County-wide
Track Kick-off
Manistee boys, Onekama girls win quad meet
By DYLAN SAVELA
Manistee News Advocate Sports Writer
Published: Saturday, April 9, 2011
ONEKAMA — It looked as though
Onekama’s Tobi Schoedel would be crossing the finish line on the
coattails of Manistee’s Kelly Schubert for a third time Friday as
the sun began to set on the Portagers’ season-opening quad meet.
That was until the final 200 meters.
After taking silver to Schubert’s pair of golds in both the 800- and
1,600-meter runs earlier in the day, Schoedel anchored Onekama’s
1,600-meter relay team to the slimmest of victories, edging the
Chippewas by just 33 tenths of a second in the day’s final event.
“I was kind of afraid I wasn’t going to catch her again,” Schoedel
said, whose team was trailing after the final handoffs took place.
"But I just figured I'd give it my all." Schoedel and Schubert were
neck-and-neck by the final turn, and it seemed to be just as close
at the finish line.“I
had to wait to see if I won,” Schoedel said. And after the
announcement, she celebrated with her teammates.
“Tobi’s a competitor,” Onekama girls coach Bonnie Brown said. “She
was upset after (the 800, because that’s her race. Kelly beat her by
more than what she wanted her to. So, she put her in her sights.”
It was that kind of day for the Onekama girls as they took first
place with 121 points over second-place Manistee (69), third-place
Suttons Bay (42) and fourth-place Brethren (10).
The Chippewa boys paced their field with 100 points while Onekama
(68) edged Suttons Bay (67) for second and Brethren (17) placed
fourth.
“As a team we’re looking great,” said Manistee’s Carl Jaskiw who led
the boys with two firsts in both hurdle events as well as anchoring
the winning 800-meter relay team. “It’s going to be a good year.”
Jaskiw set a personal record in the 110-meter hurdles in the time of
15.99 and ran away in the 300-meter hurdles with the time of 41.80.
“I felt like I eased up a bit in the 300,” he said. “Looking back at
it, I probably should have went for my record there. But I’m happy
that I got a PR in the 110.
“That was probably the best I felt running that event, and I’ve been
running it for three years. It was the first time I ever finished
and was like, ‘oh man, that was a good run.’”
Jaskiw was joined by teammates Nick Williams, Tyler Maiville and
Evan Slawinski in the first-place 800-meter relay team that won with
the time of 1:34.63 while the Chippewas also took first place
finishes in the long jump (Williams, 18 feet), shot put (Zak Payne,
40-8), 100-meter dash (Slawinski, 11.40), 1,600-meter run (Jarret
Deisch, 4:57.46), 400-meter run (Williams 55.49) and 3,200-meter run
(Deisch, 11:20.24).
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“It’s going to be really exciting
coaching the boys this year,” said Manistee co-head coach Sam Joseph.
“We’ve got the deepest squad we’ve had in a while with great numbers,
great athletes. I can finally not just field every event but almost be
in the top two in each.” The
host Onekama boys were paced by three first-place finishes consisting of
Adrian Norman in the high jump (5-6), the 3,200-meter relay team of Ryan
Pienta, Tyler Groenwald, Rease Heiler and Shane Peterson (9:05.51) and
Tyler Fogarty in the 200-meter dash (24.73).
“That’s great,” first-year Onekama boys coach Anthony Torres said of the
team’s finish. “Kids were working hard this week with a lot of hard
practices, so I was happy with what we did today. The strength of
everyone was great. Almost everyone was in four events — even the
freshmen. To have three, four events your first varsity meet is a lot to
ask for, but they kept going.”
The Brethren boys were paced by
Nathan Hobart who took third place in the 400-meter run in the time of
56.11 and a pair of pole vaulters — John Cullar and Blaine Peck — who
finished third and fourth with vaults of 8-6 apiece.
“We had a lot of PRs today,” said Bobcat boys coach Travis Walker. “With
a young team, second meet of the season, we had a lot of people shaving
a fair amount of time off. When you’ve got a young team, that’s what
you’re looking for — the individual improvement.”
For the girls, Onekama took nine top spots of the 17 events on the day.
The Portagers’ Jaylee Brown took first in pole vault (8-0), freshman
Nisha Collins won the long jump (15-3 1/2), Emileigh Ferguson won the
shot put (25-10 3/4), Yumi Babinec won the 100-meter hurdles (16.97),
Sarah Farnsworth won the 100-meter dash (13.51), Kelly Babcock won the
3,200-meter run (15:50.58) and the 400-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter relay
teams all took the top spots.
“I was very pleased,” Brown said. “Tonight was an eye opener for some
girls to be plugged into some places where they can be utilized.”
Manistee won six events on the day, paced by Schubert’s first-place
times in the 800-meter run (2:27.80) and the 1,600-meter run (5:25.93).
Also for the Chippewas, Jennifer Alway won the high jump (5-0) and
200-meter dash (29.05), freshman Sarah Chandler won the 400-meter run
(1:05.73) and Courtney Stefanski won the 300-meter hurdles (55.01).
“For the girls, we only have 12 this year, so our main focus is on the
events we’re in,” Joseph said. “Our goal is getting our individual times
down over the course of the year, looking at regionals, looking at
state. A lot of the young ones, a lot of the freshmen, they’ll work on
PRs. Half the team is going to work on PRs, and the other half will
probably be shooting for the postseason.”
The Brethren girls picked up points with a second-place finish from
Carlee Broughton in the discus (66 feet), while many of the Bobcats set
personal-best marks.
“I’m pleased,” first year Brethren girls coach Melissa Baker said.
“They’re working hard and they’ll get better.”
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