Reeths-Puffer's Kye Grant doesn’t have to follow in his older brother’s footsteps, because he’s busy creating a path of his own – at a very fast pace, in fact.
But he was very happy when his brother, R-P cross country legend Klay Grant, popped in unexpectedly from college last week and was there to see his breakthrough performance.
Grant surprised everyone by running the race of his life – at least so far – and finishing 14th at the Division 1 regional meet at Allendale High School last Saturday. The top 15 runners in regionals qualify for the state finals, so Grant made the cut as a sophomore.
He will join R-P’s top runner, junior standout Jaxon Allen, at the finals on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. Allen continued his rapid development by finishing fourth in a field of 100 runners at regionals.
For Grant, the best part of the day was sharing it with Klay, now a student-athlete at Colorado Christian University, who had quietly flown in for the regional meet.
R-P sophomore cross country runner Kye Grant
“That was so exciting,” Grant said. “Nobody expected him to be home. It was definitely nice to have him cheering me on. He’s never put too much pressure on me. He just wants me to work hard and have fun.”
The Grant name is a very familiar one in West Michigan cross country circles.
Darin Grant is the R-P boys cross country coach, and his oldest son Klay was one of the best runners in school history, winning the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association city meet three years in a row and qualifying for the state finals three times.
Kye Grant has always been very proud of his brother, and was excited to join him on the R-P varsity last season as a freshman.
He did fine for a ninth-grader, even though he was unable to perform at his top level due to recurring shin splint issues.
The Grants at regionals, from left - Klay, Angie, Kye and Darin.
Of course the comparisons to Klay were inevitable, and Grant admits he heard some comments here and there, from people who meant no harm, about how he had not reached Klay's level.
“I felt some pressure from kids at school and stuff, especially last year,” he said. “I wasn’t super fast as a freshman.”
After his run at last weekend’s regionals, however, there's every reason to believe that Kye will have a great varsity career of his own.
He cut a full one minute and three seconds from his regional time in 2021, 40 seconds from his time on the same Allendale course a month earlier, and set a new personal best mark of 16:33.97.
He finished in 49th place in regionals as a freshman, was projected to finish somewhere around 30th this year - and completely smashed those projections by finishing 14th.
Grant heads toward the finish line at the Fruitport Calvary Invitational.
“Going in I knew I had a chance, and knowing that drove me,” Grant said. “I just listened to my teammates like Jaxon, who was in my ear telling me I’m strong and reminding me of all the work we put in. Just hearing all the advice and soaking it in helped a lot.
“I was in tenth place for a good part of the race, and I just wanted to stay there for as long as I could and hoped that nobody would pass me.”
Grant said the secret to his success this year was a simple lack of pain. Last season he was plagued by shin splints and spent a lot more time on an exercise bike, trying to eliminate the problem, than he spent running.
“I got a lot more training in this year, and that helped a lot,” he said.
The shin splint problem almost kept Grant from running cross country this season. He said he decided to go out for the team at the last minute, at the urging of his parents and his brother.
Grant considered not running this season due to painful shin splints.
“I didn’t enjoy being away from the team last year because I was always biking while they were running,” he said. “I didn’t feel like part of the team. My parents and my brother convinced me to keep going. They reminded me that God blessed me with genes to run, and I might as well use them.”
Luckily the shin splint pain completely vanished a few weeks into the season, Grant got the chance to start really developing his talent, and now he’s headed to the state finals.
“Kye had an incredible race,” Coach Grant said about his younger son. “Going into regionals I would have told you that Kye was ranked 30th, but I knew he could go faster – I just didn’t know how much faster.”
Coach Grant is thrilled to see Kye making his own mark in cross country, instead of trying to live up to his brother’s accomplishments.
“I definitely never wanted him to think he needs to rise to where Klay was,” he said. “This is Kye’s road. This is about what he can do.”