By John Raffel
It’s like old times.
Pewamo-Westphalia scored just enough points to squeak out a win in the Division 3 track and field championship meet at Comstock Park. It scored 62 points compared to 59 for defending champion Frankenmuth. Manistee was a close third with 57. Ithaca (38) was fourth, Shepherd (23) seventh, Meridian eighth (20), and Clare (15) 13th.
Pewamo-Westphalia used a balanced attack to win its second title in the past three years. Again, it came down to the Pirates and Frankenmuth.
Coach Scott Werner’s team had a big day, with outstanding efforts.
“I’m very excited, obviously,” Werner said. “We took runner-up last year. To take that next step and get back up there this year is extremely gratifying. The kids had an undefeated year. This is true definition of a team. We scored in eight or nine events. It was a lot of different kids involved in scoring. I’m really proud of them.”
Brooke Stump, Emily Kramer, Olivia Nurenberg, and Brooklyn Nurenberg were second in the 3,200-meter relay, with a time of 9:38.65. Brenna Wirth, Kelly Thelen, Gabbie Hummel, and Marissa Wirth took first in the 800-meter relay in 1:45.19.
“It’s been our teamwork and our handoffs,” Wirth said.
Sarah Barrett, Claudia Heckman, Hummel, and M. Wirth were first in the 400-meter relay (50.56 seconds).
B. Wirth was second in the 400-meter dash (58.76) and third in the 200-meter dash (25.78). M. Wirth was fifth in the 200 (26.13). In the last event of the day, the Pirates clinched the win with a fifth-place effort in the 1,600-meter relay with the foursome of Emily Kramer, Stump, B. Nurenberg, and M. Wirth (4:11.11).
Individual results of the meet basically met Werner’s expectations. “With the exception of the first race of the day, the 4×8,” Werner said. “We were seeded seventh. The girls ran a huge personal best. They took almost 20 seconds off their time and took runner-up.”
Accepting the first-place trophy hasn’t gotten tiresome for Werner. His team also won the 2010 Division 4 state title.
“Each one has been different,” he said. “This one was especially sweet. I didn’t necessarily have huge standouts. I just had a really great team. They held each other accountable, worked hard, and everyone stepped up. Having all these girls contribute got us to where we need to and that’s really satisfying.”