Added on May 26, 2025 Sara Swanson

No Track, No Problem! Boys Win Regionals!

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Full team poses with the trophy. Photo courtesy of Michael Coltre.

submitted by Michael Coltre, Coach, Manchester Track and Field

Boys Win Regionals! Girls take 4th at Regionals

In the week the track team lost their home track and place to practice because of construction, they were able to overcome this adversity and still claim the first Regional Championship since 2007! The Boys won the Regional over host Concord 104–98 and 14 other schools. The boys were led by Grant Johnson who was a Regional Champion in the 110m hurdles (14.84) and 300m hurdles (39.70) as he ran two PR times. It’s the 3rd Regional title in school history (2006 and 2007 being the other two). Fun fact, Coach Coltre was an athlete on the 2006 team when Mike Forner was coach. The Regional win qualifies the Dutch for the D4 MITCA Team States, which take place on Saturday, May 24. The girls, via their Power Rankings have also qualified for the Team States event, which will be held in Hillsdale.

The girls were competitive throughout and finished in 4th place with 66 points, as Concord won the girls side. Natasha Seaman was a Regional Champ as a freshman in the PV with a PR of 8’0 and just surpassing teammate Teagan Clarke as both will be going to States. Siera Jedele placed 2nd in both the 100m hurdles (16.73) and 300m hurdles (49.65) as both are PR times. Both teams would combine to send 17 entries to States including 14 athletes across nine events for the boys and five events for the girls. Looking back in history, this appears to be the most combined athletes (14) and entries (17) for a State meet. The previous most-combined entries was 2008 when the boys’ team sent five and the girls’ sent seven for a total of 12 athletes. The boys fell just short of the 11 boys sent in 2006.

State Qualifiers:

Grant Johnson – 110m hurdles, 300m hurdles, 400m, 4x400m relay
Nathan Fletcher – Discus and shot put
Brennan Woods – 4x400m relay
Sawyer Lutton – 4x400m relay, 110m hurdles, 300m hurdles
Gavin Horky – 4x400m relay
Jesse Sangster – Pole vault
Jayden Johnson – 100m
Alec Dodak – 3200m
Olivia Woods – High jump and 4x200m relay
Natasha Seaman – Pole vault
Teagan Clarke – Pole vault
Siera Jedele – 100m hurdles, 4x200m relay, and 300m hurdles
Audrina Lauer – 4x200m relay
Valorie Hieber – 4x200m relay

Complete meet rundown

The boys got off to a good start with PV as Jesse Sangster jumped a PR (11’6) and took 2nd place and Brady Reed followed that up with a 5th place. Nathan Fletcher would take 3rd in the discus and 2nd in the shot put. Grant Johnson would take 4th in long jump and Gavin Horky took 6th in the high jump. This left the Dutch in good shape after the field events.

Once the running events began, Concord started cutting into the Dutchmen’s lead as Concord would win the 4x800m relay (Manchester’s relay was 4th with Gavin Horky, Alec Dodak, Justin Gale, Cade Sayer), but Grant Johnson’s 1st and Sawyer Lutton’s 5th in the 110m hurdles boosted the Dutch. Jayden Johnson would then take 6th in the 100m to add to the Dutchmen tally.

Concord would then take 2nd in the 4×2 Relay but the Dutch were not far behind in 5th (Brennan Woods, Sawyer Lutton, Gavin Lindeman, Jayden Johnson). Concord had cut the lead to single digits when they took 1st, 2nd, and 5th in 1600m. The next event the Dutch were right with their main opponent and took 5th in the 4×100 Relay compared to Concord’s 4th, (Walter Ahrens, Ethan Hittle, Gavin Lindeman, Jayden Johnson) in which the team just missed out on going to State by .08. Brennan Woods picked up a 6th place in the 400m which was better than he was seeded.

Next up was the 300m hurdles where the boy “Hurdle Turtles” of Grant Johnson and Sawyer Lutton took 1st and 5th, which gave Manchester some breathing room. Then in one of the biggest moments of the night, Gavin Horky and Cade Sayer took 5th and 6th in the 800m to neutralize Concord’s points in that and to maintain the Dutchmen’s lead. The penultimate event was the 3200m, and Alec Dodak, who had been under the weather most of the week, rose up and ran the race of the year, basically clinching the meet and punching his ticket to States as he took 2nd place to Concord’s 3rd. This left our top seeded 4x400m relay to finish the job, which they did with their 2nd place finish. After that, all that was left was the victory lap with the trophy!

On the girls’ side, the PV crew got it started with the 1–2 finish for Natasha and Teagan. Olivia Woods would T-6th in the high jump but cleared the Regional AQ of 4’10 to make it to States. Faith Branner would take 6th in discus. The girls’ 4x800m relay ran a 17-second PR to take 4th (Elle Woods, Lucy Baran, Amanda Hieber, Caroline Mason).

Siera Jedele would take 2nd in the 100m hurdles and then anchor the girls’ 4x200m relay, which took 4th and would qualify for States, hitting the AQ time of 1:54.78 (Audrina Lauer, Olivia Woods, Valorie Hieber, Siera Jedele). The girls’ 4x100m relay (Memphis Conklin, Natasha Seaman, Audrina Lauer, and Olivia Woods) took 6th and just missed out on States by .07 seconds and ran a season PR of 54.67.

In the 300m hurdles the girl “Hurdle Turtles” of Siera Jedele and Valorie Hieber (52.33) would both PR and take 2nd and 4th. In the 800m, Caroline Mason would take 6th place. The night was finished off by the girls’ 4x400m relay of Olivia Woods, Caroline Mason, Valorie Hieber, and Siera Jedele (running in a strong, dusty pollen wind) taking third and just missing out on States.

Special PR Shout-outs:

Ethan Hittle – 100m and 200m
Natasha Seaman – 100m
Gavin Lindeman – 200m
Memphis Conklin – Long jump and 200m
Teagan Clarke – 3200m
Liam Pierce – 1600m and 3200m

One last special shout-out to Cade Sayer, who tweaked his bad ankle minutes before the 4x800m relay and was able to get the team back into 4th place and then gutted out a 6th place 800m for his team. He had aspirations of going to States and the ankle prevented him from doing that, but his effort that day was just one of many people stepping up for Manchester and why we came home with the trophy. Fourteen athletes scored points to get the boys to 104 points. Every point mattered.

Overall a great night for Manchester Track and Field and the city of Manchester. This is something to be proud of! Outside of our Wrestling program, Regional Championships do not happen very often. (Go look at the banners in the gym.) A Track Regional is also tricky, because, unlike other team sports who face opponents one at a time, track is going against the best of all 16 teams at the same time. Thanks to this group of athletes we get to add a year to the Regional banner now. These kids put it all on the line and did everything that needed to be done. The team is not done yet. Stay tuned for next week as you will see the results of the Team States that are taking place Saturday, May 24. The following Saturday, May 31, we will be in Hudsonville for the Individual D4 State Meet, which is where all State Qualifiers will compete with the best in the entire State. Go, Dutch!!