Artis Quietly Becoming a Star in Concord Running

By Jeff Steers
JTV Sports

(November 6, 2022 9:15 AM) In a school filled with legendary cross country and track and field athletes, Concord High School Adair Artis is quietly becoming a star at the Jackson County school.

Artis won his second all-state medal on Saturday thanks to a ninth-place finish at the Michigan High School Athletic Association state cross country finals at Michigan International Speedway.

Add that to his four track and field all-state medals, Artis has six medals from state meets and a senior season of track and field remaining.

All of this while running for one of the top running programs in Division 4. Announcers said at the state meet on Saturday that Concord has nearly 40 appearances at the state cross country finals. Add that to the number of teams the Yellow Jackets have defeated over those years, it makes for an impressive program.

“We are such a small school, but we work hard as a team to get better,” Artis said of the Yellow Jackets’ success in running. “My success comes from working hard and having a good team to train with.”

Artis started taking running seriously a couple of years ago through summer workouts. The difference was noticeable at the time.

“I started running during the summer and listening to my coaches more,” Artis said. “I did more distances … 10 mile runs every couple of days, especially on the weekends.”

Last year Artis finished 22nd in the Division 4 state meet with a time of 17 minutes, 5 seconds. The top 30 in each division earn all-state medals and honors.

He knocked off more than 30 seconds on Saturday in finishing the 5K course at MIS in 16:29. Runners were greeted with wind gusts up to 30 mph on the backstretch of the course as they ran the final 400 meters during the 2022 final. 

“I knew it was going to be a hard stretch and it took a lot to pass people,” Artis said. “All of my hard work paid off (at that point).”

Concord finished 11th as a team at Saturday’s Division 4 final. 

Artis is also successful in the classroom with a 4.0 grade point average. He is expected to finish top five in his class.

He would like to run in college and study either architecture or computer engineering.

“I like being creative and I am good at math and those fields involve both,” Artis said.