MONTAGUE — Especially for folks who were around back when Star Trek was at its cultural peak, every kid named Kirk probably heard it at least once growing up - the nickname “Captain,” in reference to the leader of the U.S.S. Enterprise. For those who grew up to be track coaches, like Kirk Mikkelson, the connection offered a ready-made quote to dole out as motivation to his teams: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”
Mikkelson’s team-first philosophy squares with the well-known Mr. Spock maxim, and the Whitehall Vikings showed off their adherence to that philosophy again Friday, romping to a third consecutive GMAA championship behind several contributions from athletes outside of their best events.
“I’ve been listening to that for the past two years, and whatever (event) he puts me in, I know it’s for the best of the team,” senior Malcolm Earvin said. “I know that whatever we need to do will help the team win in the end.”
The big guns delivered where they were expected to, of course, including Earvin, who was referring to running the 300-meter hurdles a few days prior in the team’s home tri even though he’d never done so before this year. He didn’t run the hurdles Friday - Mikkelson said Earvin has the talent to take aim at a state title in the event with some work on technique - but what he did do was not only win the 200-meter race, but break a record held by Whitehall Sports Hall of Famer Tony Fountain to do it, finishing in 21.70 seconds. It was, in fact, one of three school records set in that very race: Isaiah Atchison of Montague broke the Wildcats’ 200-meter record, coming in fourth place with a time of 22.31 seconds to snag the record from 2018 grad Jake Jancek. Runner-up Jerry Wiegers of North Muskegon broke the Norsemen record in the event too, at 21.91 seconds.
“(Assistant Coach) Tommy (Lauterberg) and I talked about it for years. It’s just one of those records that you’re going, ‘I’m not sure we’ll see that get broken,’ and it did,” Mikkelson said. “Malcolm’s worked hard, and he’s fast. He’s very talented. He got out hard in that first 100 (meters), and Tommy and I said it’s the fastest we’ve seen him get out in that race ever. Then he had good competition, which is important. He’s got Jerry right there on his wing pushing him to the finish line.”
Earvin and Stewart Waters were two-time winners Friday. Earvin set a PR in the 100-meter race and finished in 10.84 seconds; he said he drew extra motivation from facing Muskegon star Destin Piggee in the race, though Piggee unfortunately went down injured soon after the gun. Waters took the top spot in both distance events, with marks of 4:40.7 in the 1,600 meters and 10:21.1 in the 3,200.
“I was kind of hoping that the WMC kid, Matthias Morris, was running,” Waters said. “He’s dealing with some injuries right now. I just went out there and competed.”
Other wins came from Camden Thompson, Caden Bowyer, Kal Koehler and Ca’Mar Ready in field events, as well as Trannon Aylor, who held down the fort in his state champion event of the 400, with a time of 49.96 seconds.
Thompson made his outdoor season debut in high jump after being unable to do it the past month because of an ankle injury. He leapt a solid 6-3. He also continued to impress in discus, finishing second with a mark of 134-1, though his teammate Bowyer got him with a strong toss of 136-0. Ready continued his strong season in pole vault with a winning height of 12-6, and Koehler did the same in long jump, going for a mark of 20-9.5.
All told, Whitehall scored in 14 of the 17 events, and it probably would’ve been 15 but for a DQ in the 400-meter relay. It was the kind of effort the Vikes have become known for in recent years.
“We talked about swamping events and getting two or three kids in the finals and placing at one time, and the points just start rolling (in),” Mikkelson said.
Hunter Parsons closed out Whitehall’s top-3 finishers in the meet, earning a PR of 10:41.9 in the 3,200 to finish third.
Reeths-Puffer finished third in the boys GMAA meet, highlighted by two wins - Tate Bradley in the 800-meter race, with a PR time of 2:02.3, and a win in the 1,600-meter relay. Marvin Moore, Jezsiah Sims, Mason Darke and Caiden Bolduc took the win with a time of 3:29.9.
Bradley took second in the 1,600, earning another PR time of 4:43.3, and Darke also finished third in both hurdles events, setting PRs in each one - 15.54 in the 110 and 42.26 in the 300. Bolduc took third in the 200, with yet another PR, 22.20 seconds.
Montague’s boys were sixth. Atchison’s school record was the highlight, but it wasn’t his best finish of the day; he was second in the high jump with a mark of 6-2. Noah Raeth set a PR of 4:47.1 to finish 3rd in the 1,600, and Isaac French was third in the shot put.
Whitehall topped local schools in the girls meet, finishing fourth. The Vikings were a point ahead of Reeths-Puffer, which in turn finished a point ahead of Montague.
Cami Kraai paced the Vikings with impressive wins in both the 800 and 1,600 meters. She set a PR in the 800 - 2:22.0 - and posted a time of 5:24.9 in the 1,600. Adalyn Britton took third place in the 800, Arianna Black was third in the high jump and Aaliyah Jamison finished third in the shot put.
The Rockets earned one win in the meet, from the 400 relay team of Amani Starr, Savannah Lockwood, Madilynn Smith and Brooklynn Tornes. The quartet had a time of 52.01 seconds. Tornes also finished second in the 100, Jersi Bilek was second in the 800 and Gabrielle Chevez set a PR of 12:49.96 in the 3,200 to finish second as well. Isabella Smith was third in the pole vault.
Addison Smith and Annelyse Schneider each earned PRs on the way to wins for Montague. Smith’s mark of 8-3 topped the field in pole vault, and Schneider won in long jump with a 15-8.5. Trisha Beckman was second in the discus, setting her own PR with a mark of 92-2. Amanda Cederquist added a third-place in the 100 hurdles.
