MHSAA D2 State Finals June 3 2003 Ada Forest Hills Eastern Track   Fremont boys have a great day.  It was HOT.   After their months of hard work and sacrifice you always hope that the athletes can turn in their best performance at their last meet.  Sometimes that’s a PR, sometimes it is making All-State or even winning, and sometimes it just doesn’t happen.  This year the boys did very well.  They managed the heat well mentally and physically and turned in some great performances.  The 4x800 team of Gary Springstead (Sr), John Christensen (Jr), Chase Lowery (Fr), and Sean Pettis (Jr) came into the meet ranked outside the top 20 and placed 15th with a 5 second PR of 8:11.06, running in the middle heat.  In the the 110 hurdle semifinals Daniel Romero (Jr) ran close to his Pr but came up a little short in qualifying for the finals.  Sean Pettis was up next in the 1600.  He came in to the race ranked 20th on the D2 list.  He ran his race plan to perfection sitting tight in the pack through opening laps of 65 and 66.  He was ready for the gas on lap three and held position with a 63 3rd lap, and was still able to move up to 5th with an attacking final lap of 61 to finish in 4:17.05 making him 3rd on the Fremont all-time list.  Gary Springstead was listed as 16th in D2 in the 400.  He regional time got him into the fast heat and he took full advantage of it running a good first 200 then running people down in the last 150 to place 7th in a PR and new school record of 50.39 (Steve Paulsen 50.44, 1998).  Daniel Romero kept things rolling in the 300 hurdles placing 9th overall despite not being in the fast heat.  He PR’d by almost a second, 40.55, which is huge time drop over 300 meters, and get him within half a second of the school record.  He was ranked 18th in D2.  Daniel had a good first half of the race but he really look fantastic in the last 60 meters chasing guys down.  Daniel missed making All-State by .01 seconds in the 300s.   Sean and Gary both earned All-State honors by placing in the top 8.   It has been an honor for us to coach these guy this year and we are looking forward to next season with them.  We also love seeing Gary go out in style his senior year.   Full Results can be found here - https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/481009/results   Coach

5-24-23 Meijer West Michigan Invitational (All-Star Meet)   Athletes who qualified Daniel Romero – 110H, 300H, 4x400 Carter Rottman- 300H Owen Hertel-110H, 300H Sean Pettis-4x800, 1600, 4x400 Blake Taylor – 4x800, 3200 Issac Romero – 4x800, 3200 Henrik Quist – 3200 Gary Springstead- 4x800, 400, 4x400 Chase Lowery – 4x400   We had a strong showing with most of the guys setting PR’s or close to.  Our highlight of the meet was the 4x400 team placing 2nd with one of Fremont’s fastest times in the last 20 years.  The top 6 athletes in each event were medal winners.   Pr’s and Medal winners   110 Hurdles – Daniel Romero (3rd) PR 300 Hurdles – Daniel Romero (3rd) PR                                 Owen Hertel PR 400 – Gary Springstead (4th) 1600 – Sean Pettis (Champion) PR 3200 – Blake Taylor PR                 Henrik Quist PR 4x400 – Daniel Romero, Sean Pettis, Chase Lowery, Gary Springstead (2nd) PR   Full Results can be found here - https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/488721/results   Next weekend we travel to the State Finals at Forest Hills Eastern.   Coach

Track and Field Regional Championships -5-18-23 Mild temps, little wind.   The boys had a great day at the 2023 Regional Championships at Allendale.  To have so many personal records at a championships meet shows the boys ability to work well under pressure.  The team finished 5th of 15 teams with 45 points.  Athletes placing in the top 8 in an event were All-Region and earned a medal.  This is also the meet used to determine state qualifiers.  Any athlete or relay placing in the top 2 automaticlly qualified for state.  Athletes not placing in the top two could also qualify by meeting the state qualifying time at the regional meet.   Automatic State Qualifiers Regional Champion – Sean Pettis – 1600 – PR 2nd place – Daniel Romero – 300 Hurdles – PR   State Qualifiers on Time Gary Springstead – 400, 4th – PR Daniel Romero – 110 Hurdles, 3rd – PR 4x800 Relay -  Gary Springstead, John Christensen, Chase Lowery, Sean Pettis – 5th   All-Region Athletes not listed above Jacob Burns – 6th, 200 Sean Pettis – 7th, 800 Carter Sherman – 6th, 3200 PR Carter Rottman – 8th, 300 Hurdles PR Daniel Romero – 6th, Long Jump   Athletes who set a PR not listed already Lucas Bradley – Discus Nathan Burns – Shot Put Issac Romero – 800 Khai Noordyke – 200   It was an exciting meet, and I was happy to see the boys step up to the challenge in their events.  The State Finals will be held on June 3rd at Forest Hills Eastern High School.   Full Results can be found here - https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/481029/results     Coach  

WMC Conference Championships 5-12-23 Great Weather   The boys placed third with 84 points, Whitehall won with 222, and Ludington was 2nd with 87, at the conference championship meet. This gave them a third place overall in the conference. The meet was held at Whitehall with almost perfect weather. We had a few hiccups (Lost Connor Pettis to injury on Tuesday, Daniel Romero took a tumble in the 110s, and we unexpectedly scratched a couple of events), but mostly lots of good performances with personal records. We were really happy with the way the boys stepped up at a championship meet, focusing on controlling their own performance.  Daniel Romero and Sean Pettis were our standout athletes; each earning a conference championship in two events. Daniel, the long jump and the 300 intermediate hurdles, Sean, the 1600 and 800 meter runs.   Daniel went down in the 110 hurdle finals but recovered to finish 6th.  He showed good character with his ability to shake that off and come back to win the 300s.  Sean ran four events and Prd in all four. He fought off a strong challenge with 400 to go in the 1600 and ran away convincingly in the last 300.  The boys 4 x 800 m relay team of Gary Springstead, Johnny Christensen, Chase Lowery, and Sean Pettis placed second with a time of 8:16.24.That’s the fastest time we have run since 2017.  In the 1600 Henrik Quist took one of the hardest falls I have seen in a race other than the hurdles, got up and proceeded to run a PR.  He also came back to PR in the 3200, dude is tough.  Khai Noordyke made the finals in both the 100 and the 200 recording Prs in both.   Conference Champions Long Jump – Daniel Romero 300 Hurdles – Daniel Romero 800 – Sean Pettis 1600 – Sean Pettis   Athletes placing second or third we’re considered honorable mention all-conference. The following athletes earned this honor. 400 – 2nd Gary Springstead 4x800 relay – 2nd Gary Springstead, Johnny Christensen, Chase Lowery, Sean Pettis   Athletes placing in the top 6 scored points (athletes listed who have not already been above) 200 – 4th Jacob Burns, 6th Khai Noordyke 3200 – 3rd Sean Pettis, 5th Carter Sherman, 6th Blake Taylor 110 Hurdles – 4th Owen Hertel, 6th Daniel Romero 300 Hurdles – 5th Carter Rottman, 6th Owen Hertel 4x200 Relay – 6th Kyler Dekuiper, Khai Noordyke, Kolten Belmarez, Jacob Burns 4x400 Relay – 4th Chase Lowery, Owen Hertel, Bjorn Johnson, Gary Springstead High Jump – 6th Owen Hertel   Athletes who recorded a PR 100 – Khai Noodyke 200 – Jacob Burns, Khai Noordyke 400 – Gary Springstead, Chase Lowery 800 – Sean Pettis, Karston Falbe 1600 – Sean Pettis, Carter Sherman, Issac Romero, Blake Taylor, Henrik Quist 3200 – Sean Pettis, Carter Sherman, Blake Taylor, Henrik Quist, Issac Romero 110 H – Owen Hertel, Carter Rottman 300 H – Carter Rottman Shot Put – Nathan Burns High Jump – Owen Hertel   We move on to Regionals next Thursday at Allendale.   Full Results can be found here - https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/496144/results   Coach

WMC Track and Field vs Oakridge 5-9-23 Nice weather for a meet.   The boys won 110-26   The Throws group looked pretty good today with a nice PR for Nathan Burns in the shot and disc, and Andrew Steger calling his PR in the Disc right before he threw.  We really had good performances through all event groups. 100 dash 1st Connor Pettis PRs for Kyler DeKuiper, Tavin Smith-Attwell, Tavin Reichert-Slater, Kevin Ochoa, Brycen Garza, Eli Bement, Josh Ekkel   200 dash 1, 2, 3 for Jacob Burns, Daniel Romero, Khai Noordyke all with PRs PRs for Kyler Dekuiper, Tavin Smith-Attwell, Tritan Corrigan, Kevin Ochoa, Brycen Garza   400 dash Chase Lowery, Gary Springstead, Bjorn Johnson 1, 2, 3   800 Run Sean Pettis, Johnny Christensen 1-2 PR for Sean PRs Blake Taylor, George Goodrich   1600 Run 1-2-3-4- all with PRs Carter Sherman, Issac Romero, Blake Taylor, Henrik Quist   3200 Run 1-2-3- Carter Sherman, Issac Romero, Henrik Quist   110 Hurdles 1-2- Owen Hertel, Carter Rottman – PR for Owen PR for Tritan Corrigan   300 Hurdles 1-2 Carter Rottman, Owen Hertel – PR for Carter   4x200 1st – Connor Pettis, Khai Noordyke, Jacob Burns, Daniel Romero   4x400 Relay of Sean Pettis, Luke Bradley, Chase Lowery, Gary Springstead won with our fastest time of the season   4x800 1st – Sean Pettis, Johnny Christensen, Chase Lowery, Carter Sherman   Shot 1st Andrew Steger   Discus 1-2 Andrew Steger, Nathan Burns   High Jump 2nd Tavin Reichert-Slater – PR PRs for Tritan Corrigan, Tavin Smith-Attwell   Pole Vault 1-2 with Prs Luke Bradley, Eli Bement   Long Jump 1-3 Daniel Romero, Kolten Belmarez Pr for Kolten   Link to full results can be found here - https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/488832/results   We have the Conference Championships this Friday in Whitehall.   Coach

Kent City Elite Invitational 4-28-23 Cool with a little breeze   What a meet tonight at Kent City. Easily our best meet of the season. Loads of PR‘s and lots of character shown in competition.   Daniel Romero had a monster day. Cool as a cucumber winning the 300 hurdles, the 110 hurdles, and placing second in the long jump, with 2 personal records. His second place in the long jump, broke the old meet record, but was bested by an athlete from Whitehall.  Carter Rottman and Owen Hertel battled each other to Pr’s in both hurdle races with each taking a turn beating the other in very close races. Connor Pettis (despite having a poor start) and Kolten Belmarez ran a good races in the 100 to Pr.  Jacob Burns had a strong stretch run in the 200 to set a new Pr. Bjorn Johnson continues to make stead improvement in the 400 with another PR, while Gary Springstead Pr’d placing 2nd battling back from injury. Our distance runners showed up strong today as well. Sean Pettis, Carter Sherman, Blake Taylor, Issac Romero, all recorded big personal records in their events. Sean placed in both the 1600 elite and the 800.   I was very happy with some of the risks these guys took to put themselves in a position to run fast. Our throwers recorded PR’s with Luke Bradley and Nathan Burns both having big throws in the disc.   This great team performance lead to a 2nd place finish in the Silver division.  2022 State Champs Berrien Springs were the team winners.   It’s a great feeling when you can be proud of the entire team.   We are hoping to keep our momentum going through the next few weeks as we approach the conference championships and regionals.   Full results can be found here -  https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/484732/results   Coach  

WMC Fremont Vs Orchard View 4-25-23 Cool with a breeze   The meet was schedule to be Fremont vs OV, but we added Mason County Central and Holton from the Rivers division of the WMC to the meet.  For official conference standings the score of Fremont vs OV and MCC vs Holton counted.  We did keep score against everyone though. Fremont 96 – MCC 31 Fremont 112 – Holton 7 Fremont 76 – OV 51     Strong performances were turned in by Carter Sherman, Blake Taylor, and Henrik Quist in the 1600, placing 1, 2, 3 all with Prs.  Eli Bement set a Pr in the 100.  Andrew Steger, Nathan Burns, and Josh Ekkel all threw a Pr in the Disc.  Event winners were Jacob Burns – 200 Gary Springstead – 400 Sean Pettis – 800, 3200 Carter Sherman – 1600 Daniel Romero – 110H, 300H 4x800 Relay – Chase Lowery, Sean Pettis, Issac Romero, Blake Taylor Andrew Steger – Discus   Full Results can be found here - https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/481118/results   Coach

Rich Tompkins Packer Relays 4-21-23   Cool and mostly calm   The Packer Relays are back.  I would like to say that the team won to honor Coach Tompkins, but it was not to be.  It was nice to see Ted Smith, ’90 Fremont grad, guide his Sparta team to the boys championship.  We place 4th out of 7 teams.  The boys continue to improve as shown by more personal records.  Our relay squads continue to improve as we get more work in on our handoffs and shuffle our relay members.  Athletes placing in the top 6 in individual events scored and medaled, while the top 4 relays got medals with 6 scoring.   Connor Pettis placed 3rd in the 100, with Kolten Belmarez placing 8th in a Pr.  In the 1600 Sean Pettis continues to improve his racing chops placing 2nd in a Pr with a great stretch run.  Blake Taylor places 8th and Issac Romero 9th, both Pr’s.  Daniel Romero won the 300 hurdles and Carter Rottman placed 4th with a Pr while dodging a fallen runner in the home straight.   The 4x100 team of Gabe Curtice, Connor Pettis, Jacob Burns, and Khai Noordyke ran almost 2 seconds faster than our best this season to win.  The 4x200 team also took home top honors running almost a second faster than our previous Sr.  Team members were Daniel Romero, Connor Pettis, Khai Noordyke, and Jacob Burns.  The 4x400 team of Lucas Bradley, Owen Hertel, Bjorn Johnson, and Gary Springstead improved by a second to place second, while the 4x800 and Sprint Medley teams placed 5th.  The Distance Medley team of Carter Sherman, Owen Hertel, Chase Lowery, and Sean Pettis placed 3rd.  Our High Jump and Shot Put relay teams placed 5th and the Discus relay team of Andrew Steger and Lucas Bradley placed 4th with Luke throwing a Pr.   Full results can be found here - https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/487911/results/all   Coach   

Boys WMC at Ludington. Sunny but cold weather. The boys put on a good showing at tonight’s meet. The meet against Ludington came down to the final race the 4 x 400 relay. It was a thrilling race with every leg neck and neck. We came up just a couple of hundredths of a second short. The boys did finish well ahead of Manistee in their score against them. Daniel Romero again lead the way finishing first in the 110 hurdles, the 300 hurdles, the long jump, and anchoring the 4 x 400 relay. Shawn Pettis won the 1600 m run and the 800 m run. New to track as a sophomore, Jacob Burns turned in some strong performances in the 200 m dash and the 4 x 200 m relay. Triton Corrigan also had a strong showing in the 300 m hurdles while Owen Hertel looked good in the 110 m hurdles. Isaac Romero and Blake Taylor ran personal records in the 1600 m run with Carter Sherman setting a personal record in the 3200 m run. Nathan Burns set a personal record in both the shot put and discus. Luke Bradley set a personal record in the 400 m dash. While we are disappointed in getting beat by Ludington, we are happy with the effort the boys showed in cold weather and the way that they supported each other throughout the meet.   Full results can be found here - https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/483093/results   Coach  

Fruitport Invitational – warm, no wind The boys had a great night at the Fruitport invitational. It was a unique meet with relays being Co Ed. Open events were run standard.  It was a beautiful night for track. The team had loads of personal records.  Daniel Romero lead the way winning the 300 m hurdles, placing second in the long jump, and placing second in the 110 hurdles. Sean Pettis placed second in the 3200 run and placed Second in the 1600 m run.  Connor Pettis and Khai Noordyke placed fourth as part of the mixed 4 x 200 m relay team with Johnny Christensen placing 6th in the 1600 run.  We still have lots of new athletes, learning their events and impressing along the way. Kyler DeKuiper, and Gabe Curtis, impressed in the mixed 4 x 1 relay with their handoffs after very little practice.  The boys placed 5th of 9 teams with 58.5 points. Here is a long list of all the athletes, that PRd at tonight’s meeting. 100 – Connor Pettis, Khai Noordyke, David Kalika, Kyler Dekuiper 200 – Connor Pettis, David Kalika 400 – Owen Hertel, Bjorn Johnson, Lucas Bradley 800 – Chase Lowery, Carter Sherman, Issac Romero 1600 – Sean Pettis, Carter Sherman 3200 – Sean Pettis, Blake Taylor, Issac Romero 110 Hurdles – Daniel Romero 300 Hurdles – Daniel Romero, Carter Rottman, Tritan Corrigan Discus – Josh Ekkel High Jump – Tavin Reichert-Slater Long Jump – Daniel Romero Full Results can be found here - https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/480253/results/all Coach

We had a solid showing at our first meet.  We are a young team this year, and I felt that the guy competed well.  We had a lot of PRs from our returning runners also.  Whitehall handled us, but we competed well with Montague.  The boys were down 2 points to Montague going into the 4x400 (last event), and knew that would decide who would win.  With 2 new runners, Owen Hertel (Jr) and Chase Lowery (Fr), Johnny Christensen (Jr) and Bjorn Johnson (Jr), ran a great race and won in a nail biter.   Event Winners Daniel Romero – 300 Hurdles with a new PR Other retuning athletes who set PRs Connor Pettis – 100 Tavin Reichert-Slater – 100, 200 Luke Bradley – 200, Discus Bjorn Johnson – 400 Carter Sherman – 3200 Carter Rottman – 110 Hurdles, 300 Hurdles   Friday we run in the Fruitport Invitational   Next week Friday we will host the Rich Tompkins Packer Relays.   Complete results can be found here – https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/498098/results/all   Coach Somers

The boys had a great start to their season competing at GVSU today. They are a young team with a lot of potential. Daniel Romero (Jr) medaled in the 60-meter hurdles finishing 7th out of close to 80 competitors with a time of 8.87. Gary Springstead (Sr) did a great job in the 4x600 and 4x300. Connor Pettis (Jr) ran his PR in the 200 today with a time of 24.52. Jacob Burns (So) and Kolten Belmarez (Sr) performed well in the long jump.  The girls will run on Thursday. Thanks, Coach Hamilton