Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
A mix of present and future athletic talent in Genoa was present at the AAU Junior Olympics at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa the first week of August.
Lindsey Brown, who is a senior at Genoa High School, made it through districts and regionals to compete in the 400-meter hurdles, triple jump, 100-meter hurdles and steeplechase. In doing so, she placed sixth in the steeplechase, which makes her an All-American. It was her fourth year qualifying for the event.
Luke Hodulik, who is Genoa’s track and field head coach, said Brown elevates herself continuously.
“The biggest thing is she's just personally driven to be as good as she can be,” he said. “It's really something innate. It comes from within. She really wants to do everything she can to maximize her potential.”
This past spring, Brown had a breakout campaign for the Comets. She qualified for the OHSAA State Track & Field Championships in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, the latter of which she finished as the state runner-up with a school-record time of 44.04. In fact, it took a state-meet-shattering record time of 42.43 from Columbus Beechcroft’s Brittany Douglas to beat her.
On top of that, Brown defeated Otsego’s Molly Kramer, who finished sixth in 45.23 in the 300-meter hurdles, an event which featured plenty of Northwest Ohio talent. Kramer is also one of the state’s top hurdlers, as she won this year’s state championship in the 100-meter hurdles.
In fact, at the Division III regional event last year, Kramer (44.77) and Brown (45.05) finished 2-3 in the 300-meter hurdles. In the 100-meter event, Kramer (14.33) won it, while Brown (15.81) finished sixth. Both are now seniors.
With that success, along with others like Kyra Frasure’s regional qualifying performances in the pole vault and long jump this past spring, it has elevated expectations for the Comets this coming season.
“A lot of our girls really came to realize that they can do more than they thought they were capable of,” Hodulik said. “A lot of them have really bought in, and this goes for over the summer, too, where we worked with a lot of girls to improve in all their events. They've been putting the work in because they all believe that they can be not only great, but greater than they already are.
“Obviously seeing Lindsey place state runner-up, and we looked at some of the other numbers at the state meet where we have girls who we think, and they hopefully now believe, they can get there, too. It's really been kind of an all-around belief system that we've gotten them to buy into, and they've put in they put in a ton of offseason work to get there.”
The future
Brown wasn’t the only one representing Genoa at the AAU national event in Des Moines as Hodulik’s 11-year-old daughter, Kennedy, competed in the pentathlon, where she finished 21st in the country in her age division.
“It was awesome, and the coolest part about it is just her stature,” Hodulik said. “She is small for her age and especially for 10- and 11-year-olds, when you get to a national event, a lot of times the people who are there are the ones that look like they could be 15 or 16.
“One of the girls that she was hanging out with was at least a foot, probably about 16 inches, taller than her. She was by far the smallest one there out among those who qualified. She wants it, and she works hard. There's a lot of technical events in the pentathlon, and she just worked at it and got a lot better from the time that she qualified to the time that she competed.
“It's just really cool to see her put her mind to it, and the thing that's cool also is it really shows how much potential there is in track and field for somebody who wants to dedicate themselves, whether it's a speed event or the technique, or distance even, but even more so the technical events where you can start at that age in elementary and improve a ton.
“You can improve a lot and hit the ground running. By the time you're in middle school or high school, you're going to almost feel like a pro at it. There's just a lot of room there for kids to succeed.”
With her success in track, Kennedy also looks up to athletes such as Frasure, as well as Frasure’s sister, Kenzie, who is in eighth grade, in addition to Brown. Several of them were on Hodulik’s wife’s YMCA gymnastics team together.
“They’re in different age groups, but Kennedy knows all of them, and over the summer she was even starting to do some pole vault with them because Kyra and Kenzie are pole vaulters. She just loves being involved when the older girls are there. She gets really into it.”
