Here's how four Livingston County athletes won KLAA track and field titles
HOWELL — Motivated by two rare losses earlier in the meet, Hartland senior Cameron Cheetam settled into the starting blocks ready to unleash some aggression on the 200-meter dash.
The result was another record-breaking performance for Cheetam.
Cheetam won the 200 in 21.83 seconds, matching his own school record and setting a Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship meet record Saturday at Howell High School.
Cheetam broke the record of 21.92 set by Livonia Franklin’s Brandon Smiley in the 2017 KLAA Kensington Conference meet, the final year the league ran two separate conference meets.
In his first two races of the day, Cheetam took second to Belleville junior Will Jaiden Smith in the 100 in 10.93 and the 400 in 50.08.
“The kid that beat me in the 100 and 400 was really good, but it still upset me, because I didn’t do good against him,” Cheetam said. “I should have done better. The losing made me push myself even further to do the best I can do.”
Cheetam blew away the field in the 200, winning by 0.7 seconds over Canton junior Nathan Gilmour to repeat as KLAA champion. Cheetam’s time ranks ninth in Michigan for all divisions this spring.
“I feel like I could have done better,” Cheetam said. “I’m not super happy, but I’m not mad. Having bad weather and still running fairly well is always a good thing, because when it’s good weather like at the state meet, you know you can do better than what you did here.”
After winning the 200, Cheetam was informed by coach Matt Gutteridge that he would be running the 1,600 relay to conclude the meet. Cheetam anchored the Eagles to a first-place time of 3 minutes, 25.23 seconds, lowering a school record they set four days earlier. Evan Bryan, Robert Wisniewski and Carson Cook ran the first three legs.
Helping hand from rival
In Hartland senior Aubree Meyer’s other sport, there’s no way an opposing coach would be giving her pointers in the middle of a competition.
But there’s a tighter bond between competitors in track and field than there is in basketball, particularly in the field events where athletes and coaches from different schools spend lots of quality time together.
Meyer was fist-bumping Howell thrower Emma Kanka, a competitor of hers in basketball, and getting tips from Highlanders throwing coach Lily Daugard before winning the shot put with a throw of 39 feet, 9.5 inches.
Lily Daugard won the KLAA shot put championship when Meyer was a freshman in 2021 and Sophie Daugard won it last year. Meyer made the top five all four years.
“It felt really good because I’ve been stuck behind the Daugard sisters for the past three years,” Meyer said. “It was nice to finally get myself one.”
Lily Daugard now coaches Howell’s throwers but isn’t averse to sharing her knowledge with rival throwers.
“Lily’s like a mentor to me,” Meyer said. “She’s been mentoring me since freshman year. She’s always there to help me. Earlier, she was teaching me some drills in the garage to help me out.”
Meyer realizes that would never happen in basketball.
“It’s way different,” she said. “Everyone here is like a sister. We all get along, and we have fun with each other and hang out before we throw. In basketball, we don’t like each other.”
Best for last
It would be understandable if Brighton senior Luke Campbell didn’t have much left in the tank when he ran the 3,200 relay near the end of the meet.
He had already run on a third-place 3,200 relay team and set a personal record in the 1,600 by placing third in 4:19.27.
But the best was yet to come for Campbell, who won the 3,200 with yet another personal record, finishing in 9:26.78. He was followed closely by two teammates who also ran personal bests, second-place Tyler Langley in 9:27.51 and third-place Tyler Brock in 9:29.28.
Langley (4:20.69) and Brock (4:26.28) also ran personal records in the 1,600.
“It’s definitely difficult,” Campbell said. “My legs were feeling it in the warmup. Just racing with my boys, they encouraged me to race beyond the pain.
“Racing is wonderful, but it’s really the training. Not only Langley and Brock, but we have a whole group of guys who are working hard and pushing each other in training. This is a small testament of what we’re capable of.”
Sub-11 the new norm
Brighton senior Nikki Carothers proved it wasn’t an outlier when she broke 11 minutes in the 3,200 for the first time eight days earlier, backing up that performance with another time under that barrier.
Carothers won the 3,200 in 10:57.22, lowering her personal best by 0.76 seconds. She ran 11:57.98 in the Saline Golden Triangle meet on May 3.
“I had no idea I was gonna run that fast last week,” Carothers said. “It was really reassuring to be able to run that again.”
Like Campbell, Carothers got a nice push from her teammates. Lydia LaMarra took second in 11:08.49 and Elle Bissett fourth in 11:12.81 for the Bulldogs.
Carothers began her day by helping Brighton easily win the 3,200 relay in 9:25.06. Carrigan Eberly, Gabrielle Bolitho and Juliet Lewis also ran on the team.
Team standings
The highest finish by a Livingston County team in the 16-team meet was a third-place showing by Brighton’s girls with 80.5 points. Northville won with 122.
Howell was 10th and Hartland 13th in the girls meet.
Brighton’s boys were fourth, while Hartland was sixth and Howell ninth. Northville won with 101.5 points.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Hartland's Cameron Cheetam sets KLAA 200-meter record after 2 losses
