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."]
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.”
