The MHSAA outdoor track season would have ended this last weekend and a lot of the state’s athletes would be preparing for big national meets or invitationals and the AAU circuit. A spring without a track and field was difficult to get through, so in order to look on the positive side of things, let’s look back at the most stellar performances in state history.
From national records to long-standing dominance, a majority of records have been set since the turn of the century as depth and talent continue to increase with each new generation of track and field athletes. However, there are some truly great ones that have stood the test of time.
In compiling this list of the 20 greatest Michigan high school track and field records of all time, records were investigated from michtrack.org, the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA), the National Federation of State High School Association (NFHS) and the Track and Field News websites. Please visits those sites if you want to continue to nerd out on track and field stats. All the times referenced are electric FAT (fully automatic timing) records from outdoor competition and not wind-aided unless otherwise mentioned.
When drawing the line at 20, some great performances will be missed. Only records currently standing were considered.
20. Three repeat four-time champions
The small Upper Peninsula town of Munising is home to one of the most decorated male track and field athletes off all time as Andy Cooper claimed the maximum four individual state titles in a single meet -- twice. As a senior in 2015, he scored 29.8 percent of his team's state-meet points while claiming 37.2 percent as a junior, leading Munising to UP Division 3 titles each season. He is the only male athlete to win four individual state titles in more than one season.
As a junior, his wining marks were 6-0 in high jump, 23.89 in the 200, 16.11 in the 110 hurdles and 40.77 in the 300 hurdles. As a senior, he improved on all those marks with 6-2 in the high jump, 22.80 in the 200, 14.96 in the 110 hurdles and 40.13 in the 300 hurdles. His times in both hurdle events his senior year remain a UP Division 3 state championship record.
On the girls side of things, Sami Michell of Reed City and Gwen Wilkie of DeTour have each won four individual state titles in back-to-back seasons.
In 2012, Michell won the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, 200 dash and long jump in the Lower Peninsula finals. In 2013, she repeated that feat, becoming the first ever lower peninsula athlete -- boy or girl -- to win eight titles in two years. To add to the impressive feat, Michell's mark of 42.23 in the 300 hurdles is an overall state championship record. She also still has Division 3 records in the 100 hurdles (13.84) and long jump (18-feet-6.5).
In 1983 and 1984, Wilkie won four titles in the same events, winning in the 100 dash, 200 dash, 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. Her winning time of 15.2 in the 100 hurdles in 1984 was retired as the UP Class D championship record.
19. Detroit Cass Tech boys sets longstanding 4x200 record
Back in 1994, a quartet of talented runners came together at Detroit Cass Tech and put together a performance that has been unmatched in the 26 years since. The 4x200 team of Fred Wilkerson, Clarence Williams, Jackari Johnson, Darryl Rankins blasted out a time of 1:25.0 at the Class A state championship. Not only has it stood for 26 years as the all-time best in the state, it is still a full 1.07 seconds ahead of the next-best time on record.
18. Gwen Wentland's high jump record is turning 30 years old
Back in 1990, Wentland had a season in high jump that no girl has since been able to match. Clearing a height of 5-feet-10 or better a record four times in one season, the Grand Blanc senior became the first and only girl in state history to clear 6-feet that season, doing so on Aug. 10, 1990 at the CAN-USA meet held in Flint. She owns five of the top 16 marks in state history, which is something no one else can say.
She went on to compete for Kansas State in college, improving her personal record to 6-feet-5, claiming an NCAA indoor national title in the process. She was a four-time All-American as well and went on to coach the 2012 U.S. Olympic women's track and field team.
17. Tony Martin explodes for long jump record
Although this record still hasn't gotten the proper verification to be official, it was reported last spring that Saginaw High's Tony Martin leaped to a mark of 26-feet-6 in a dual meet against rival Saginaw Arthur Hill. It is a monstrous mark a full 1 foot and 3.5 inches farther then the next best mark in state history. The NFHS does not list the mark, but it would be a record if ratified. In the Track and Field News records -- which covering all meets involving high school athletes -- Martin's mark is not listed either. However, if it gets approved, it would be tied for the No. 7 high school mark of all-time, tied with Olympian legend Carl Lewis. Only four athletes would have better marks in national history, including Lewis. NFL wide receiver Marquise Goodwin holds the Track and Field News all-time high school record at 26-feet-10.
16. Tyrone Wheatley has unique 4 individual titles in same year
There have been seven boy athletes who have been able to win four individual titles at a single state meet. Five of them did it in the U.P. while Wheatley is the only Lower Peninsula athlete to ever accomplish the feat at Class A or B school.
At the 1990 Class B meet his senior year with Dearborn Heights Robichaud, he became just the second boy athlete in state history to accomplish a four-title state meet by winning the long jump, 110 meter hurdles, 100 meter dash and the 200 meter dash.
Wheatley's time of 13.7 in the 110 hurdles is retired as the best Class B championship time ever. Wheatley also owns the retired Class B long jump championship record with a mark of 23-feet-10.75. He also an electronic time of 10.59 in the 100 meter dash in high school. His personal best mark of 24-feet-7 in the long jump is the seventh-best official mark in Michigan high school history.
15. Cullen Prena dominates in discus
Heading into the Division 1 state meet his senior year with Walled Lake Central in 2013, Cullen Prena was looking to break the overall MHSAA championship record of 197-feet-11. Considering Prena had thrown 201-feet-1 earlier in the season, it was expected. Even with the expectations, Prena shattered them by recording his career-best mark of 210-feet-1, setting his new personal best by 10 feet and breaking the old state record by 12-feet-2. He technically broke the championship record twice that day as he tossed 207-feet-5. It was the nation's leading throw that season. His record mark remains 5-feet-11 better than the next best high school athlete in Michigan history.
He was also won the state title in shot put that day too, throwing a personal best of 60-feet-11, which was his first time breaking the 60-feet barrier. He went on to throw 61-feet-0 at the New Balance national championships.
He went on to throw for the University of Oregon where he was a national championship qualifier in both the discus and hammer throw.
14. Khance Meyers is the 100 meter king for boys
Meyers was unbeatable in state competition in the 100 and 200 as a junior and senior at East Kentwood, and it's easy to see why. Owning the top four legal times in state history in the 100 meter dash, Meyers was built for speed. He won the 100 and 200 titles as a junior and senior, setting a Division 1 championship record in the 100 with a time of 10.53. However, it was his time of 10.43 at the 2017 New Balance Nationals when he set the overall record and finished fifth in the nation. There have been various times recorded faster -- including Meyer's 10.39 at the AAU Junior Olympics regional -- but all were either wind-aided, hand-timed or a mix of both. Meyers also recorded the third-fastest legal 200 in state history with a time of 20.78.
Meyers went on to spend two years at Hinds College, where he became a junior college national champion in the 200 (20.03) as a freshman. After his sophomore year, he made the jump to the NCAA by transferring to Kentucky.
13. Dartis Willis could leap over Shaq
Not many people can say they could jump clear over Shaq, the former NBA superstar. At 7-foot-1, Shaq towers about those around him. However, Detroit Country Day high jump star was able to jump over Shaq if he needed to -- head, shoulders, knees and toes -- with some room to spare.
Willis cleared 7-feet-2 in high jump twice his senior season, which is the overall state record. If you count indoor times, he got even higher with a jump of 7-feet-2.25 at the indoor state championships his senior year. He cleared 7 feet or better five times during his outdoor season. In fact, the 6-feet-11 clearance he had to win the Division 2 state title that year was one of his worst showings of the spring. He is one of two high school athletes in state history to clear 7-feet-1 or better outdoors but remains the only one to do it more than once (three times). He went on to jump at Stanford where he graduated as the program's sixth-best high jumper.
12. Detroit Renaissance girls 4x100 and 4x200 set records with multiple freshman
Renaissance has burst onto the scene these last two years, finding a resurgence after winning 10 state titles in 11 seasons from the start of 1997 through the 2007 season. After finishing runner up in Division 1 in 2019, Renaissance showed it would be around for a long time with an excellent group of young sprinters.
Freshman Olivia Jenkins, Leeah Burr and Kaila Jackson joined senior Donae Adams to set an all-time state record in the 4x100 at the D1 region championships with a time of 46.27. The same day, Burr, Jackson and Adams joined junior Imani Jackson in the 4x200 to set the overall state record of 1:36.53. It was no surprise when Renaissance claimed the state title in both events two weeks later at the state championships.
11. Oak Park's girls 4x400 dominance is unheard of in Michigan
The Oak Park girls track and field program is one of the most dominant programs in the state history, having won five of the previous six state championships. While Oak Park has won state titles in every relay event in that span, the 4x400 has been the bread and butter for the Knights.
Oak Park has won six of the last eight state titles in the 4x400 and owns the top seven times in state history, as well as 16 of the top 20 times. However, it was the special 2015 team of Johnyce Powell, Dorriann Coleman, Ersula Farrow and Anna Jefferson who recorded the top time in state history when they ran a 3:36.72 to finish runner-up at the New Balance national championships. Jefferson reportedly split a blistering 53.16 as the anchor. The time ranks ninth all-time in national history and makes Oak Park the fourth-fastest school in the event in national history.
10. Grace Stark sets big-time hurdle mark
As a junior in 2018, Stark won the 100 meter hurdles in 13.16 seconds, the fastest time ever recorded by a Michigan high school athlete. Minutes later in the very next event, Stark won the 100-meter dash title in 11.47, the third-fastest time ever recorded for a Michigan high school athlete. Not surprisingly, Stark went on to win the 100 hurdles title at the New Balance Nationals meet just a couple of weeks later with a time of 13.24.
In October of her senior year, Stark took home gold on the international stage by running a wind-aided time of 12.83 on 30-inch hurdles (compared to the 33-inch hurdles in high school competition). She owns six of the top 10 times in state history and 11 of the top 18. The next-closest athlete to her is 0.24 seconds back, a wide margin at those speeds. Despite being injured for most of her senior season, she won the state title again with a time of 13.43, the fourth-best time ever.
Despite her freshman outdoor season at Florida getting canceled because of the cornovirus, Stark still made a massive impact indoors when she became the indoor SEC indoor runner-up in the 60-meter hurdles with a World U20 record time of 7.91 seconds.
9. Erika VanderLende rewrites 3200 record book
Before VanderLende, only one Michigan high school girl -- Rochester's Megan Goethals -- had ever broken the 10-minute barrier in the 3200 meter run. Goethals clocked a 9:58.1 over 3200 meters en route to a 10:01.16 2 Mile to win the 2010 New Balance National Title. VenderLende beat Goethal's 3200 mark three times, once as a junior (9:56.5) in 2018 and twice (9:57.01 and 9:49.9) as a senior in 2019. VanderLende's mark of 9:49.9 in the 3200 was en route to her state record 2-mile time of 9:53.00 at the Brooks PR invitational at the University of Washington. The time ranks her No. 6 in the national all-time among high school girls.
She currently competes for the University of Michigan, where she was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and an NCAA All-American this last fall.
8. Hannah Meier dominates 800, 1600 and mile
Grosse Pointe South won its fair share of track and field and cross country titles in the early 2010s thanks in large part to what Hannah Meier brought to the table. One of the state’s all-time best in the 800 and 1600, Meier could also extend herself to the 400 and 3200 at dominant levels as well. As a junior, she was part of the state record 4x800 team. As a senior in 2013, she claimed MHSAA overall state championship records in both the 800 (2:06.35) and 1600 (4:39.23). Her 800 time is third best in Michigan history while her 1600 record can technically stand at 4:38.9, as she clocked that time en route to a 4:40.48 true mile, which is also a state record. Meier also owns the top four 1500 meter times in state history, with her record 4:18.44 a full 5.4 seconds ahead of the next best time.
Meier went on to run at Duke and then Michigan, graduating as the school's mile record holder (4:32.46) while also claiming the 2019 Big Ten Indoor Conference title in the mile along the way.
7. Grosse Pointe South 4x800 sets national record without a senior
Grosse Pointe South went into the 2012 Division state championships as the favorites, thanks in part to the members of its 4x800 team. Twins Hannah and Haley Meier were the state's most dominant juniors while sophomore Kelsie Schwartz and freshman Ersula Farrow were two of the best in the nation in their class. Naturally, with all of them on the 4x800 team, something special was expected to happen.
Schwartz led off with a 2:13.1 leg, followed by a 2:13.5 leg by Farrow 2:13.5. Then, the twins brought the win and record home with Haley Meier running 2:13.4 and Hannah Meier running 2:08.3. The final time was 8:48.29, which remains a national record in the NFHS books to this day. Although other faster times have been recorded outside of NFHS sanctioned races, this relay remains fifth among those. The next year, the Meier twins and Farrow joined Christina Firl to defend their title but fell short of setting another record. The record remains 5.57 seconds faster than the next best time in Michigan history.
6. Shayla Mahan is fastest in state history at 100 meters
Shayla Mahan recorded times unseen before in Michigan track and field while leading a dominant Detroit Mumford program in the mid-2000s. Despite graduating back in 2007, she still owns six of the top seven 100 meter times recorded in state history. Her overall record time of 11.37 that won the Midwest Meet of Champions in 2007 is a full tenth ahead of the next fastest runner and 0.21 seconds ahead of third. At the USA Juniors a couple of weeks later, she ran a wind-aided 11.29.
Mahan also owns the second-fastest time in state history in the 200 meter dash (23.49). She also owns the MHSAA overall state championship record in the 100 (11.54) and 200 (23.74). Considering she lost her big toe on her left foot when she was a child, Mahan's records are even more impressive.
She went on to have an All-American sprinting career at South Carolina. In 2011, she lowered her personal best in the 100 to 11.20 in the and, in 2012, went 22.91 in the 200.
5. Donavan Brazier sets the standard in the 800
Donavan Brazier is currently one of the world's best 800 meter runners at the professional level, having claimed the 2019 World Championship title with an American record time of 1:42.34. However, before setting the American and NCAA record in the 800, he set the all-time Michigan High School mark in the 800 as a member of the Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills track team. He has five of the top seven times recorded by a Michigan high school runner in the 800, only rivaled by Oak Park runner Cameron Cooper a couple of years later.
Brazier recorded a time of 1:47.55 at the Brooks PR invitational in Seattle to cap his senior season in 2015. That time ranks fifth all-time in the nation for high schoolers. At the Division 1 state meet before that, he set an all-time overall MHSAA championship meet record time of 1:48.98, although he also ran 1:48.07 and 1:48.39 earlier in the season. He also had a high school PR of 47.96 in the 400 and a time of 4:07.15 in the 1600, which makes him the ninth-fastest individual in state history at that distance.
He went on to become the NCAA champion in the 800 as a freshman at Texas A&M, setting an NCAA and World Junior record along the way (1:43.55).
4. Dathan Ritzenhein’s 5,000 meter record light-years ahead of competition
Although the 5,000 meter is not a distance competed in MHSAA championship meets, it is competed at the country’s regional and national levels, including the AAU. Rockford’s own Dathan Ritzenhein has the state’s top three times, and no one has been close to touching them. At the end of his senior season, Ritzenhein competed at the 2001 USA Track & Field championships in the 5,000 and clocked a state-record time of 13:44.70. The time was good enough for 11th place in a field of seasoned professionals and top collegiate stars. It currently ranks No. 3 all-time in the national high school records books. He also recorded times of 13:51.69 and 14:13.80. The next closest time in the Michigan record books? James Gedris (Grosse Ile) recorded a time of 14:29.92 in 2019. Also, Ritzenhein’s 14:10.4 for a cross country 5k is still the fastest distance ever recorded in state history and, most likely, national history.
Also, Ritzenhein was once the National Federation of State High School Associations outdoor 3200 meter record holder when he recorded a time of 8:41.10 as a junior. He was surpassed by German Fernandez (8:34.23) of Riverbank, Calif. in 2008.
A two-time national high school cross country champion and an NCAA cross country champion, Ritzenhein went on to become a three-time Olympian before retiring in 2020.
3. Kendall Baisden is queen of the 400 dash
Country Day standout Kendall Baisden could dominate anyone in the sprints, whether it would be the 100, 200 or 400. However, the 400 meter dash is where she was virtually unbeatable. Of all the times recorded in the 400 meter dash over the years, she owns the top 11 times and 16 of the top 20 times.
Baisden's record of 52.03 is 1.07 seconds ahead of the next-fastest person, which is a huge margin at those types of competitive speeds. She recorded the record time at the USA Junior Nationals at the end of her senior year in 2013.
Although none of her top 11 times were recorded during the MHSAA portion of the outdoor season -- they were all during the outdoor AAU season -- that did not stop Baisden from claiming four Division 2 individual titles in 400 meter dash, two individual titles both in the 200 and 100, and two relay titles.
She went on to compete at the University of Texas and was able to claim the 400 meter title at the World Junior Championships in 2014 with a time of 51.85. She had a personal record of 50.46 in the 400.
2. Kenneth Ferguson's national 400 hurdle record
Detroit Mumford's Kenneth Ferguson is the only Michigan male athlete to currently hold an overall national record -- and it has continued to stand for nearly 18 years. On July 19, 2002, Ferguson posted a record time of 49.38 at World Junior Champs held in Kingston, Jamaica. Granted, the 300 meter hurdles event is competed instead of the 400 hurdles in MHSAA events, but the 400 hurdles is common on the national championship and AAU circuit. Considering the AAU track circuit is a substantial competition platform in track and field, Ferguson's record is not some obscure outlier.
For good measure, Ferguson is still the state's overall record in the 300 hurdles with a time of 35.90. He set the record at the 2002 Division 1 state championships. He was also an accomplished 110-meter hurdler and 400 meter dash runner. In the 110 hurdles (high school 39-inch height), he owns the third-fastest time in state history with a time of 13.61 but was hand-timed as fast as 13.3. He also competed in the 110 hurdles at the collegiate/professional height of 42 inches in high school, recording a state-record time of 13.85. His time of 46.59 in the open 400 as a senior ranks third all-time in state history.
He went on to run at the University of South Carolina and won three world junior championship medals as a freshman. He also enjoyed a professional running career and ended up marrying Allyson Felix, one of the best sprinters in USA and world history.
