submitted by Michael Coltre, Coach, Manchester Track and Field 

Napoleon Invitational Recap —Friday, April 11

The Flying Dutchmen had a great day on the track. The boys’ team took 6th overall with 77 points out of 15 teams and only trailed 1st place by 19 points. In comparison, last season Manchester scored 25.5 points at this meet. The girls had plenty of great efforts in a very competitive field as well. On the girls’ side one of the best girls in the country runs for Onsted and a couple of the top D3 and D4 runners were also there, which made this a very competitive meet. Our girls held their own and improved their point total from a season ago.

Top highlights (that we haven’t already posted about):

Events that scored points:

• Grant Johnson took first in the 100m hurdles, 300m hurdles, and 200m dash. His wins in both hurdles qualify him for the D4 state meet as an early qualifier, which is new this year. He also broke the school record in the 300m hurdles in a time of 39.86. The old record was held by Zach Greca in 40.85 in 2007
• Nathan Fletcher also had a great night in winning the shot put in 44’11 and discus in 125’3. Manchester, which was one of the smallest schools at the meet, took first in five of the 17 total events at the meet
• Siera Jedele placed 5th in the 100m hurdles and 3rd in the 300m hurdles, competing against the top girl in D4 in both events and the second-fastest girl in D3 in both
• Caroline Mason took 8th place in the 1600m
• Women’s 4×400 relay team of Amanda Hieber, Caroline Mason, Valorie Hieber, and Siera Jedele placed 8th in a time of 4:50.97
• Men’s 4×800 relay of Cade Sayer, Jesse Sangster, Justin Gale, and Gavin Horky placed 4th in a time of 9:11.57
• Sawyer Lutton 2 PR times in the 110m hurdles (17.03) and 300m hurdles (44.63) and a pair of 5th place finishes
• Jayden Johnson with a PR time of 11.72 for 4th place in the 100m
• Men’s 4×100 relay of Ethan Hittle, Gavin Lindeman, Walter Ahrens, and Jayden Johnson placed 8th in 47.96
• Gavin Horky with a PR in the 800m of 2:16.86 and 7th place
• Alec Dodak with a huge 45-second PR in the 3200m (11:02.81) and an 8th place finish. Alec also PR’ed in the 1600m by 6.5 seconds and took 9th (5:07.05)
• Men’s 4×400 relay of Brennan Woods, Cade Sayer, Gavin Horky, and Grant Johnson placed 4th in a time of 3:42.77

Some other standout performances:

• Maya Freeman throwing disc for the first time in 52’10
• Memphis Conklin and Natasha Seaman both jumping over 11 feet in long jump
• Siera Jedele (14.10) and Natasha Seaman (14.96) running personal best times in the 100m
• Teagan Clarke running PR’s in both the 1600m (7:07.30) and 3200m (15.44.02). Dropping a minute in the 1600m and over 4 minutes in the 3200m!
• Amanda Hieber big 12-second PR in the 400m (1:16.89)
• Caroline Mason PR’ing the 800m (2:57.32)
• Valorie Hieber with a PR in the 200m (30.57)
• Walter Ahrens and Gavin Lindeman jumping long jump for the first time and both clearing 17 feet
• Gavin Lindeman PR’ing in the 100m dash in 12.51
• Justin Gale PR’ing in the 1600m (5:31.83)
• Brennan Woods (56.20) and Ethan Hittle (59.86) PR’ing in the 400m
• Brett Brothers in shot put with 30’11.5

The Dutch had a tough night battling not only their opponents but also the weather. Both teams fought valiantly on a windy, cold night but came up with a pair of splits on the night. The girls defeated East Jackson 97–23 and then fell to the defending Conference Champs, Grass Lake, 39.5–95.5. The boys defeated East Jackson 115–19, but lost a heartbreaker to Grass Lake 66–70, which nearly came down to the last event. This meet was razor thin.

Some highlights from this evening:

• The pole vault crew led the way with Jesse Sangster breaking his best height by a foot in clearing 10’6. This now ranks him 12th in the state in D4. Brady Reed also improved in PV, with a jump of 9’6. Teagan Clarke equaled her best jump of 7’0, which puts her currently 19th in D4
• Olivia Woods running in her first meet of the season almost matched her best high jump and ran great in the 100m, 400m, and a solid leg on the 4×2 relay. She now ranks 14th in the state in D4 in the HJ
• Grant Johnson continued his dominance of the hurdles in winning both events, and also running a great 400m
• Sawyer Lutton was right behind Grant in both hurdle races and ran a great leg on the 4×4 relay to help claim a first-place honor
• Eli Finnegan stepped up for his team and took a vital 3rd place in the 110m hurdles to give his team a chance at a win
• Nathan Fletcher took a pair of wins in the shot and discus
• Alec Dodak continued his strong start in the 1600m and 3200m in claiming a 1st and 2nd
• Justin Gale had a strong night as he claimed a much needed 3rd place in the 1600m
• Siera Jedele had four good individual performances all into the wind in winning the 300H and placing in the top 3 of her other 3 events (100H, 100m, and 200m)
• Valorie Hieber threw a PR in shot put as she claimed a pair of 2nds and ran great legs on the 4×2 and 4×4 relay
• Audrina Lauer started her season on a good note as she broke up the strong Grass Lake long jump crew from a sweep, and ran a great leg on the 4×2 relay and a solid 400m
• Caroline Mason had a solid showing in HJ, 800, 1600, and the 4×4 relay

The stat of the day is that every girl who ran today scored points toward today’s outcome, which is very rare. The boys’ team had 80% of their roster score points today, which is also outstanding. Getting contributions from everyone. 

Look for next week’s paper to see the results of the Saturday, April 19, meet at the Hillsdale Gina Relays and Tuesday, April 22, at our Leslie Dual. Go, Dutch!