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Championship season begins with regional win for FHS thinclads 

By: Coach Mike Snyder 

  The Frankenmuth Girl’s Track and Field Team traveled to Bad Axe on Saturday and captured the Regional Championship over the 17 schools in attendance (Frankenmuth 159, Reese 94, Flint Southwestern Academy 84.5, Flint Hamady 42.5, Marlette 41, Flint Powers 34, Bad Axe 29, Sandusky 29, Millington 26, Cass City 24, Almont 20, Vassar 20, Elkton Pigeon Bayport 17, Montrose-Hill-McCloy 13, Flint Beecher, Capac 7, Burton Bendle 5).   Going into the meet, we looked at the seeding sheets and it was very close if everyone scored in the order they were seeded in.  Our girls did an amazing job as they qualified in 14 out of the 17 events with 14 girls earning the trip to the State Finals held at Comstock Park on June 1^st.

   This is an incredible accomplishment and Coach Hayes and I are very proud of their performance today.  We call this portion of the season the Championship Season and the girls performed like champions as 14 of them achieved personal records in their events with several of them setting multiple personal bests.  To win at this level, everything has to fall into place with everyone on the team competing at their very best.   

  Seniors that are making the trip to the State Finals include team captain, Ashley Frahm (2^nd in the Shot Put 35’ 1.25”; 1^st in the discus 121’ 11”).  Ashley has been very sick the last several days but stuck it out to perform well enough to qualify for the finals in both of her events.  Her energy was zapped so we are very happy that she could pull this out today.  She has been the leading thrower in D3 all season and to have one meet determine if she goes to the finals or not was very nerve racking for her.  Ashley came through and will make another trip to Comstock Park with the team (hopefully feeling much better).  

  Senior, Madison Mossner helped her 4x800m Relay team qualify by running her best 800m split ever and helping the team finish 2^nd with a time of 10:10.96 which was 30 seconds faster than the teams previous best.  This puts the team within striking distance of scoring at the state meet and made them very competitive.  There has not been a 4x800m Relay team at states for several years and the team came through today.   Madison also set a personal record by breaking the six minute barrier in the 1600m with a time of 5:55.89 taking 5^th overall.  Madison had a great day and her training and hard work is showing at this point in the season.  

  Senior, Rachel Crompton helped both of her relay teams earn a trip to the finals as she was 3^rd leg in the 4x100m Relay (2^nd place 52.08) helping the team run to a season best and the 2^nd leg of the 4x200m Relay which ran their season best winning the relay with a time of 1:47.55.  Rachel is an important leg of the relays and with a bit more tweaking of their hand-offs will be very competitive at the state level in both.  

  Senior, captain, Lauren Peterson will be going to the state finals in the 4x400m Relay and she helped her team to a 2^nd place finish with a season best time of 4:15.61 for the relay combination. Lauren is gradually lowering her season best time in the 400m as she clocked a 1:05.78 in the open 400m placing 11^th overall.  Lauren’s splits in the relay are also going down as she has reached the 1:04 mark.  I know she will be under this at the state meet because she always raises the bar during this part of the season. 

  Senior, Kaitlyn Janson supported the team with a 7^th place finish in the shot put with a toss of 31’ 04.75”.  I know Kaitlyn wanted to get to the state finals again this season, but she just came up short this year. 

  First year runner, senior, Abbey Murlick also had a very good day today as she set a personal record in the open 800m with a time of 2:50.90 placing 14^th overall. 

  Juniors earning a trip to the state finals were led by captain, Angie Ritter who qualified in all four of her events.  Angie had a very good day as she captured 1^st place finishes in the 200m (26.06 – 2^nd best time this season), 1^st in the open 400m with a time of 59.21 which was her season best, anchored the winning 4x200m Relay team (1:47.55) which was their season best, and helped the team pull into 2^nd in the 4x400m Relay with their season best of 4:15.61.  It’s always exciting to watch Angie in the relay’s because she is such a strong runner and very determined to win in whatever race she is running.   With the events Angie is in, she will be very busy as the 200m has prelims and semi-finals which basically add two very competitive races to her plate.

  Junior, captain, Carly Hammond will also be busy at the state finals as she qualified in all three of her events.  Carly lead off the 4x800m Relay and gave the team the lead as they finished in the top two (and met the state qualifying time standard).  Carly also finished 2^nd in the open 800m with a time of 2:29.20.  Last year Carly made it to the state finals and won her heat with an impressive race.  We believe Carly will perform as well this year but hopefully in the fastest heat of the 800m.  Carly is also the 2^nd leg in the 4x400m Relay team that made it to states and with her determined running style, we believe she will help the team place in the finals.

  Junior, captain, Emily Sievert showed her strength and determination as she anchored the 4x800m relay team to a 2^nd place finish.  The team ran great splits to allow Emily to bring it home to qualify.  Emily also placed 2^nd in the 3200m run with a personal record 12:23.63.  Emily ran very well and we are confident that she will do even better in the finals. 

  First year runner, junior, Cadi Palmreuter is part of the 4x100m Relay and 4x400m Relay teams that are heading for the state finals.  Cadi really likes the relays and has become a key leg in both teams.  We are very happy that Cadi decided to run track this season because she is filling a very important role in our sprint relays.  Cadi also helped the team scoring as she was 6^th place in the 100m dash with a time of 14.05.

  Junior, Rebekah Barger is running very well as she is our lead leg in the 4x100m Relay.  Bekah gets out quick out of the blocks and is one of the main reasons our 4x100m Relay team is heading to states again this season.  She will be counted on to run her best in the finals and we have all the confidence in the world that she will do so.

  Junior, Melissa Olgren competed in the 1600m and placed 11^th overall with her 2^nd best time of the season of 6:22.20.  Junior, Emilie Schmitt also supported the team as she made it to the semi-finals in the 100m Hurdles with a time of 18.57 which was her second best time in the event.  Emilie also competed in the 300m Hurdles and finished 13^th with a time of 59.41. 

  We also have a very strong sophomore representation at the finals this year lead by Sydney Bronner who qualified in all four of her events.  Sydney set a personal record in the 100m Hurdles as she finished 1^st with a time of 15.91.  She also won the 300m Hurdles with a very good time of 48.79.  I know Sydney can improve on this time as she gains confidence that she can sustain her 200m speed during this race.  I think she will surprise herself when this happens.  Sydney is our lead leg in the 4x200m Relay and runs a very good 200m split as she will be leading this team in the finals.  Another strength that we will continue to build is in the high jump.  Sydney placed second with a jump of 5’ 02” just kicking off the bar twice at 5’ 04” which would be her personal best.  I know Sydney has the talent right now to go higher than 5’ 04” and even break the school record of 5’ 05”.  We are looking forward to seeing what she will do in the finals. 

  Sophomore, Sarah Beulla is also on her way to the finals in the 4x100m Relay and the 4x200m Relay.  Sarah is our 3^rd leg of the 4x200m Relay and our anchor in the 4x100m Relay.  She continues to get stronger and faster with every meet and she is a very important leg of both relays.

  Sophomore, Stephanie Lambeth has really grown in the field events.  She just missed the qualifying height in the high jump of 5’ 00” as she captured 5^th place tying her personal best of 4’ 10”.     She was just 9” shy of qualifying in the long jump as she finished in 7^th place with a jump of 15’ .5”.  However, she is going to the state finals in the pole vault as she won this event tying her personal best of 9’ 06”.  I know she will be breaking the school record this year of 10’ in the next few weeks.  She is working with Coach Drake on her vaulting technique and is improving every week.   A 10’ vault at states will give Stephanie a good chance of placing. 

  Sophomore, Sarah Janson helped the team by scoring 7^th place in the discus with a toss of 88’ 05” which was her 2^nd best throw ever.  We are looking for Sarah to move into those top scoring position next season. 

  We have two freshmen making the trip to the finals this season in MacKenzie Walter and Keri Frahm.  Kenzie ran a very impressive leg in the 2^nd leg of the 4x800m Relay and was one of the main reasons the team trimmed 30 seconds off their previous best time.  Coach Hayes and I were very pleased with the team’s performance as now they know they can compete at this level and have placed themselves in a good position for the finals.  Kenzie also scored in the open 3200m with an 8^th place finish and time of 13:45.39. 

  Freshman, Keri Frahm set her personal record in the discus to capture 2^nd place as she exceeded the state qualifying standard with her throw of 105’ 07”.   This will be a great experience for her and if she improves as much as she did this time, she will be in contention for a medal. 

  Coach Hayes and I are very happy with the team’s progress to this point and are looking forward to the next several meets as the season is winding down.  The team is at Bridgeport for the TVC-East Championships on Wednesday followed by team states (MITCA) at Kent City on Saturday.  The following week will close out this track season with invites to the Caro Meet of Champions on Tuesday and the State Finals on the following Saturday at Comstock Park.