One year ago, Spencer Michels was ready to quit cross country for good. He had no way of knowing that a year later, he’d embrace a hug from his coach at the finish line of the biggest, and final race of his Solon career.
The road that the senior endured throughout his high school career was by no means easy.
After joining the middle school cross country team in 7th grade, Michels stuck with the sport into high school to spend time with his friends on the team. When he earned a spot as an alternate for the team at the state meet his freshman year, Michels’ interest in running became much more serious.
“After I was an alternate for state I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to be a top guy,’” Michels recalled. “I got really hooked after that.”
Michels’ sophomore season was strong, setting a new personal best time with a 16:58 in the 5K, and competing on Solon’s varsity squad. The Spartans placed seventh at the state meet that year, and Michels finished 75th overall.
“Things were going well,” Michels said in reference to his sophomore year. “I was training hard and was pretty successful.”
The summer leading up to his junior season, Michels was in the best shape of his life. Running 50 mile weeks, as well as workouts that were more intense than ever before, he was set to be the number one guy for the Spartans. Shortly after running 16:20 in a preseason 5K time trial, things took a turn for the worse.
Michels learned that he had suffered a stress fracture in his navicular bone, located in the midfoot just below the ankle. This injury is common for runners as a result of overuse, and stuck Michels in a boot for the entirety of his junior cross country season.
“At first, I gave up on running,” Michels admitted. “It felt like, ‘Dang, all of that work for nothing.’”
However, watching his teammates compete without him inspired Michels. The junior recalled the team’s race at Iowa State in particular as the mental reboot for his determination.
“I knew I could have been in the top five easily at that race if I was running,” Michels said. “That’s what re-ignited the fire. I wasn’t going down without a fight.”
Even though he couldn’t run, Michels did everything he could to better himself as a runner. He would wake up early to go to the pool and lift weights.
To get through the recovery process, Michels repeated to himself:
“You can’t change the past, but you can change what you’re doing today to affect the future.”
After recovering from injury and ditching the boot, Michels returned to running for his junior track season. There, he began the process of working his way back into shape, with the hopes of returning to peak form for his final cross country season.
Through the beginning of his senior cross country campaign, Michels continued to regain his fitness. He struggled to run the times he had achieved before the injury but continued to chip away. He eventually re-earned his spot on varsity halfway through the season. From that point on, Michels never lost his confidence.
“Every time he mentioned cross country to me, he would say, ‘I’m going to make it to state,’” former teammate Colin Bumstead said.
Bumstead was a senior when Michels was a sophomore. The two competed on varsity together that year and continue to keep in touch.
Solon began this year’s championship season with the WaMaC Conference meet. At the starting line, a few runners from rival schools began trash talking Michels, telling him that he “fell off.” Michels was ticked off and proceeded to do the best thing he could’ve done with that anger by taking it out on the course.
“I just started flying,” Michels said. “I made sure to pass the guys that were trash talking to me.”
Michels ran a season best 17:12, placing 17th overall. For the first time in his career, he finished as Solon’s top runner.
For Michels, it still wasn’t enough. The first thing he said to his coaches after the race?
“I can go faster.”
One week later, Michels and the Spartans competed in their state qualifying meet. The top three teams would qualify to compete at the state meet, and any runner that placed within the top 15 would earn individual qualification if their team failed to.
Michels started off hot. After finding himself up by the top pack early on, he laid off the gas and settled in. His coaches as well as his teammates’ parents helped him know where he was at in terms of positioning throughout the race.
Gasping for air with about 100 meters to go, Michels heard someone shout to him: “17th place.”
He had to make a move, and he did, passing two runners in the final stretch. He crossed the finish line in 15th place, the final individual qualifying spot. Solon placed fifth as a team, but Michels would be running at the state meet anyway.
“I knew I qualified as soon as I crossed the finish line,” Michels said. “I was pretty pumped up.”
Michels had earned himself one final race as a Spartan. Nine days later, he was off to Fort Dodge for the state championship meet.
“In my head I was telling myself, ‘I’ve got one race left,’” Michels said. “Let’s go out with a bang.”
At the starting line, Michels didn’t feel any nerves or pressure at all. There was only one thing he could recall thinking:
“Dang, this is the last time I’ll be doing this.”
The gun went off, and his mind immediately fixated on the only thing that mattered at the time; racing. Following the 136-man jostle for positioning, Michels found himself in 77th place.
“I went out pretty controlled in the first mile,” Michels said. “Miles two and three are where I just started going for people.”
Michels leapt into 62nd place by the two mile mark and continued his climb into the final chute.
“The last 400 meters I just tried to hammer it as hard as I could,” Michels said. “I kept repeating in my head, ‘Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.’”
He finished 59th overall with a time of 17:09.8, beating the runner behind him by .4 seconds.
After crossing the finish line, Michels was greeted by a hug from his head coach, Emy Williams.
What mattered to Michels the most was the accomplishment of making it to state in the first place after all that he’d been through.
“Being able to run my final race at state just shows all of the hard work I put in,” Michels said. “Looking back at it, it took guts.”
His perseverance made an impression on his teammates as well.
“Spencer’s final races were proof of his hard work and dedication,” teammate Ethan Ressler said. “He never lost hope for the season and always put in 100% of his effort.”
Michels could have easily given up on running following the injury. Instead, he refused to quit and sealed off his career by competing at state one last time. His story helped prove that a goal is obtainable as long as it’s desired enough, and it won’t always be easy.