Softball state title continues successful run for Hartland athletics

Not every day on the job involved watching his teams win state championships.

Like with any athletic program, there were some crushing losses which required Hartland athletic director JD Wheeler to offer words of encouragement to heartbroken athletes.

But it seemed fitting that the final Hartland event he attended as athletic director ended with the Eagles celebrating a state championship.

The softball team gave him an ideal send-off, winning the state Division 1 championship Saturday with a 9-1 victory over Woodhaven at Michigan State University. Wheeler will become an assistant principal July 1 after eight school years as head of one of Michigan’s most successful athletic programs.

“To be quite honest, it was the perfect day, it really was,” Wheeler said. “From the morning, following the bus out of town with the fire truck and police escort, to getting to hang out with the coaches and girls before the game, to watching them play so well, and obviously the trophy ceremony. You really couldn’t write it up any better. It was perfect.”

These days were more common for Wheeler than for most athletic directors during his tenure.

Hartland won the state baseball championship in 2015 just a few weeks before Wheeler became athletic director. Beginning with the wrestling team’s state title in 2016, he watched seven Hartland teams in five different sports celebrate state championships.

Hartland wasn’t always a sports powerhouse. Before the baseball team’s title run, the school had produced only three state championship teams in 90 years of Michigan High School Athletic Association competition. The first didn’t come until softball won in 1996. Boys golf followed in 1997 and gymnastics in 1999 before there was a 16-year drought.

“That baseball team that won it really started a trend in the school of, ‘Hey, our program can do it, too,’” Wheeler said. “Wrestling won one, then hockey won one. It really turned into the kids believing they belonged on that stage and could win on that stage. A lot of it is believing you belong there and getting the job done.

“Up on the track level (in Hartland’s gym), there are pictures of state championship teams since that building opened. I watch kids look at those pictures. I see athletes, if it’s their sport or another sport, look at teammates and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to be the next one to be in the next picture.’”

For now, it’s the softball team that can anticipate having its photo placed on the wall of champions.

“We always have such a school spirit and school pride in our athletics,” Hartland sophomore catcher Sadie Malik said. “It feels like this will be something that will be celebrated throughout the next year and it will be passed on to some other sport who will get there and will win a championship. It’s just so much fun to be part of that.”

Success is contagious in a school like Hartland.

“It’s almost like each win and each success for every sport is something that each team can feed off and really work for and work together in,” Malik said. “It’s really cool to have such an athletically amazing school, honestly.”

Even without winning a state championship to finish the school year, 2022-23 was particularly successful for Hartland athletics.

The wrestling team was state runner-up; the hockey, boys lacrosse and girls lacrosse teams reached the state semifinals; the gymnastics and competitive cheer teams won regional championships; baseball reached the regional final; boys swimming and diving had three all-state performances; and track and field had two all-state throwers.

Those were just in winter and spring sports. Fall sports have some catching up to do.

“We just demand success,” softball coach Taylor Wagner said. “We have such an amazing group of athletes and multi-sport athletes and a community that really puts a lot of value in athletics, and it shows. When people care about athletics, as well as education, it’s going to pay off in the long run. It’s cool to be part of some of those Hartland athletic greats.”

Before Hartland’s last three softball games, baseball coach Brad Guenther made visits to the dugout to get the players fired up. These seemingly small gestures of support go a long way with the players.

“There were some boys from the football team, the lacrosse team coming out to support us today,” Hartland pitcher Kylie Swierkos said. “Just having that community support puts the wind in our sails and boosts us up as we continue to play.”

The spot where Hartland was presented its state championship trophy Saturday was near the end of the soccer field where the Eagles won the girls soccer title two years ago and a short walk from the baseball field where Hartland won the championship in 2015.

Throw in last year’s boys lacrosse championship, and Hartland has won state titles in four different spring sports in the last eight years. It’s not as if one sport is carrying the load.

“We know there’s a great feeder system; it’s not just through Hartland athletics,” Wagner said. “We have some great travel ball programs, as well. That goes for every single sport. Everybody’s got job security, let’s put it that way.”

How does Hartland’s success stack up with its peers in Livingston County?

Brighton has had a similar trajectory, winning 11 MHSAA state championships in five sports since 2011 after winning seven in four sports before that time.

The other three long-time MHSAA members have had limited statewide success. The only state titles for Pinckney and Howell were consecutive boys cross country championships, Howell in 1959 and 1960 and Pinckney with three straight from 2006-08. Fowlerville’s three state titles were in boys track and field in 1944 and 1965 and wrestling in 1994.

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Softball state title continues successful run for Hartland athletics