MHS track & field: Ralph Rice and Addison/Homer Dual Recap

Junior Alec Dodak runs the 3200m at Ralph Rice. Photo courtesy of Michael Coltre.

submitted by Michael Coltre, Coach, Manchester Track and Field

Ralph Rice

Parma, Mi the Girls’ represented at the Ralph Rice invite at D2 Parma Western.  This was a meet consisting of mostly larger schools like Western, Marshall, Adrian, Jackson Northwest, and traditional solid track programs like Olivet, Hanover-Horton, Jonesville, Hillsdale, Grass Lake, and Napoleon. Competition was high, but our squads held up admirably. The Girls would go on to take 7^th placed overall with 45.5 points and were nearly in 6^th place out of the 14 teams.  The Boys’s side was a little undermanned, but the distance crew showed up big time, as did our best sprinter Jayden Johnson!

Siera Jedele, led the way for the girls as she would run season best times in the 100m hurdles (17.17) and 300m hurdles (51.51) to take 2^nd in both of those races.  The girl who beat her in the 300m hurdles is the 3-time defending D3 State Champion.  Siera has probably set a record for most races against State Champions before the State meet as she has gone against Molly Brown from Addison, Julia Hughes from Ida, and Emily Peters from Olivet over the last few seasons. Iron sharpens iron! Siera is currently ranked 6^th in the 100m hurdles and 10^th in the 300m hurdles in D4!

Jayden Johnson has continued his hot start to the season with a 2^nd place in the 100m and then followed that up with a 4^th place in the 200m.  He would also anchor the 4x100m Relay that took 7^th and ran a season best time of 47.02.  The others on that relay were Anthony Cencer, Ethan Hittle, and Gavin Lindeman.

Audrina Lauer would jump a season best jump of 14’7.75 to take 3^rd in the long jump and get medal honors.  Teagan Clarke jumped a PR in Pole Vault of 8’0 to take 4^th overall.  Grant Johnson would take 4^th in the 110m hurdles in a very strong field.  Natasha Seaman would jump a season best height of 7’6 to take 6^th overall in Pole Vault.  Valorie Hieber would continue her strong start and take 6^th in the 300m hurdles and 8^th in the Shot Put. Olivia Woods jumped a season best High Jump of 4’8 to take 7^th place and had a PR jump of 14’0.25 in Long Jump which was less than two inches from placing.  Justin Gale would run a huge 8 second PR in the 1600m to take 7^th place with a time of 4:59.72.  He would also PR in the 800m.  Alec Dodak cut a ton of time off his 3200m for a time of 10:40.14 which was good for 8^th place.

The Girls’ relay teams all set season best times.  The Girl’s 4x100m Relay consisting of Valorie Hieber, Natasha Seaman, Audrina Lauer, and Abbi Austin ran a time of 54.85 which was good for 5^th place.  The Girls’ 4x400m Relay of Olivia Woods, Caroline Mason, Valorie Hieber, and Siera Jedele would cut almost two seconds off their season best time to run 4:37.20 which was good for 5^th place.  The Girl’s 4x200m Relay of Elle Woods, Audrina Lauer, Olivia Woods, and Siera Jedele would cut two seconds off their time from Tuesday and ran a 1:57.99 which was good for 8^th place.  The Girls’ 4x800m Relay team of Elle Woods, Charlotte Williams, Amanda Hieber, and Caroline Mason would run a time of 12:48.75 and take 8^th.

PR Shout Outs:

• Shot Put - Seth Myers – almost a 2 foot PR of 31’5.5
• Liam Pierce - over 12 second PR in the 1600m to 5:29.99, and PR in the 3200m
• Charlotte Williams – 100m and 1600m
• Justin Gale – 800m
• Discus – Teagan Clarke and Isabella Rattray
• Pole Vault – Elle Woods
• 100m Hurdles – Natasha Seaman
• 300m Hurdles – Teagan Clarke (she PR’ed all 3 of her events)
• 400m – Giuliana Brothers (3 second improvement!)

Addison/Homer Dual

Manchester, Mi we couldn’t have asked for a better way to open our new Track Complex than to get four wins on the night against Addison and Homer! (minus the rain!) The Girls were locked in a very competitive meet with both Addison and Homer.  The Girls rose to the occasion, and they defeated Homer 79-57 and Addison 78-57.  This moves the Girls’ Dual record to 3-1!  The Boys took care of business and defeated Homer 95-42 and Addison 101-35.  The Boys’ move to 4-0 in the Conference and are in a tie for 1^st place! We currently have the best combined boys and girls record in the conference at 7-1 halfway through the dual meet schedule!

There were many stars tonight, but we start on the Girls’ side as Caroline Mason had a great night!  She started it off by anchoring the 4x800m Relay that that won, then she followed it up with season best times in the 1600m and 800m to take two huge 1^st.  She ended the night by taking 2^nd place in the 3200m. Our second big star of the night was Elle Woods, who stormed past the competition in the 400m and won it going away by 25m! Elle would also run on the winning 4x4 and 4x8 Relays! Her cousin Olivia Woods, who would also tie a PR in the HJ (and also win the event), would take 2^nd in the 400m to Homer. Combining that with what Caroline and Elle did made all the difference in clinching both meets.

Siera Jedele won both the 100m and 300m Hurdles, as well as anchoring the 1^st place 4x4, and the 4x2 Relay that would defeat Addison! Valorie Hieber would take 2^nd in the 300m Hurdles, and 1^st in the Shot Put over Homer.  She would also run great legs on the winning 4x4 Relay and 1^st place 4x2 Relay over Addison.

Audrina Lauer would take 1^st in the Long Jump over Addison, place 2^nd in the 200m to Addison, and would run on the 4x1 and 4x2 Relays that would beat Addison.  Homer girls have some of the best sprinters and sprint relays in the Conference and our two relay teams kept it close. Abbi Austin would take 2^nd in the 100m to Addison and was also on that 4x1 and 4x2 Relay.  Abbi would also jump a season best Long Jump to take 3^rd overall, and 2^nd to Addison.

Ava Rentfro would throw personal best throws in both the Discus and Shot Put.  She would take 2^nd overall to Addison and 1^st to Homer in the Discus, and she would take 2^nd in Shot Put to Homer.  Amanda Hieber would run legs on the winning 4x4 and 4x8 Relays as well as setting a PR in the 800m for her 3^rd place finish.  Teagan Clarke would tie her PR in the PV to take 3^rd overall and 1^st against Homer, and she would also take 3^rd in the 3200m.  Charlotte Williams ran a good leg on the winning 4x8 Relay and she would take 3^rd place in the 1600m!

On the Boys’ side Jayden Johnson, Grant Johnson, Alec Dodak, and Michael Navitskis would lead the way!  Jayden would win the 100m, 200m, Long Jump, and anchor the winning 4x200m Relay.  Grant would win the 110m Hurdles, 400m, and Discus, as well as taking 3^rd in the HJ.  Alec would win the 3200m, take 2^nd in the 1600m, and be on the winning 4x8 Relay, and the winning 4x4 Relay over Addison.  Michael won the 300m Hurdles, as well as ran a great leg on the winning 4x2 Relay and he would take 2^nd in the 110m Hurdles.

A lot of the others had big nights too:

• Cade Sayer – anchored the winning 4x8 Relay, 2^nd overall in the 800m, and ran a great leg on the 4x4 Relay that beat Addison
• Justin Gale – ran a great lead off leg on the winning 4x8 Relay, 3^rd overall in the 1600m, and ran a great split on the 4x4 Relay that beat Addison in his first time running the event
• Ethan Hittle – won the PV vs Addison, ran great legs on the winning 4x1 and 4x2 Relay teams, and he grabbed a 3^rd place finish in the 200m against Addison
• Gavin Lindeman – he would take 2^nd in the Long Jump against Addison, and ran great legs on the winning 4x1, 4x2 Relays and the 4x4 Relay that beat Addison
• JC Amrhein – he would take 3^rd overall in the 100m, anchor the winning 4x1 Relay, and take 3^rd in both the Shot Put and then 3^rd place in Discus vs Homer
• Brett Brothers – he threw a PR in Shot Put to win the event against Homer, and he took 2^nd against Addison
• Eli Finnegan – ran a great leg on the winning 4x8 Relay, took 2^nd in the PV against Addison, and took a 3^rd place in Long Jump vs Addison with a PR
• Brennan Woods – tied his PR in HJ to take 2^nd to both teams, and he would take 3^rd in Shot Put against Homer
• Liam Pierce – would take 2^nd in the 3200m against Addison and took 3^rd against Homer
• Anthony Cencer – ran a great lead off leg in the winning 4x1 Relay
• Lucas Brothers – would take 3^rd overall and 2^nd against Homer in the Discus
• Max Harvey – would jump a PR in Long Jump and he would take 2^nd in the 400m vs Homer

PR Shout Outs:

• Shot Put: Tommy Simpson, Sullivan LaHuis, Anthony Helwig, Drew Matthies
• Discus: Thomas Cunningham, Sullivan LaHuis, Anthony Helwig, Isabella Rattray, and Cordelia Matthies
• HJ: Grant Johnson
• 100m: JC Amrhein, Anthony Cencer, Thomas Cunningham
• 200m: Giuliana Brothers
• Josiah Helwig: PR in the 880m, 1600m, and the 3200m

We are next in action this week with two home events!  Tomorrow, we host Columbia Central and East Jackson in a Conference Double Dual starting at 4:30pm.  Then on Friday May 1^st at 1pm, we host the 46^th Annual Manchester Metrics.  We are still looking for help at both events so if you can volunteer, please find the sign-up genius on our Facebook page.  Go Dutch!

The Team huddles under an umbrella to stay out of the rain in our first Home Dual meet against Addison and Homer. Photo courtesy of Michael Coltre.

by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and a founder of the Manchester Mirror.