Ramping Up for Prepapalooza 2014
May 27, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Over the next five days, thousands of teams representing more than 700 MHSAA high schools will compete for championships at the District, Regional and Finals levels in 11 sports in what annually is the busiest week in Michigan high school sports.
MHSAA.com and Second Half are the places to be for results, coverage and live video from championship events all over both Peninsulas.
Total, 26 Finals champions will be crowned in girls and boys tennis, girls and boys track and field and Upper Peninsula girls and boys golf, with 36 Regional champions rewarded in girls and boys lacrosse and Lower Peninsula boys golf and 320 winners earning trophies in softball, baseball and girls soccer. All tournament rounds combined, more than 8,000 medals will be presented to individual winners or contributors on those team champions.
Game scores as they are reported for baseball, softball, soccer and lacrosse will be available on the MHSAA Score Center throughout the week. Full results from golf Regionals also will be posted over the next five days, as will Finals tennis and golf results as we receive them from Lower and Upper Peninsula hosts (Lower Peninsula tennis opening rounds late Friday evening). Track and Field Finals results will be posted Saturday evening.
All MHSAA Finals from both peninsulas will be covered with stories and photos on Second Half by a crew of valuable correspondents from around the state. Second Half will continue its coverage at the Lacrosse and LP Boys Golf Finals on June 14 and the Baseball, Softball and Girls Soccer Finals from June 19-21.
Live championship races from all seven sites of MHSAA Track and Field Finals will be available on a subscription basis on MHSAA.TV, beginning with the 3,200-meter relays at 10 a.m. at each site. The rest of the Upper Peninsula races then will continue, with Lower Peninsula championship races beginning again at 1 p.m. Highlights from this week's golf and tennis championship events will debut on MHSAA.TV in July.
PHOTOS: (Top) Runners push toward the finish during the 2013 LP Division 3 Final. (Middle) Members of the Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart tennis team hold up number ones to signify their place at last season's LP Division 4 Final.
Fowler Girls Award 1st-Year Coach with Program's 1st Finals Title since 2019
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
June 2, 2024
HUDSONVILLE — Sometimes it actually isn’t so hard to replace a legend. Just ask Fowler girls track & field coach Neil Hufnagel.
After last year, Hufnagel took over for longtime Fowler coach Jill Feldpausch, who built the program into a dynasty.
Feldpausch led Fowler to five MHSAA Finals titles from 2011 to 2019, but there was no need for anyone to feel sorry for Hufnagel going into this year.
On the contrary, it might have been the track & field version of inheriting a Fort Knox-sized gold mine.
“She left the cupboards absolutely packed,” he said.
That was evident during the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals on Saturday at Baldwin Middle School, where Fowler reigned supreme again with a dominant performance.
Fowler finished with 70.5 points, well ahead of the 44 collected by runner-up Portland St. Patrick.
Fowler had only one first-place event finish, and that was in the last one, taking first in the 1,600 relay in a time of 4:08.44.
But that didn’t end up mattering as Fowler used its depth to score points.
The Eagles, who finished fourth last year, snapped a mini drought by their standards.
“We talked a little bit about being workmanlike,” Hufnagel said. “We know that it doesn’t take first places to finish first in the state. We had some good team depth, and we were able to use that.”
Saugatuck was third with 34 points.
There were several individual standouts who flanked Fowler’s team victory.
Buckley senior Aiden Harrand, who will run next for Wake Forest, won the 1,600 in a time of 4:53.25 and the 400 in a time of 58.25. Harrand also finished second in the 800.
Between cross country and track, Harrand finished her high school career with 10 Finals championships and showed impressive versatility.
“It’s hard for sure,” Harrand said. “I do a lot of distance training. I have to because I have to be prepared for that mile. I think the speed comes naturally. I do a lot of speed workouts and stuff. But you’ve got to train distance.”
Another individual standout was Addison junior Molly Brown. She repeated in the 100 hurdles in a time of 15.22, and then won the 300 hurdles in a time of 45.07.
Brown was second in the 300 hurdles last year, and she obviously was thrilled to build on that defeat and set up what should be a big senior year in 2025.
“I knew the girl that beat me last year graduated, but I knew that coming in this year, I was going to have to run a really good time to win,” Brown said. “I just really wanted to win.”
In the field events, Marlette senior Olivia Findlay shined the brightest, winning the long jump with a distance of 17-feet, 4½ inches and the high jump in 5 feet, 5 inches.
Other champions included Unionville-Sebewaing sophomore Layla Bolzman in the 100 and 200, Johannesburg-Lewiston junior Allie Nowak in the 800, Whitmore Lake freshman Kaylie Livingston in the 3,200, Chesterfield Austin Catholic senior Lyla Mullins in the shot put and discus and Mason County Eastern junior Payton Haynes in the pole vault. Frankfort (400), Portland St. Patrick (800) and Whitmore Lake (3,200) also won relays. Athens junior Aleyah Deller won the adaptive 100, 200 and shot put events.
PHOTOS (Top) Fowler's Katie Spicer crosses the finish line during a sprint Saturday. (Middle) Addison's Molly Brown, right, finishes her 100 hurdles championship win. (Click for more from Ken Swart/RunMichigan.com.)