MHS Boys & Girls teams take 2nd & 9th in track and field Team States!

The new Team States Trophy! Photo courtesy of Michael Coltre.

submitted by Michael Coltre, Coach, Manchester Track and Field

Boys Track are D4 Team State Runner-up!  Girls Top Ten for 2^nd Year in a Row!

Hillsdale, Mi – Manchester just graduated it’s 155^th Senior Class on Thursday May 21^st.  In the School system’s entire history you can count on one hand the times that a Manchester athletic team has placed inside the top two at State competition as a team.  Before 2013, everyone pointed to the 1993 Manchester Silverdome appearance and their runner-up finish to Iron Mountain in Manchester’s best Football season ever.  In 2013, the Girl’s Basketball team went 27-1 and won the Class C State Championship. I’m not in the school right now to look at the banners, but there is at least one and maybe two Wrestling top twos at their Team States in the last 20 years. Outside of those, Manchester has not had many in school history.  We have had a lot of great teams (across many sports), and others that ran up against some super teams, but not many that place top two in the whole State.  On May 23^rd, 2026 you can add another one of those teams to that select group. The 2026 Manchester Boys Track Team has placed top two in D4 at their Team State!

The first person you have to start talking about on this team is Senior Grant Johnson.  At the Team State, he would do four individual events and he would do well in all of them. He would take 2^nd in the Long Jump, 110m Hurdles, and 300m Hurdles.  He would run against his biggest competition in a preview of next Saturday at the State Finals and he is right there.  He would also take 9^th in the Discus.  Our 2^nd person you need to talk about with this team is Junior Jayden Johnson who has had an outstanding season.  He would go onto win the 200m in 22.70, take 5^th in the 100m, and anchor our 4^th place 4x100m Relay and 5^th place 4x200m Relay.

Now, those are the two you have heard the most about, but this is a Team State and it takes the whole team to win and this team proved that there are many more names that contributed to this team title! Justin Gale stepped up big time today as he would run on our 3^rd place 4×8 Relay which is normal for him, but he would run a PR in the 1600m in 4:59.10.  He would then have to sub into the 800m because of injury where he would run a great time and pick up big points for our team.  He would then run the 3200m where he would set a PR of 11:23.81.

Next up would be our distance warrior who has been feeling under the weather since Regionals week.  He has had a very strong season, but this has set him back from what he is capable of.  Even with that he was still able to rise to the occasion today.  Alec Dodak would run a great leg on the 4×8 Relay.  He would then run a solid 1600m and gut out a solid performance in the 3200m when he was not feeling the best.  He did that for the team, and it made all the difference!

There were plenty of others that stepped up and rose to the occasion:

-Brennan Woods – 6^th place in HJ, 7^th place in the 400m, 15^th in the 200m, and would run a great lead off leg on the 4x400m Relay team that clinched the meet

-Michael Navitskis – 7^th in the 110m hurdles and 9^th in the 300m hurdles, and ran a great leg on the 6^th place 4×4 Relay on his Birthday!

-Gavin Lindeman – 9^th place in LJ, 13^th in the 200m, and ran great legs on the 4^th place 4×1 Relay and 5^th place 4×2 Relay

-Gavin Horky – 11^th place 800m and HJ, great anchor leg on the 3^rd place 4×8 Relay, and great anchor leg on the 6^th place 4×4 Relay

-Cade Sayer – 12^th in the 800m, great lead off leg on the 4×8 Relay that took 3^rd, and a great leg on the 4×4 Relay team that took 6^th

-Ethan Hittle – 14^th in the PV, solid in the 100m, and ran legs on the 4^th place 4×1 Relay and 5^th place 4×2 Relay

-Eli Finnegan – 15^th in PV, solid in LJ, and a PR in the 400m in 1:01.67

-Liam Pierce – would PR in the 1600m and run great in his last 3200m of his career and take 19^th

-Wesley Earhart – would run a solid 100m and start off the 4^th place 4×1 Relay and the 5^th place 4×2 Relay

-Brett Brother – threw solid in both the Shot Put and Discus on the last day of throwing of his career

-Lucas Brothers – threw solid in both the Shot Put and Discus and did his job

-Donte Johnson – did his job in High Jump to score big points

-Milo Ryan – threw a PR in Shot Put to do his job

-Max Harvey – ran his 400m to pick up his points for the team

Without any of these efforts, Manchester is not 2^nd place in the State.  The Dutch finished with 1342 points.  3^rd place was Royal Oak Shrine with 1334.5.  4^th was Kalamazoo Hackett with their great Track pedigree and 1306 points.  Gobles rounded out the top 5 with 1240 points.  This was competitive and Manchester rose to the occasion!  Manchester was the top Public School in all of D4 as Hillsdale Academy was the winners.  This also marks the fourth week in a row with a trophy which is also a phenomenal stat!

On the Girls side, the scoring was well balanced even with the cold and rainy weather conditions, but a few stood out as the Girls team improved upon their 10^thplace power rankings as they would take 9^th overall in the meet and just a few points from finishing a couple spots higher.  Siera Jedele would take 3^rd in both the 100m hurdles and 300m hurdles.  She would also anchor the 7^th place 4×2 Relay.  Valorie Hieber would take 6^th in the 100m hurdles and 10^th in the 300m hurdles, as well as run a great leg on the 7^th place 4×2 Relay and 4×4 Relay.

Ava Rentfro would have a great day! She would throw a PR in the Disc of 92’7 to take 5^th, she would take 15^th in the Shot Put, and in a new event the 200m she would fill in and run a great time of 30.68 for 23^rd.  Audrina Lauer is next up.  She would take 4^th in LJ, 18^th in the 100m, and run on the 7^th place 4×2 and 8^th place 4×1.  Elle Woods had a good day as she would take 10^th in the 400m, 19^th in the PV, and run on the 7^th place 4×2 and 4×4 Relays!

Teagan Clarke would take 11^th in the PV, 20^th in the Discus with a PR of 70’4, run a season best in the 1600m, and be on our 4×8 Relay! Natasha Seaman would take 12^th in the PV, 18^th in the 200m, 23^rd in the 100m hurdles, and run on the 8^th place 4×1 Relay. Olivia Woods would take 5^th in the LJ with a PR of 14’0.75, 11^th in the HJ, and be on the 8^th place 4×1 Relay as she closed out her Track career. Caroline Mason would run on our 4×8 Relay, take 20^th in the 1600m and 800m, and run on our 7^th place 4×4 Relay! Charlotte Williams would be on our 4×8 Relay, then run the most mileage you can in a track meet as she would run the 800m, 1600m, and 3200m in adverse conditions and she would rack up a ton of points for the team! Amanda Hieber stepped up today and she would run on our 4×8 Relay, take 26^th in the 400m, and 25^th in the 800m, then fill in on our 7^th place 4×4 Relay!

Abbi Austin would take 25^th in LJ, 26^th in the 100m, and be on our 8^th place 4×1 Relay in her last Track meet of her career. Isabella Rattray threw solid today in both the Shot Put and Discus as she closes out her Freshman season.  Giuliana Brother would run two PRs in the 100m, and 400m, and she would also run the open 200m.  Cordelia Matthies would throw solid in her last Shot Put of her career.

Dutch Hurdle Turtles Grab Four Selby Classic Crowns!

Jackson, Mi – The Flying Dutchmen ruled the hurdles and took all four first places as Grant Johnson and Siera Jedele would win the 110/100m Hurdles and 300m Hurdles.  They both would PR in the 110/100m Hurdles in times of 14.75 for Grant and 16.29 for Siera.  Grant has the 2^nd fastest time in D4 and Siera has the 4^thfastest time in D4 this season.  In the 300m Hurdles, they both would win as Grant would run under 40 seconds for the 2^nd straight race and Siera would run a half second PR down to 48.05 which is the 9^th best time in D4. Grant currently owns the 4^th best time in D4 in the 300m Hurdles. The Manchester Hurdle Turtles were rolling tonight! Valorie Hieber would take 2^nd in the 300m Hurdles with a one second PR down to 50.56 and she would also take 4^th in the 100m Hurdles.  Natasha Seaman would take 7^th in the 100m Hurdles.

Our Boys 4x800m Relay of Cade Sayer, Justin Gale, Gavin Horky, and Brennan Woods would run nearly a three second PR as they would take a respectable 4^thplace in a time of 8:42.48. Cade Sayer ran a great lead off leg to keep pace with the fast competition. Natasha Seaman would equal her PR in PV as she would take 3^rd place with a vault of 8’0.  Our Girls 4x400m Relay team would take 4^th with their second-best time of the season in 4:26.30.  This was a team that consisted of Valorie Hieber, Caroline Mason, Natasha Seaman, and Siera Jedele.

Michael Navitskis would run a near PR time of 16.75 to take 5^th in the 110m Hurdles. Gavin Lindeman would jump a PR in Long to 18’10.5 which was good for 6^thplace.  Brennan Woods would leap 5’8 in High Jump for 6^th place as well. Teagan Clarke equaled her PR in PV at 8’0 and would take 6^th.  Grant Johnson would take 6^th in Discus with a throw of 119’9. Gavin Horky would take 7^th in High Jump with a leap of 5’8. Charlotte Williams would run a 30 second PR in the 3200m to take 7^th. Our Boys 4x100m Relay team with a fill in anchor leg would take 6^th place with a respectable time of 47.49. This team consisted of Wesley Earhart, Ethan Hittle, Gavin Lindeman, and Justin Gale who is normally a distance specialist.  Ethan Hittle would PR in the PV with a vault of 10’6.

Next week, you can read about how the Dutchmen did at the D4 MHSAA State Finals.  We are sending a school record 16 athletes to compete with the best in the State! Go Dutch!

The Girls after the Parade of Athletes walk at Team States. Photo courtesy of Michael Coltre.

The Boys pose with their new Team State Trophy! Photo courtesy of Michael Coltre.

by Sara Swanson

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