
The rest of her high school career has been one qualification after another for Finals in cross country and track, plus four-year lettering in basketball. Throw in four years of dual sporting in golf during the fall and two years of dual sporting in soccer in the spring, while Knudsen set and reset one school running record after another.
She was a member of the record-setting 3,200 relay team that qualified for MHSAA Finals in 2021 and 2022.
“We have a great team this year – a really big team, and I am super excited about that,” said Knudsen, who is in Leland’s record books for the 400, 800, 1,600 and 3,200 relays. “It’s a goal this year to make it back to the state meet for the 4x800 and also individually myself, as well as some others, be able to qualify to head to states again this year in individual events.”
And while Knudsen has experienced tremendous success competing in sports, she will value the relationships she has established along with the way.
Many of those relationships were developed during Finals competition and while serving on the MHSAA Student Advisory Council. She is one of eight seniors on the 16-member Council.
“You create relationships with others that go beyond just the court, or field of play or the competition,” Knudsen said. “You connect outside. It is so cool to have those relationships where you don’t look at each other as competitors.”
One of her fondest memories was made during the Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals at MIS this past fall.
“I was able to be in a box with other girls from our region who I had connected with this year, and we were able to just have a really cool moment in prayer before the race,” said Knudsen, who was joined by her freshman teammate Sophie Grinage in that moment. “It was just one of those things where it just allowed us all to take a deep breath. It allowed us to connect and feel like we were a part of something bigger that just ourselves.”
Knudsen, who also owns school records in 400, 800, 1,600 and 3,200 individual track events and cross country 5k, also has fond memories of being coached by both her mother and father. Ryan Knudsen, also the Comets’ athletic director, coached her all four seasons in basketball in addition to her mother’s coaching of track and cross country.
“Honestly, I would not want anybody else to coach me,” Ella said. “When you have a parent as a coach, you feel like you want to perform a better and you want to push yourself more. I have two amazing people who are going pick me up at the end of the day no matter what and love me and care for me even on my worst days.”
Ann Knudsen points out Ella’s ability to ground herself and those around her, especially those dealing with anxiety at the starting line.
“From a coaching perspective, she’s kind of a dream to coach,” Ann Knudsen said. “It’s kind of fun to be able to say that as a mom. Some moms and dads can coach their kids, and some know it is never going to work.”
It may be tough for the Knudsens to see Ella’s career come to an end in June. But her parents/coaches will be proud no matter how it concludes.
“I could not be more proud of who she is, and what she has accomplished during her high school career,” Ryan Knudsen said. “As a parent, coach, and athletic director I am most proud of how Ella has represented our school and our community by modeling for others what being a student-athlete is all about.”
In addition to her playing career and serving on the Student Advisory Council, Knudsen has been a leader in her school community participating on student council and as a member of the National Honor Society and National Art Honor Society. She also served in multiple other volunteer roles, including establishing an elementary wellness program with classmate Emerie Burda.
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) Leland’s Ella Knudsen rounds a curve carrying the baton during a relay race. (Middle) Knudsen, center, takes a photo with father Ryan and mother Ann after receiving her MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award in March. (Below) Knudsen races toward the finish line. (Photos courtesy of the Leland athletic department.)