Who are the Gaylord-area track and field athletes to watch out for in 2024?

GAYLORD ― Spring is here, and that means some of the best athletes in the Gaylord area are getting ready to get back into action.

Many fans around Gaylord and Johannesburg are getting excited for what should be an eventful softball season, with two state title contenders and multiple potential Miss Softball candidates among the area teams.

However, with some of the most talented distance runners in the state also coming from the three area high schools, there's also a lot of excitement around a couple of competitive track and field teams ready to get their seasons underway in the coming weeks.

Learn a little more about a talented group of athletes waiting to leave the starting blocks this spring:

Gaylord

Katie Berkshire, sophomore

Events: 1600-meter, 3200-meter

Gaylord athletes have been on a roll as of late, with at least one Blue Devil bringing home an individual state championship in the past three years.

If anyone is set to continue that stretch of dominance, it very well may be Katie Berkshire.

Just a sophomore, Berkshire made herself known last year after finishing in the top ten of both the 1600-meter run (10th, 5:11.55) and the 3200-meter run (third, 11:11.89) at the MHSAA Division 2 state finals last June.

Back on Feb. 24, Berkshire competed at the MITCA Indoor Track & Field state finals, an event where athletes aren't separated by division, and finished eighth in the 3200m with a time of 10 minutes, 55 seconds. That time would be just a second shy of the Blue Devils outdoor record, showing just how far along Berkshire is as an underclassman.

Softball:Who are the softball players to watch in the Gaylord area in 2024?

Baseball:Players to watch: Gaylord, GSM and JoBurg baseball all return key players in 2024

Ella Moylan, junior

Events: Shot put, discus

Moylan was so close to qualifying for the D2 state finals in both shot put and discus last season, with back-to-back fourth-place finishes at the regional finals in Shepherd leaving her just one spot off the qualifying line.

Still, Moylan enters 2024 as one of the top returning field athletes for the Blue Devils, hoping to improve on personal best throws from last season (33 feet, 10.25 inches in shot put, 101 feet, 3.5 inches in discus) and make her way to the state finals this time around.

Johannesburg-Lewiston

Allie Nowak, junior

Events: 800-meter, 1600-meter, 4x400-meter relay, 4x800-meter relay

With the crowded list of talented JoBurg track athletes set to return in 2024, someone deserving is inevitably going to be left off these 'athletes to watch' lists.

Whoever the author is, whatever the source, they'd be foolish to overlook Nowak.

Maybe the driving factor behind the JL cross country team's state title back in 2022, Nowak has shown no signs of slowing down and has continued to dominate the Division 4 ranks for the past two seasons.

She won the Ski Valley Conference championship 800-meter last season with a personal best time of 2:21.74 before focusing her individual efforts on the 1600-meter, winning a D4 regional title on May 19 (5:17.17) followed by a sixth-place finish at the D4 regional finals on June 3 (5:22.81).

Nowak was also part of a 4x400m relay team that finished ninth at the state finals meet last season.

Madalyn Agren, senior

Events: 1600-meter, 3200-meter, 4x800-meter relay

The Oakland University signee was the Ski Valley Conference champion in the 1600-meter run (5:34.66) and finished in the top five in the 3200-meter at the D4 state finals (12:02.45) last season.

Another dominant distance runner, Agren joined Nowak on JL's 4x800-meter relay team that placed 11th at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene, Oreg. on June 18.

Blake Fox, senior

Events: 400-meter, 800-meter, 1600-meter, 4x400-meter relay, 4x800-meter relay

The JoBurg boys had a bit more of an up-and-down season than they expected in 2023, but Blake Fox remained consistent throughout the entire spring.

Fox was one of the top 800-meter runners in all of Division 4 last season, highlighted by a meet record at the Harbor Springs Ram Scram (1:59.36), a personal best time at the Blazer Last Chance meet in Kalkaska (1:56.97), a regional championship at Inland Lakes (2:03.09) and a runner-up finish at the D4 state finals in Hudsonville (1:57.30).

Gaylord St. Mary

Miriam Murrell, senior

Events: 800-meter, 1600-meter, 3200-meter, 4x400-meter relay

One of the most decorated runners in GSM history, Murrell is poised to make a fourth and final appearance at the Division 4 state finals after wrapping her high school cross country career with five consecutive trips the state finals race.

Murrell finished sixth in the 3200-meter (12:02.83) and 13th in the 1600-meter (5:33.04) at last year's state finals in Hudsonville.

Rylan Matelski, senior

Events: Long jump, 4x100-meter relay, 4x200-meter

A future North Central Michigan College basketball player, Matleski won a D4 regional title in the long jump last season with a leap of 19 feet, 10.75 inches, before finishing 25th at the D4 state finals.

More of a jumper than a sprinter, look for Matelski to be back in contention for a state finals bid this season.

Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen