Thanks everyone, and like they say in John Green's hometown, don't forget to be awesome!
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This week in Western track & field:
Notes...
Western's men's track & field team qualifies for Team State Championship After finishing the regular season ranked No. 10 in the State Power Rankings, Western's men's team has been invited to compete in the Team State Championship to be held on Saturday, May 26, at Kenowa Hills High School, near Grand Rapids. The Team State Championship meet uses a "true team" scoring format, which means each team gets three entries in each event, and every athlete scores. For instance, if there are ten teams competing, first place in the 100m dash is worth 30 points and 30th place is worth one point. This format rewards teams that have both top-end performers and depth. This will be the third time in Western's history that we've attended the Team State Championship, and it offers an excellent opportunity for our athletes to compete against the best teams in the state (a couple of which are in our league in region). It is difficult to match the kind of experience and motivation that can come from this meet. The bus will leave from Western early Saturday morning, and will return in the early evening. As soon as we have a meet information sheet it will be sent out to this email list. Coldwater to host Interstate-8 Finals this Tuesday, May 22 While we would prefer an extra day to process the successes and challenges of last Friday's Regional Finals and prepare for the league meet, Western Panthers pride themselves in being Stay-Ready All-Stars, so on Tuesday we'll get on the bus and take this party down I-69 to Coldwater. We get three entries per event, plus additional qualifiers. Athletes will be dismissed from class at 12:45 p.m. and the bus will leave at 1 p.m. As soon as we have a meet information sheet it will be sent out to this email list. Panthers finish in fourth place at Regional Finals; Inosencio and Starr qualify for MHSAA State Finals Western's men's track & field team finished in fourth place behind Coldwater, Mason and Olivet, and just one point ahead of fifth place Harper Creek at the Regional Finals, which were hosted at Mason High School Friday night. For many of our athletes, third place was the story of the day, in most cases thanks to highly improved performances. Painfully, though, to qualifying for the MHSAA State Finals requires a second place Regional finish in an individual event, or meeting the MHSAA's Additional Qualifying Standard. Perhaps due to an unusually cold April, additional qualifiers were rare across the state this year. In open events, senior Alex Inosencio finished 3rd in the 110m high hurdles, sophomore Ian Devin finished third in the 300m intermediate hurdles, and junior Nathan Burk finished third in the 400m dash. The 4x100m relay team of freshman Ben Lum, sophomore James Bloomfield, señor Luke French and Devine cut more than a second off our previous season best to finish in third place in the event. Finishing in better than third place, though, Inosencio, who cleared 15 feet and became Regional Champion in the event, and junior Gezahegn Starr, who ran a huge PR of 4:25.66 in the 1600m run and was runner up in both this and the 3200m run. Thank you, Panthers, for working and growing to become the best versions of ourselves. Now let's remember as we work to put an exclamation point on the end of our season, the best growth is never comfortable. Western defeats Northwest
Despite going home with wet feet thanks to the buckets of water that fell in the morning's rainstorm, it was a beautiful day for our final home meet of the year. We defeated our traditional rivals, the Northwest Mounties, in solid fashion. Click HERE to see the full results. JV Invitational at Jackson Tomorrow, May 16, the bus leaves Western at 3 p.m. to go to compete at Jackson's historic Withington Stadium. Field events begin at 4:15 p.m. and we expect running events to start at 5 p.m. Unless prearranged, everyone competing will ride the bus to and from the meet. Regional Finals at Mason this Friday. Friday's bus to Mason leaves at 1:15 p.m. After checking with teachers before class, athletes will dismiss themselves from class at 1 p.m. Additional meet information is attached. Team T-Shirts We call these the "Panthers Got Your Back" shirts. They cost just $5 each, thanks to help from the Western Runners Club. They'll be made available to the general public after each member of the team has had the opportunity to buy one. The front was designed by Zack Cole, and the back is a reference to the straight-ahead, attacking nature of the Panther. Who's got your back? Panthers got your back. Despite falling short of winning these past two meets, Western's boys track and field team has enjoyed some impressive performances, especially in the field events.
Last night in a dual meet at Battle Creek Harper Creek senior Alex Inosencio literally vaulted his way into the top spot in his event in the state, across all divisions, when he cleared a school-record height of 15'-8". "They had set the crossbar at 15'-7" because clearing that height would qualify Alex for the Championship Division at nationals in June," coach Lucas Sponsler said. "But when we ran the tape measure from the bar it read 15 feet, eight inches." Western lost the dual meet, 100.5-62.5. "This year's team has a great attitude and a lot of ability," Sponsler said, "but we're young, and we're nursing some minor injuries. Had we been a full strength it would have been a different meet." Choosing to hold athletes back and let them heal also led to Western's second-place finish in last Friday's Ralph Rice Invitational. The Panthers finished just 13 points behind the meet champions from Corunna, which means one or two key entries could have made the difference. "It's frustrating but that's the beauty of this sport," Sponsler said. "No matter what, there are guys who are working hard and competing to the best of their ability." Tyler Oxley demonstrated that sentiment Friday when he broke fifty feet in the shot put. His winning throw of 50'-8" puts him in Western's top four or five throwers ever. "We have guys who are still figuring out how to really exert themselves and let the toughness mix with the technique and training," Sponsler said. "But this group has a great attitude and work ethic, and that's key to success in anything. It's easy to see Ino and TheOx, but those guys are quick to point to and celebrate the progress of their teammates." To get a detailed picture of Western's results and progress go to www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/EventRecords.aspx?SchoolID=12834 For archived updates and reports go to 270tnf.weebly.com. -33- |
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May 2018
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