Harper Creek boys track makes history - wins school's first-ever state championship
BATTLE CREEK - It's the celebration Harper Creek fans have been waiting more than sixty years for.
With an escort of fire trucks, with lights and sirens, the Harper Creek boys track team bus came into the school parking lot late Friday night and was greeted by hundreds of Beaver boosters ready to celebrate an accomplishment not seen before at the school.
Harper Creek won the first state title in a traditional team sport in school history on Friday - taking first place at the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association state championships at Berrien Springs High School.
"This is crazy. We made history today. It feels good," Harper Creek boys track coach Larry Quick said.
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Since the first graduating class at Harper Creek in 1960, the Beavers have never won a team state title in a varsity sport.
In the MITCA Division 2 Team State Finals, that all changed with Harper Creek winning the title by two points, finishing with 1,590 team points. Parma Western finished second with 1,588.
"We have been close with this thing. We have come up short three times before in this meet. So I guess the fourth time is the charm," Quick said. "And, to win this, and to come home to this. This here tonight, with all these people here. I never thought I'd see anything like this. It's pretty cool."
In this team-oriented meet, a counterpart to the more individual-based MHSAA state track meet, which will be held next week, Harper Creek didn't finish first in any of the events. However, the Beavers had enough depth and enough top 10 finishes to gain the points necessary to take home the team title.
"We had a plan. We kept telling the kids, just do what you do. We don't need outstanding performances, just do what you have done all year long and everything will work out," Quick said. "In a meet like this, every point counts. So with it coming down to two points, you talk about so-and-so does this and we win. Or, if so-and-so doesn't do this, we lose. So it was just about the entire team doing their job."
Harper Creek saw top 10 finishes individually by Tre'Quon Cotton in the 400 (5th, 51.52) and the high jump (6th, 6-1), Dominic Lowrie in the 1,600 (9th, 4:29.53) and 3,200 (8th, 10:02), Cooper Gardner in the 3,200 (9th, 10:05), Ricky Johnson in the shot put (7th, 48-11) and the discus (8th, 142-1) and Kaden Sears in the high jump (5th, 6-1).
The Harper Creek depth in the hurdles events also played a big part. The Beavers took three of the top six finishes in the 110 hurdles with DJ Wood second (15.3), Joey DeRose third (15.3) and Ethan Tabiadon taking sixth (15.6). Harper Creek also had three top 10 finishes in the 300 hurdles with Tabiadon finishing fourth (39.3), DeRose taking sixth (40.7) and Wood finishing sixth (40.7).
Harper Creek took fifth in the 400 relay in a time of 43.6 with the team of Chase Nichols, Bronson Carpenter, Carter Brenner and Nehemiah Wert. The Beavers also took fourth in the 1,600 relay with the team of Cotton, Joe Cummins, Dylan Eversole and Tabiadon in a time of 3:29. That finish in the 1,600 relay was one spot ahead of Parma Western, which ended up being the difference in the overall team score.
"We knew we had to beat Parma in that one. That's all we talked about," Tabiadon said. "Everybody just put a little extra into this meet and we scraped together just enough points to win this.
"It's so hard to comprehend it all right now. But this is big because it's the first state title at this school. But hopefully, it's a gateway to more state championships for us in the future."
Longtime Athletic Director and current Harper Creek High School Principal Ed Greenman was emotional as he looked around to see all the students, parents and alumni at the track waiting for the team to come in, so they could help celebrate the historic state championship.
"We have never won a state championship in any sport, so this is really cool. I am tearing up just thinking about it right now," Greenman said. "It's something we have talked about for a long time. We have been close in some sports, but we have never gotten over the top. So this is neat. And it's really neat that the community has come out and come together tonight to help celebrate this."
Contact Bill Broderick at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on X/Twitter @billbroderick.
This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Harper Creek boys track wins school's first-ever state championship
