A Muskegon Heights kid who delighted in exceeding expectations, Trinity Townsend led the Heights’ Quiz Bowl team to state prominence, but it was on the track where he left his biggest mark.

Townsend was a 400-meter state champion who went on to become a four-time All-American runner at the University of Michigan. The 800 meter became his specialty at the college and post-collegiate level.

A Big Ten champion in the event, he placed third at the 1998 U.S. Nationals, a performance that would have given him a spot on the U.S. Olympic team if it had been an Olympic year. Townsend placed fourth in the 800 meters at the 1996 NCAA Nationals, fifth at the 1999 U.S. Nationals and sixth at the 1998 Goodwill Games.
In 2010, he was inducted into the University of Michigan Men’s Track & Field Hall of Fame, an elite fraternity that, at the time, included just 54 members. He continued to do his hometown of Muskegon Heights proud after hanging up his running shoes, teaching high school in Ann Arbor for several years while completing his law degree.