Onekama girls first, boys third at Frostbite
Invite
by Dylan Savela
Manistee News Advocate Sports Writer
Published Friday, April 15, 2011
ONEKAMA — When the Portagers weren’t competing in
their events while hosting Friday’s Frostbite Invitational, they
were trying to keep warm.
Winter hats, gloves and community blankets might have helped, but
the only real shelter from the near-freezing temperatures was
Onekama’s team tent. That is, of course, until one of the many gusts
of wind swept it away and up into a group of pine trees.
Conditions may have been more appropriate for an Iditarod than a
track meet, but the Portagers didn’t seem to mind much. The Onekama
girls still took first place of 10 teams while the boys placed
third. West Michigan D League foe, Brethren, took eighth place in
the boys and ninth in girls.
“We need to change the name of this thing to the
Summer Invite or something,” Onekama boys coach Anthony Torres joked, in
hopes the weather would follow suit for the annual meet. “But it was
kind of crazy how well they did with the weather we had today. "But it
was kind of crazy how well they did with the weather we had today. I'm
very happy with that. "All of these times were like the ones they ran
Tuesday with no wind. For their times not to be affected hardly at all
in this wind is incredible. To me, they all (reached personal record)
with how well they ran today. Because you've got to think they could
have shaved seconds off in nicer weather."
The Portager girls were paced by six first-place finishes to win their
own event with 151 points. Traverse City St. Francis (130) was second,
Frankfort (59) was third while Brethren finished ninth, picking up 14
points.
“I’m proud of everybody for not letting up because of the weather,” said
Onekama girls coach Bonnie Brown, citing that the meet also gave the
Portagers a good look at some future regional opponents. “Some of these
teams will be at our regional so it’s great to get a feel for what they
have.”
Onekama seniors Yumi Babinec and Tobi Schoedel played a big role in the
team’s success. Babinec won both the 100-meter hurdles (17.59) and the
300-meter hurdles (50.97) while Schoedel took first in the 800-meter run
(1:00) and 1,600-meter run (6:07.31).
They were both part of winning relay teams too. They each joined
teammates Taylor Anderson and Danielle Ward to win the 1,600-meter relay
in the time of 4:43.23, while Babinec helped win the 400-meter relay in
the time of 55.30 with teammates Ward, Jaylee Brown and Breanna Fink. |
Freshman Nisha Collins continued her dominance this
season in the long jump, winning with a leap of 15-2.
The Brethren girls took home eight total medals on the day, paced by a
fourth-place finish in the 400-meter relay.
Onekama’s Yumi Babinec took first
place in the 300-meter hurdles Friday at the Frostbite Invitational.
(Dylan Savela/News Advocate)
In boys competition, Lake City took the top spot
with a team score of 133, followed by Suttons Bay (82) and the Portagers
(76). The Bobcats garnered 21 points for seventh.
The Portagers’ lone victory came in the 3,200-meter relay, where the
team of Ryan Pienta, Shane Peterson, Rease Heiler and Tyler Groenwald
won in the time of 9:05.72. Onekama took two second-place spots as well
as four thirds.
For the Bobcats, Roddy MacNeil, who also plays baseball for Brethren,
picked up a first-place finish in the high jump with a leap of 5-9,
while Nathan Hobart had a successful day individually by medaling in all
three of his events, including taking third in the 800-meter run
(2:16.71).
“He had a huge day,” Bobcats coach Travis Walker said of Hobart. “With
the wind and the cold, everybody had some pretty good times considering
the conditions. And it’s good for us to compete against schools like
Lake City, Suttons Bay. For going up against bigger schools like that, I
thought we competed well.”
Individual Stats on page 2 of
Frostbite |
