Article - High School Sports Scene

Some teams measure success in wins and losses. The Saginaw girls soccer team doesn’t quite see things that way.

“If you leave everything on the field, there should be no bad feeling after the game, because you did everything you could to help the team be successful,” head coach Omar Dasuqi said. “Our record doesn’t display or measure our success; there is so much more to life and the game than winning.”

The Trojans went 1-10 last year and have started 0-7 this season. Dasuqi, in his third year coaching the team, knew it would be a long process, but he didn’t hesitate to take the coaching job when it opened.

“I took this job for a few different reasons,” he said. “One, to be a male role model and provide a positive influence for the girls. Two, to give the ladies an opportunity to be a part of something positive at Saginaw High. Three, to teach the girls good morals and ethics through sport. Four, to be able to build a soccer program from the bottom up. Five, a way to give back to my community. Six, to provide the ladies with something to be proud of and be a part of the Trojan family. I am truly blessed to have this opportunity to have an impact on this great group of young ladies.”

That being said, coaching soccer at a school and in a community much better known for its basketball prowess has had its difficulties.

“Due to the fact that soccer isn’t a big sport in this community or culture, the skills and experience are slightly limited,” Dasuqi said. “For a lot of the girls, they have never played an organized or a pick up game of soccer. For most, this is their first time playing soccer, but they are willing to learn and dedicate the time and patience. One thing I can say is the heart and passion they play with is outstanding; they bring it every game.”

Though wins are hard to come by for the program, it was last year’s 4-3 victory that shows just what the team’s winning attitude can bring them.

“We were down 3-0 and finished a four-goal run to win,” Dasuqi said. “This win displays our heart and determination to never give up and leave everything on the field. We are 0-7 this year, but we are continuing to develop skill and awareness, so in my eyes, as long as I can see progression for the better, we are undefeated.”

Even as games get out of hand, Dasuqi knows that focusing on the little things is still important, as his team must keep growing.

“The teaching of fundamentals is the key to success at this level,” he said. “I teach and preach fundamentals, so it can become second nature to the ladies. They respect my coaching style, because they can sense that I am coaching from the heart and learning is my main concern for the ladies. I always stress the importance of education and tell them they are a student first and an athlete second… My goal is to develop a great citizen, not a great soccer player. If I develop a great soccer player in the process, great!”

The coach adds that he has a great group of seniors that helps keep the team headed in the right direction.

“A lot of success has to go out to the ladies that help build this program,” Dasuqi said. “They displayed hard work, dedication, leadership, and a high level of class. These seniors need recognition. Karrie Bell, Karen Bell, Amber Perez, Anquinett Fason, Juannina Wilkins, Kim’Nesha Nelson, and Carlisha McCary. I have two great co-captains (Shamarira Torrance and Acashia Wade). If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have had the great success we have been developing over the years.”

The Trojans haven’t won a game yet this year. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. Dasuqi is OK with it either way. “There is more to soccer than scoring goals and winning games,” he said. “Our goal is simple year in and year out – have fun. If you aren’t having fun, there’s no point in doing it.”

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Sitting among friends and family at his National Football League draft party at Wingin’ It in East Tawas May 10, Jeff Janis was getting anxious. The seventh and final round was coming to a close, but his name had yet to be called.

“I was starting to get a little worried, because all of the teams calling me wanted me as [an undrafted] free agent,” Janis said. “But, still with a lot of picks left in the seventh round, I had some hope.”

Then, at the 236^th pick, his phone rang again.

“Thankfully, I finally got the call, and it was the Packers,” he said. “They just said, ‘are you ready to be a Packer?’ And of course I said ‘yes!’”

The draft selection marks the end of an interesting few months for Janis, who graduated from Tawas Area High School in 2009 and from Saginaw Valley State University this past fall. Since wrapping up a stellar collegiate career, he’s attended the NFL combine and the Senior Bowl and has been fielding endless phone calls from professional scouts. All were wondering if the wide receiver would fit with their teams. Green Bay felt he would.

“It feels great to have such a great organization use one of their draft picks on me,” Janis said. “I’m really excited to show them what I can do. This definitely makes my hard work pay off, but it’s far from over. The real hard work begins now.”

Life as a Cardinal

After being redshirted his freshman year, Janis began making a name for himself by the time he was a junior. That year, he led Division II receivers with 1635 receiving yards. He had 83 catches for 1572 yards and 14 touchdowns his senior year.

“I couldn’t be more happy and proud,” SVSU head coach Jim Collins said. “What Jeff has accomplished up to this point is awesome. When you consider how many seniors played college football, and the extremely low percentage that get drafted, it really puts things into perspective. I speak for the entire SVSU community when I say how much we appreciated all that Jeff was able to accomplish on the field and in the classroom. We are extremely proud. It is a great day to be a Cardinal.”

Janis’ 4305 yards and 46 touchdowns in his SVSU career were proof that SVSU’s gamble on signing him paid off. He’s just the fourth SVSU graduate to be taken in the NFL draft.

“My time at SVSU means so much to me,” Janis said. “It is what happened there that is the reason why I’m here today. It was a great experience with great people, and I am so grateful for it.”

Life as a Brave

Prior to his SVSU days, Janis was a standout on the Tawas Area football team. After a late surge his junior year, he dazzled fans with eye-popping moves that led to 375 receiving yards, 731 rushing yards, and 16 touchdowns his senior year. Breaking his hand mid season limited his ability to catch the ball, but Janis never stopped racking up rushing yards.

“Some kids have an outstanding work ethic, but not many,” Tawas Area head football coach Tim Webb said. “Some have natural talent and an NFL body, but not many. He has an extremely rare combination of both. Most importantly, he is the most committed individual to the weight room I’ve ever seen. He’s made himself into one of the best athletes in the country. His level of dedication is so rare, I probably won’t see it again as long as I coach.”

Even though Janis has gone on to collegiate and now professional ranks, his time in Tawas is far from forgotten. Proof of that was Janis’ draft party, where family, friends, and fans crowded Wingin’ It to offer their support.

“There was probably over 100 people at my draft party,” Janis said. “It was so cool seeing so many friends and family there to show their support. It meant so much to me. I also had many people sending me texts and messages on Facebook; it was a great feeling.

“Tawas is where I grew up and is where my heart is,” he added. “It means everything to me. I am going to do whatever I can possibly do to make everyone from there proud. This doesn’t happen a lot from Tawas, but that doesn’t mean it can’t, and I want other kids to realize that as well.”

Life in the NFL

Janis has only known success when it comes to football. Now that he’s at the sport’s highest level, hopefully that success will continue.

“I have all the confidence in the world that, with Jeff’s talent and work ethic, he will be a great NFL player,” Collins said.

From catching passes from Jesse Siwek at Tawas Area, from Jonathan Jennings at SVSU, and now from Aaron Rodgers with the Packers, Webb called it almost too good to be true. “It’s still hard for me to grasp the fact that Jeff will be playing in the NFL,” he said. “Especially since almost every college told him he wasn’t good enough for that level… I think his potential is scary. His work ethic combined with the fact that he is going to be able to focus on developing his craft full-time, who knows what he can be? I am just so happy for him and his family; it’s a really exciting time for them right now.”

The Monday morning following the draft, Janis posted a Facebook picture of his locker in the Green Bay locker room. His last name and new number 83 already were proudly displayed. “Love it here already!” Janis posted along with the photo.

Apparently, he likes the thought of playing at Lambeau Field already. “I think I will fit in great with the Packers,” Janis said. “Scheme-wise and location-wise. It’s a lot like Michigan there, so I feel right at home.”

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Countless high school track runners are fast. After all, that’s the name of the game in track and field. What sets Arthur Hill senior Anthony Debardelaben apart from the rest of the pack is how hard he brings it every day.

“He’s a hard worker, a very hard worker,” Arthur Hill track and field head coach Leonard Adams said. “He has been undefeated all season [in the 100] and won the indoor 60-meter championship this year. He’s dedicated to track and field. He plays football, too, but he knows that track is his opportunity to go to college, so I think he’ll be a great competitor at the next level.”

Debardelaben’s best event, according to Adams, is the 100-meter dash, although he excels in the 200-meter dash and 400-meter relay as well. He won regionals last year in the 100-meter dash and won the county meet in 10.4 seconds this year. All of this was good enough to earn his way onto a Division I roster, as he has committed to run at Eastern Michigan University.

“It was a family-first decision,” Debardelaben said of choosing Eastern. “My sister goes there and is on the track team, too. Also, they won the indoor championship back-to-back years, so I know I’m going into a good situation. Plus, when I went there for a visit, I liked the atmosphere. I felt like I was already on the team.”

All Debardelaben’s success came after what the runner admits was a less-than-stellar start to his career. “I was one of the worst people on the team my freshman year,” he said. “I kept working hard to get better. I quit basketball to focus on track, because I knew that this could be something big for me, so I kept putting more into it.”

It did become something big, as he’s gone from being one of the worst runners on the team to one of the best in the state. Assuming he qualifies for the state finals in the 100-meter dash, Debardelaben hopes to atone for last year’s mistake. A year ago, in one of the preliminary rounds, he was called for a false start, disqualifying him before he even got started. He also has a strong chance to make the finals in the 200-meter dash and in the 400-meter relay, according to his coach.

“We have a lot hanging on [regionals]; nothing is promised, we know that,” Adams said. “But, we are hoping he can finish in the top five in the state. He’s been complaining about leg injuries and his hamstring being a little sore, but he has been running fast enough times to win all season.”

Despite his disqualification last year, Debardelaben isn’t rattled at all at the thought of returning to the state finals. “It’s the same environment really,” he said. “Every meet is the same, regardless of how many people are there. You just have to do what you do.”

What Debardelaben does is win, and that’s something he’d like to do one last time before his high school track days are over.

“I want to go out on top,” he said.

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John Raffel

Sports Scene

Rollie Carman has worn a few different high school baseball caps in his career. But now he’s coaching at St. Louis, and his goal is to turn the Sharks into contenders again.

As of mid-May, St. Louis’ record was 5-8.

“It’s going all right,” Carman said. ”We’re doing OK.”

The new St. Louis coach was head coach at Ithaca the previous eight seasons. Prior to that, he was at Carson City-Crystal four seasons, St. Louis one year, Alma three seasons, Montabella three years, plus Ithaca for two.

“I’ve been all over the country,” Carman smiled. “Never been able to settle down.”

He’s been handling the coaching duties wherever and whenever he’s been able to fit into a particular program, Carman noted.

“My goal is to build this program back to where it was not too long ago,” Carman said of St. Louis. “They were really good. There’s a lot of support from the community, and there’s a lot of people working hard to make sure the baseball is good. That’s kind of why I went there.”

Carman has been impressed with the support he’s getting from parents. “You get parents on your side, and that’s nine-tenths of the battle,” he said.

St. Louis will continue to have an active summer program with Carman on board. “That’s the way it is,” he said. “If you’re going to have a program, you have to have kids playing baseball from January until September, and then they can take the rest of the time off. But they have to be playing January to September. That’s pretty much how you generate good ballplayers. You can’t just go from March to June.”

St. Louis has 18-and-under and 16-and-under baseball programs that were started last season.

“You look at what they’re offering St. Louis kids for baseball, and it was pretty easy to decide to go there,” Carman said. “We’ll play Shepherd, we’ll play Chip Hills, we’ll play Beal City, we’ll play Harrison, Gladwin, teams over that way. We play Mount Pleasant teams, too.”

When high school season ends, Carman and his players will get right into the summer campaign.

At St. Louis, “we’re basically teaching kids from the ground up,” he said. “It’s certainly going to be a process this year. You have a new coach. My program is pretty extensive and the kids have a lot of learning to do.”

Between varsity and junior varsity, Carman has 26 total kids on the teams this spring.

“It’s really hard to go with more than that,” Carman said. “You can’t have 15 kids on your team because the ones that aren’t playing won’t play. It makes it hard on coaches. If you don’t play them, they quit. Our numbers are where they need to be. We just have to get the right group of kids there.”

St. Louis plays in the TVC West. Building the program into a conference contender is a high priority for Carman. “Your whole season is based on league play,” he said.

A native of the area, he lives in Sumner, between Carson City and Ithaca, and is a teacher at the St. Louis correctional facility.

The poor spring weather seems to emphasize Carman’s point of having players take advantage of the warm summer months to play baseball.

“I want kids that are going to play baseball when baseball is available and not just in the spring,” Carman said. “The youth program in St. Louis is really strong. We can keep kids interested in baseball. It’s just a matter of time.”

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By BUTCH HARMON

Thanks to the return of a trio of players who were part of one of the strongest travel teams in the nation last spring, the Powers Catholic girls soccer team is poised to return to the top of the mountain in Division 3 soccer this season.

As freshmen at Powers, Ally Haran, Morgan McKerchie, and Heather Rolls were part of a Powers team that won the state championship. As sophomores, they were all-state soccer players who helped the Chargers reach the Division 3 state title match. Last year, the trio chose to play for the Hawks, a Michigan-based travel team that was one of the top teams in the nation. Michigan High School Athletic Association rules do not allow players to participate in travel team sports during the same high school season, so the girls were not part of the Powers varsity team that eventually reached the state semifinals. This season, the trio decided to play their final year of high school soccer together at Powers, and the results have been impressive.

“We have been doing well,” coach Art Moody said. “We started the season with a 12-0-1 record. Our only tie was 2-2 against Fenton. We have been scoring a lot of goals this year. We have scored over 70 goals in our first 13 games. We have also allowed only five goals this year.”

The Chargers have been putting up those numbers against some strong opponents. “We played some very good teams early on this year,” Moody said. “The big difference is this year, when we get opportunities on offense, we have been capitalizing on them. We have been putting teams down early, and that has been boosting our confidence.”

Having a trio of elite players return to the lineup has also been a big boost for the Chargers. The three players have all signed to play college soccer with Division 1 programs. Rolls, the starting goalkeeper, has signed with Georgetown University. McKerchie, a forward, has signed with Michigan State University, and Haran, a defender, has signed with Wake Forest University of the Atlantic Coach Conference.

“All three girls played for the Michigan Hawks, and all three decided to come back this year,” Moody said. “They won a state title their freshman year, and in their sophomore year, they made it back to the state finals. They were all also all-state as sophomores. Last year, they competed on the national level for one of the best select teams in the country. This year, they all decided to come back and finish their high school careers at Powers. They also hope to make it back to the finals.”

The trio has helped make this a special year for Moody, who won the 100^th game of his coaching career earlier this season.

The Powers team is not just about the returning trio, however. The three join a squad that has plenty of talent returning from a team that reached the state semifinals last spring.

“Gabriela Gerra is a senior who has been playing for us since she was a freshman,” Moody said. “She is a midfielder, and she has been at the core of the team. She is a captain and is a big part of our team and is one of the better players on the team.”

The Chargers have also been getting solid play from senior Kristin Syrowik. “Kristin is a four-year player for us at forward,” Moody said. “She has been scoring a lot of goals for us.”

The five seniors have been leading the way for the Chargers, but plenty of talented young players are following behind. “We have been building a strong girls’ soccer program here at Powers,” Moody said. “We have some real solid seniors this year, but we also have a very nice freshman class this year. Our junior varsity program has also been very strong. The freshman class will allow us to continue to play at a high level.”

With the state tournament around the corner, the Chargers are keeping their focus. “Our philosophy is to play one game at a time,” Moody said. “It is the next game that we focus on. That has helped us as a program. As a team, we stay focused on the goal at hand.”

The ultimate goal, however, is to bring another girls’ soccer championship back to Genesee County. “When these seniors were freshmen, they were the first girls’ soccer team to win a state soccer championship for Genesee County,” Moody said. “As sophomores, their goal was to become the first team to win back-to-back state titles in Genesee County. We hope this year to bring another state title back to Genesee County.”

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By BUTCH HARMON

Led by one of the premier soccer players in the state, the Okemos girls soccer team is setting the stage for another deep state tournament run.

In senior Ashton Miller, the Chieftains have a nationally-ranked player. One of the most highly recruited players in the country, she eventually signed with Duke University.

“Ashton is as mature a player as I have ever been fortunate to coach,” said Okemos coach Brian Guggemos. “She loves to train, and she trains at a high level. We have a young team this year, and she is great with young players. She does a good job of bringing them along. Ashton is a captain for us this year, and she has done a great job.”

Miller is a midfielder who is also a member of the prestigious Michigan Hawks travel team and the Under 17 United States Women’s National Team.

“Ashton is an incredibly talented player,” Guggemos said. “She is a top-20 national recruit and is going to Duke, which is a top 10 national soccer team. She is doing great this year and is a great teammate.”

Miller is not the only Division 1 player on this year’s team. Senior Kristelle Yewah has committed to playing soccer at Michigan State University next year.

“Kristelle is also a captain and is great at involving the younger players,” Guggemos said. “She is a great player to have on any team. She can score a goal on her own out of nothing. She has done a lot of heavy lifting for the team, and that is always a challenge, as opposing teams focus on her and always mark her. She still has been able to score 15 goals for us this year.”

The Chieftains also have a talented junior, Erin Doster, who has the attention of college recruiters. “Erin is a junior who is going to be a Division 1 player,” Guggemos said. “She is a sparkplug for our team. Her work rate is very high, and she has a knack for scoring goals. She scored 10 goals as a freshman and has been in double-digits in goals every year. It is great for a coach knowing you have a player that talented that is always giving great effort, and I look forward to coaching her for the next year and a half.”

Okemos has also been receiving solid play from Vanessa Nigg, who fills a variety of roles for the team. “Vanessa plays pretty much every minute of every game,” Guggemos said. “She plays goalkeeper for us and also forward. She could be a full-time goaltender and a full-time field player, but we need her for both. She is outstanding in both settings.”

The veteran core of Okemos has been having another solid season. The Chieftains tied for the CAAC Blue championship with Grand Ledge and Holt. “We’ve had a little bit of a hit and miss this season due to the weather,” Guggemos said. “I think the weather has hurt us as much as anyone, because we have a lot of new players to the varsity. It has been difficult to get some consistency due to the weather.”

While the weather has posed problems, the team has come together as a unit. “I really like the personality of this year’s team,” Guggemos said. “The girls really enjoy being around each other. There are no cliques, and everyone gets along great with each other.”

The team has also improved as the season has progressed. “Obviously, getting a share of the league championship has been a highlight,” Guggemos said. “We were very fortunate, and the girls are happy with it. We’ve also had some good wins. We beat Williamston and played well in some other games, as well. We played Grand Blanc to a 2-2 tie. They are a great team, and we were a little short-handed. We were also a little short-handed against East Lansing, and we earned a 2-0 win.”

With the season winding down, Okemos has its sights set on a strong tournament showing. Two years ago, Okemos won the Division 1 state title.

Last season, the Chieftains traveled to the Grand Rapids district, a district heavily loaded with talented teams. “We beat Forest Hills Central that was ranked one or two in the state in the first round,” Guggemos said. “In our next game, we lost 1-0 to Caledonia, and they were also ranked in the top ten. That was one of the most difficult districts in the state, with four of five teams ranked in the top ten in Division 1.”

This year the Chieftains play closer to home in the Holt district. “We open with Battle Creek Lakeview, and then we play the winner of the Jackson/Lansing Everett game,” Guggemos said. “I think we have a chance to win a couple of games and make some noise in the tournament. We just have to keep improving. We didn’t get as far as we hoped last year, and this year we are hoping to change that.”

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Big Rapids coach Mark Posey has a younger boys’ golf team this year. In the past, the program has produced all-state golfers and state titles, and this year, he has a sophomore prospect who figures on making quite a lot of noise before the 2014 season comes to an end.

Carter Bechaz has been leading the way, not only for Big Rapids, but also for the entire Central State Activities Association. He shot a 74 for medalist honors in the final CSAA jamboree in mid May.

Bechaz’s freshman season was an indication to Posey that Bechaz had a chance to be a special golfer. “He was learning how to play the game,” Posey said. “He averaged like a 90. He was still learning how to play golf.”

But in the matter of just one season, Bechaz went from the team’s No. 4 or 5 golfer to No. 1 in the CSAA.

“He’s about eight strokes better than he was last year at this point,” Posey said.

The improvement in Bechaz’s short game has made him a better golfer, Posey noted. “Last year, he missed a lot of greens, would make a chip, but wouldn’t make the putt,” Posey said. “He wouldn’t get close enough. Last year, he’d get up and down maybe once or twice in a round. This year at one of the tournaments, he was like 80 percent.”

“I’m getting it closer to hole,” Bechaz said. “I’m definitely a lot more focused. Last year, I was probably more nervous, too, coming in as a freshman and being on the varsity. I was more comfortable in the environment and playing with better people.”

The time that Bechaz put in during the summer has paid off, Posey pointed out. “He was out playing a lot of summer tournaments. He knew from last year when we sat down with his stats at the end of the year and said, ‘Hey, this where you’re losing your strokes.’ He took it from there and worked on his short game. This year, he’s a whole lot better.

“One thing I like about Carter is he has a good head on his shoulders. He really does a nice job of keeping his emotions in check. A really good golfer has a good head on his shoulders. Carter has that. He doesn’t get down or get really excited. He just goes out and plays with the game he has that day. He goes and grinds it out.”

Bechaz, like other golfers, has had to battle the weather to get his game where he wants it to be. “I’ve been on the range with my varsity players just once this year,” Posey said. “That’s how bad it is. So we’ve spent a lot of time on the putting greens.”

Bechaz said he’s been focusing on his drives. “I’ve been slicing them a lot and just need to keep focused at practice, which is tough with all the rain,” he said. “I played a lot, three to four times a week, during the summer. I have a membership at Katke (Ferris State’s course), and I also play up at Traverse City in a junior golf league.”

Posey hopes to see Bechaz stay in the low to mid 70s for the rest of the season. “We have some tough courses coming up, so he’ll have to work hard to do that,” Posey said. “He’s certainly capable of it. That would be a goal for him. Considering what he was averaging last year, it’s just phenomenal.”

Bechaz has been reaching his expectations. “I can definitely shoot a lot better than I have been,” he said. “There’s been some silly mistakes in there.”

Bechaz also plays football and basketball, but he said that golf is his favorite sport from the individual aspect.

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By BUTCH HARMON

Lake Fenton senior forward Jordan Newman’s job is to score goals, and no one in the history of Michigan high school girls’ soccer has done that job better.

Earlier this year, Newman set the record for career goals scored when she recorded her 168th goal. By the middle of May, she had totaled 29 goals on the year and had moved her career total to 183.

“Jordan is just an all-around great soccer player,” said her coach Lenny Glasstetter. “Her job is to score goals, and she is very good at it. She is fast, has great timing, knows how to set up her opponents, and finishes with a lot of power. She gets a lot of her goals on headers and volleys. She also has great accuracy. She is probably shooting at about 50 percent.”

Newman has been a big goal scorer since the day she stepped into the Blue Devils’ starting lineup as a freshman. She finished her freshman year with 40 goals, scored 56 as a sophomore, and tallied 58 goals last year as a junior.

She is a little off last year’s scoring pace, but that is no surprise to her coach. “Everybody is putting three or four players on her in every game,” Glasstetter said. “She is still going to score a lot of goals. I’m sure she will end up with over 40.”

While her goals may be down a little this year, her overall production is still high. “She has always been good at setting her teammates up, but this year even more so,” Glasstetter said. “She is not a player who shoots the ball every time she touches it. Defenders don’t know if she is going to shoot the ball or pass it when she gets the ball.”

Setting the career scoring record was very special for Newman. “It was an awesome feeling,” she said. “It was a great accomplishment. Everything I worked so hard for, all the goals that I scored, it means something even more now.”

The record-setting goal was one that Newman will never forget. “Going into that game, I needed three goals, and I thought about what it would be like to score that goal,”she said. “I wondered who would assist me on that play, and I was hoping it would be someone I played with all four years. It ended up being our center back, Brenna Meicher, who I grew up playing soccer with. She kicked the ball over the back line, and I ended up with it and shot it in.”

Setting the all-time scoring record was not something that Newman planned for. “When I started playing high school soccer, I scored a lot of goals, but I never thought about a record until I broke our high school’s record for goals,” she said. “It was the beginning of my junior year when I broke the school record that I thought about the state record, but it was not something I tried to do. I just go out and try to score goals, and the records come with it.”

Newman is focused on helping her team advance as far as it can in the upcoming state tournament. “I feel like this is the best year we’ve had since I’ve been in high school,” she said. “I feel that we have a shot to go a long way in the state tournament, and this is our best year for that.”

After high school, Newman will continue her soccer career at Charleston Southern University in South Carolina. Newman chose that college over Oakland University, Butler University, and Florida Gulf Coast University.

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Alma’s boys’ and girls’ track and field teams have enjoyed strong seasons.

Chris Brown is coaching the boys’ team, which started the season with a record of 6-1.

Jake Morey has been the team’s top distance runner. “He ran a pretty heavy load for us to be able to win at some of our dual meets,” Brown said. “He’s ran the 4×8, the mile, the 800, and the two mile in three consecutive meets now. That’s racing four miles in a meet. There’s not a lot of recovery time. But we have to rely on him.

“We’re hoping as we get to [the postseason] that he’ll get a big drop in his times. He’s a strong distance kid. He’s got a shot at our two-mile school record.”

Malcolm Davis has been strong in the 100-, 200-, and 400-meter dashes. “He’s a kid that I’ve really relied on,” Brown said. “We have a couple of [400 and 800] distance kids, Damian Castillo and Brevan Bender, and I’ve relied pretty heavily on those kids throughout the season.”

He’s had some consistent senior throwers in Clayton Carr and Curtis Doyle. “That’s one event where I know I can count on first or second place from both of those guys,” Brown said.

Sophomore Brenden Howard has displayed his talents in the sprints, while junior Jacob Adams has done so in the pole vault and the long jump.

Adams “is a good example for some of our younger kids to stick with it. We’ve been banged up all year. We’re trying to get to the point where we’re all getting healthy.” said Brown.

“Chase Austin is a major contributor. He is a junior, but only in his second year of track. He hurdles and is currently ranked second in our region in the 300 hurdles. We have high hopes that he will be a state qualifier for us in the hurdles and possibly a relay. He has been a major scorer for us all year,” Brown continued.

Jamie Puffpaff is coaching a very young, but talented, girls’ team.

“We have many freshmen that have stepped up,” she said. “We have 17 on our team and over half are freshmen. That’s encouraging, moving forward as a program.”

Tayla Guerrero, a freshman, is the team’s top sprinter. Madison Doolittle, also a freshman, has been the top hurdler and also does some sprints. Lexi Morton, a senior, does well in the throws.

“Many of them are freshmen, so the fact they can come up to a varsity sport as freshmen and are making such an impact, I would say we’re exceeding expectations,” Puffpaff said.

Morton has been enjoying her best season. “She’s an outstanding girl who has improved each and every year,” Puffpaff said.

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In Kelly Williams’ seventh season as head coach, she has been having fun with her DeWitt girls track and field team.

“We have several returning athletes from last year’s state meet, including our relays and our 100 state champ,” Williams said. “We’ve been doing pretty well. We’re in a little bit of a rebuilding year. As the weather gets better, we’re going to see some times drop.”

Josie Yesmunt is back as a senior after winning the 100-meter dash in 12.18 seconds in the state meet last year.

The hurdles also remain a strong event. “We’re getting to five or six in the big invites,” said Williams, noting that Amber Koenigsknecht has been leading the way.

Distance runners performing well for DeWitt include Shelby Watterson and Emily Murdoch. Middle distance aces are Madison Slater and Jordan Lee.

Strong regional and state performances are a goal for the Panthers. “We certainly do well in the relays, all four of our relays,” Williams said. “We do well in our sprints, our 800. We have a good hurdler, a good high jumper, throwers. Our distances have been doing well.

“We’re not as deep [as last year’s team]. We have each event covered, but not as deep. I don’t think we’re quite as strong. It took us longer to get going this year. We’re where I expected us to be.

“We picked up a couple of seniors that have helped us a lot. In the high jump, we picked up Hannah Stoll, who is a basketball player and will be at the next level. Audra Kimble in the distances, she came out and she’s a senior. She’s definitely helped us.”

The Panthers girls’ team jumped out to a 3-1 start on the year.

Bob Acre is the boys coach.

Senior Blake Smith, headed for Cornell University next year, has been leading the way in the 100- and the 200-meter dashes. “We were at indoor meets at Grand Valley and Michigan State, and he won the 100 at both indoor meets,” Acre said. “He’s been running very well. He does not have the tall, lanky sprinter body. He’s shorter, compact, and has decided to get in the weight room the last couple of years and has improved his strength. In the winter, he’s done a lot of off-season running.”

Acre also likes what he’s seen from senior Ben Seeger and from freshman sprinter Austin Smith. Senior Alex Lantz, a sprinter who has been out with a leg injury, has returned to help in the relays and in the 400-meter dash.

“We have a pretty good group of seniors,” said Acre, who singled out senior John Lippert’s work on the sprint relay teams and in the hurdles.

Matt Meagher, a sophomore, has done well in the hurdles, the 400-yard dash, and the pole vault. Senior Nate Trevino has led the way in the long jump and hurdles.

Junior Mitchell Kolito has shown promise in the distances and is a college prospect, Acre added.

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