Payton Haynes - High School Athlete Honorees - 2025

Payton Haynes, selected by the MCSHOF Board of Directors as the 2025 Female Senior Athlete of the Year, has excelled in both track & field as a pole vaulter and hurdler and in equestrian at Mason County Eastern. She is the daughter of Curtis Haynes and Myrtie Bullard.

Haynes became a repeat MHSAA Division IV State Champion this spring in the pole vault, having won the event in 2024 and was Runner-up in 2023. She compiled three Regional Champion pole vault titles (2023, 2024, 2025) and was Regional Champion in the 100-meter hurdles (2023, 2025) and the 300 hurdles (2023).

In the Indoor State Meet Open Class, Haynes placed eighth in the pole vault in 2025. She holds the Mason County Eastern pole vault record at 11 feet, set in 2025.

In the 100 hurdles, Haynes was sixth at the MHSAA State Meet in 2023 and eighth in 2025 and was a 60-meter hurdle qualifier in 2024 at the Indoor State Meet Open Class. Payton holds the MCE 100 hurdles record of 16.03 seconds, set in 2025.

Seven West Michigan D League titles belong to Haynes as she won the pole vault and the 100 hurdles in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and the 300 hurdles in 2023.

Haynes also competed in equestrian, with five Michigan Interscholastic Horsemanship Association State Championship titles and three second places in 2023 and was Regional Champion 33 times from 2022 – 2025.

The Equestrian Team Captain in 2024 and 2025, Payton was also Mason County Eastern’s Female Athlete of the Year in 2025.