Colts' relay team and Reading's Morris win titles at D-4 Track and Field championships

[caption id="attachment_663" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="The state champion 3200 relay team from Hillsdale Academy. Fron left to right, Joel Calvert, Ethan Smith, Ethan Gerhke and Tom Lundberg."][/caption]

By James Gensterblum / Hillsdale Daily News Correspondent

At the MHSAA Division 4 Track and Field State Finals, a meet where nothing is certain, the Potterville Vikings’ 3200 meter relay team had to be considered a sure bet to win.

The Vikings were bringing back all four runners from a dominant state title-winning team last season, including the top two 800 runners in the state, Larry Julson and Colin Ward. They had already gone seven seconds faster than their best time last season, and 11 seconds faster than any other team in Division 4 all season. The only question seemed to be whether or not they would break the state record during their inevitable victory.

However, in one of the biggest upsets in state meet history, Hillsdale Academy senior Tom Lundberg out-kicked Julson to the line to secure the Colts’ first title in school history and shock the seemingly invincible Vikings.

“It’s incredible to be a part of from a coach’s perspective,” said Hillsdale Academy coach Mike Roberts. “To have everything come together and have all four runners do exactly what they needed to do to pull off the victory is something that’s hard to achieve, and somehow this group did it. We’re all very proud of them.”

The team of Ethan Smith, Joel Calvert, Ethan Gerhke, and Lundberg finished in 8:03.94, two seconds off the state meet record of 8:01 but 15 seconds faster than their previous best.

“We’ve had so many second place finishes here, so we know how hard it is to get a victory at the state meet,” Roberts said. “It’s a tremendous accomplishment and to beat a team as good as Potterville to get it makes it even sweeter.”

The area’s other state champion, Trent Morris of Reading in the pole vault, seemed just as unlikely to be on the podium a couple of weeks ago.

After finishing fourth at the state meet a year ago, Morris had struggled the entire season, vaulting just 12-6 heading into last Tuesday’s Area Best meet. There, however, the Ranger vaulter finally put it together, clearing 14-0 for the first time in his career.

Morris carried that momentum over to the state meet, where he easily cleared the 14-foot bar on his first attempt to sew up a state title.

“This year was frustrating,” Morris said. “It seemed like no matter how much I worked at it, I couldn’t get any progress. But I’ve learned during my years here that if you just keep plugging away, it’ll come eventually. I’m so glad that it happened at the right time for me to do something here.”

With his victory, Morris became the third pole vault champion in four years from the area, joining Matt Magda of Jonesville and Greg Burns of Litchfield.

“I can’t think of the words to describe being in that group,” Morris said. “Honor isn’t right because it’s beyond that. They’re amazing vaulters and it’s just crazy to think that I’m a part of that legacy.”

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Ranger girls win MITCA state championship

[caption id="attachment_636" align="alignleft" width="450" caption="The Ranger girls celebrate the school's third MITCA track and field title."][/caption]

By James Gensterblum / Special to the Hillsdale Daily News

Despite an extremely successful season last year, the Reading Rangers’ Girls Track team still had some unfinished business heading into this season.

An agonizing one-point loss to Potterville in the 2008 MITCA Team State Meet proved a bitter pill for the Rangers to swallow. That loss, however, made the results of this year’s Team State Championship even sweeter for Reading.

This time, the Rangers outdistanced nine of the state’s best Division 4 track teams to claim the title by a 36-point margin.

“Last year was really a tough way to lose, being that close to a state title and falling just short,” said Reading coach Deb Price. “We brought a lot of our team back this year and I think that last year’s disappointment brought out the best in all of them. They all turned in stellar performances.”

The Rangers put up 967 points in the meet, which scores every finisher in every event rather than the top six or eight as in most meets, and put up several memorable performances.

Senior Brooke Schmucker won the shot put (37-1) and took second in the discus (102-9), while fellow thrower Jami Newell took third in the discus (102-1). Alex Mailahn (9-6) and Nicole Marsh (9-0) went one-two in the pole vault, and Jessica Fink took fourth in the long jump (15-1) in the field for the Rangers.

On the track the Rangers were just as impressive. Reading had three sprinters in the top 8 in the 100 dash, led by Kim Davis’ fourth (13.6). Marsh took second in the 100 hurdles (17.7) and third in the 300 hurdles (49.6), while Shawna Smith won the 300 (46.9).

Junior Tessa Pridgeon gave the Rangers a fourth champion on the day in the 400 (1:01) and also took fourth in the 200 (28.1). Reading’s relays were also a strong point, taking second in the 400 (52.4) and third in the 800 (1:52.1).

Reading capped the meet by decisively winning the 1600 relay and clinching their victory. The team of Brittany Couch, Fink, Davis, and Pridgeon ran a 4:17 and won by two seconds.

Although Reading’s stars shone, it was their depth that secured the championship. The Rangers showed few weaknesses on the track as unheralded freshmen and sophomores scored crucial points in nearly every event.

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'Cats, Colts keep league title streaks alive

[caption id="attachment_613" align="alignleft" width="450" caption="The Hillsdale Academy girls track and field team capped off a perfect SCAA duel season with a winning performance at the league championship meet Tuesday."][/caption]

On an evening filled with youngsters turning heads and a high level of camaraderie among local kids, a pair of impressive championship streaks remained in tact.

The Hillsdale Academy girls track and field team won its fifth consecutive SCAA championship meet thanks in part to what head coach Mike Roberts calls “youthful enthusiasm” and Mike Burger’s Pittsford boy’s team won the SCAA championship meet for the sixth straight season, after finishing third in the SCAA D I in the duel meet season.

The Colts finished a stellar regular season with a 145.5-point effort, 37 points better than runner-up Battle Creek St. Phil and 46.5 points more than third-place Colon.

On the boys side, the Wildcats dominated the field events per usual and used quality depth to score 131 points. Runner-up Bellevue tallied 112 points and Hillsdale Academy came in third with 103.

For Robert’s girls, a league championship signifies their ability to overcome the loss of six key seniors form a year ago. Clara Leutheuser, Caitlyn Hubbard, Tera Woods and the Somerville sisters among others, were Colts of the past when the 2009 track season rolled around, and Roberts is pleased how well several different groups of girls gelled together.

"We had some youthful enthusiasm from the young group and just a lot of team depth and hard workers. We could spread our kids out pretty well this year,” he said. "We also had a blend of some experience that was around some of that success. There were some kids on (last year's) team with the great senior talent that got a taste of it and they were able to carry that part over, and they were our leaders."

For the Pittsford boys, the victory Tuesday was especially sweet because of how they faltered on several occasions during the duel meet season (3-2), only to come out on top when it mattered most.

[caption id="attachment_614" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Pittsford boys track and field team won its sixth straight SCAA league championship meet Tuesday."][/caption]

"I don't know if this team is as gifted on the track as some of the others I've had, but this team certainly sticks together well, they work hard everyday in practice and it's been amazing,” Burger said. “We were so focused tonight because we wanted it bad; sure a division title in the regular season would've been the frosting on the cake, but we think this meet is a true representative of our league and it was a goal and it was the biggest one."

Burger said it was a great feeling to be part of another championship squad, but without his predecessors such success might not even be possible.

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Hillsdale Academy's Smith named Scholar-Athlete

[caption id="attachment_166" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Ethan Smith is one of 10 MHSAA Scholar-Athlete honorees in the state for Class C and D schools for 2009."][/caption]

By RJ Walters / Daily News Sports Editor

As published in the Hillsdale Daily News on Feb. 18

Ethan Smith will never forget his senior year and neither will his peers and mentors.

It was announced Tuesday that the Hillsdale Academy four-sport star was named one of 10 MHSAA Scholar-Athlete recipients for Class C and D schools, just a few months after he was named the  Wendy's High School Heisman award winner for boys in the state of Michigan.

Through Farm Bureau Insurance Smith will be awarded a $1,000 college scholarship and receive recognition at halftime of the Class C boys basketball state final contest at the Breslin Center in East Lansing on March 28.

"I was surprised again, like with the Wendy's one. I kind of figured you had to accomplish some big (or) significant athletic achievement and I really haven't so I was pretty surprised to hear it from (athletic director Mike) Roberts," he said. "I'm very grateful because of the financial situation, so that was very helpful. I'm just very blessed and very pleased. I kind of came home and joked around, 'Hey mom and dad, I made $1,000 today' and they were very happy."

The Academy has had just eight graduating classes to date, but Smith is the school's third Scholar-Athete and first male recipient. Clara Leutheuser was honored with the award in 2008, two years after her sister Anna received the same recognition.

"It does mean a lot to our school and we're very proud of Ethan and it's a good indicator of what we try to do here," Roberts said. "Hillsdale Academy prides itself on being very strong academically but this shows there is a balance that we try to strive for outside of the classroom. We're trying to tell our kids though that it's not normal to have so many students from a school like this honored in a short span of time. We could go on quite a dry spell because there are so many good schools we're up against."

Roberts graduated from Sturgis High School and he said he always felt it was a school with a strong commitment to academics and athletics, but from his knowledge they've never had a Scholar-Athlete.
Smith said he is a driven individual, but never expected this kind of success so soon.

"I've never really pictured myself getting these awards. My goal is just to get into college and pay for it you know, but this kind of award definitely helps," he said.

Smith has earned four letters in soccer, basketball and track and field along with three letters in cross country. He has been the team captain in soccer, cross country and basketball.

Off the playing field he has been named to the headmaster's list every trimester of high school and he was awarded the Lamoreaux Scholarship for his strong academic record.

All Scholar-Athlete applicants were required to submit an essay on sportsmanship to accompany his or her list of athletic and academic achievements.

Here is an excerpt from Smith's essay: “Sportsmanship is more important than winning, as sportsmanship includes several attributes such as respect, kindness, humility, and grace, which are needed not just in sports, but in all of life.”

Smith thanked his parents for making practicing sportsmanship just another habit of his daily routine.

"To me, I've just been raised in a good way that I've never really had to struggle with showing good sportsmanship, my parents have just always taught me to do that so it's second nature I guess," he said.
Smith plans on majoring on civil engineering in college and he said his top three college choices are the University of Dayton, the University of Michigan and Hillsdale College.

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