Portagers’ first meet nixed by snow
By DYLAN SAVELA
Manistee News Advocate Sports Writer
Published: Thursday, March 24, 2011
A cold reminder of the state in which we live awaited members of Onekama’s track and field team Wednesday morning.

An abundance of snow canceled the Central Michigan Indoor Invitational the Portagers planned on attending to open their season. Ah, March in Michigan; when else could events held under a roof fall victim to weather?

“I was kind of excited to get my first varsity meet under me,” said first-year Portager boys coach Anthony Torres. “I think we were all kind of excited to go down there and kick the season off.

“There was some of our guys that were definitely bummed out. But, you can’t stop Mother Nature.” The slight snag to start the season is minor compared to the otherwise seamless transition that put Torres at the helm of the storied program.

Torres, a 2003 Bear Lake graduate and former member of the Onekama track and field team, takes over for longtime boys coach Mickey Story, who retired from his coaching duties at the end of last season — his 30th on the job.

But as a middle school coach for both Bear Lake cross country and Onekama track and field for the past three years, Torres said the move to the varsity system has been smooth.

“It’s been going great,” he said of the first week and a half of official practice. “(Onekama girls) coach (Bonnie) Brown has really helped with the things that are a bit different from middle school.”

Among the nuances for Torres will be honing an athlete’s skills rather than helping newcomers to the sport develop some.

“There’s more responsibility on your shoulders,” he said. “In middle school, you’re teaching, more so, the techniques ... and then in high school, you expect your kids to have those abilities and tell them ‘now it’s time to perform.’ Your focus then is to hopefully win some meets and bring trophies back to the school.”

Being around the program’s younger tiers renders Torres a familiar face for his, now, varsity athletes.

“I’ve already coached a bunch of the kids — actually all the kids — before, so I’m used to them and they’re used to me,” he said. “It’s kind of like starting where we left off in middle school.”

“And (the returners to varsity) are really stepping up, which is huge for me,” he added. “If I have senior leadership spread around like that, it helps me in not having to be a lot of places at once.

“It makes this transition awesome. The kids have responded well with me and I think we’re all just really excited to get the season underway.”
     
 

Our high school boys and girls track team will be attending the rescheduled CMU Track Invitational on Wednesday, March 30th. Mark Ward will drive. Departure time is 11:30a.m. ~M.J. Zadow

  

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