MONTAGUE — Montague senior Isaac French, the school wryly noted
over the weekend, might have the record for shortest amount of time a
school record has ever lasted after Friday's Division 3 regional meet at
the Wildcats' home track.
French broke the Montague school
record in shot put, previously held by Kris Krim with a 52-11.25 throw
in 2005, with one of his attempts during Friday's meet, posting a mark
of 53-11. Mere minutes later, French broke his own record with a mark of
55-3, earning himself the regional championship.
French was
one of two state qualifiers for Montague in the meet. Annelyse Schneider
also will compete at state after placing second in the high jump with a
personal best 5-2.
The Wildcats were seventh in the girls' meet and tied for eighth in the boys' meet, propelled by those two scores.
Marsh
said he put in a lot of time over the summer to improve in shot put;
coach Phil Koops said French has added nearly 10 feet to his throws
since the start of the season. French's personal best entering the
season was 47-6.5 at last year's state meet.
"He has strength trained for
years, worked with our throws coach Joe Marsh, attended college throws
camps, and recently put a lot of attention and emphasis into some
explosive strength training to increase his power production," Koops said. "It’s been
fun to watch him chip away at the record and finally get it."
It
will be a close battle at the state meet, set for Saturday at Kent
City, but French will enter the competition as the top seed thanks to
his school record mark. Three other athletes enter the event with a mark
within four feet of French's, and another seven are within five feet.
"Hopefully I place pretty high, and I think I have a high chance of
winning," French said.
Schneider picked a great met for her
personal best and tied for the highest height cleared. Two others -
Makenna Olsen and Lexi Hetrick, both of Calvin Christian - also got to
5-2, with the final order of finish determined by the number of attempts
needed to do so.
"Annelyse has
worked hard at practice this year with her high jump coach Bob Lloyd
(Montague grad, class of '63) and has seen that work slowly pay off as
she is really finding herself in the high jump and long jump," Koops said. "She has
some natural springiness and a tall frame that really helps her in
those two events. Her PR in the high jump on Friday, when it mattered,
shows what kind of competitor she is."
Several other Wildcats
medaled in both the boys' and girls' meets. For the girls' team, Addi
Smith capped a terrific junior season with three medals. She was third
in the pole vault (8-9), fourth in the 100-meter dash (13.47) and fifth
in the 400 (1:04.2). Schneider added a fifth-place finish in long jump
(15-5) to her high jump heroics, and Gabby Dietz was fifth in high jump
with a personal best (4-11) and was seventh in the 300 hurdles (54.41).
Montague's Devlin Dean lands in the long jump pit during Friday's regional meet in Montague. Dean finished third in the event.
Also
for the girls, Molly Mulder was sixth in the shot put (30-1) and Willa
Van Loon was eighth in the discus (75-11), both with personal bests.
Three Wildcat relays medaled; the 800 relay team of Jenna Erickson,
Dietz, Schneider and Cadence Fox was fifth (1:56.5), the 1,600 team of
Erickson, Neviah Davis, Gentry Knop and Celina Pruitt was sixth (4:34.1)
and the 400 team of Erickson, Knop, Schneider and Fox was seventh
(55.40).
The Wildcats had two third-place boys finishers in
the meet, with Devlin Dean third in long jump (20-2.5) and Dylan Bailey
third in high jump (5-8). Bailey also placed seventh in the 200-meter
dash with a personal best (24.72), just ahead of teammate Wyatt Grawey
in eighth (25.05). Wesley Mair placed sixth in the 3,200-meter run with a
personal best time (10:27.6), and Nolan Kessler was seventh in the
1,600 (4:47.2). Michael Jones finished seventh in the pole vault (10-6)
and Logan Hansen took eighth in the discus (119-10). The Wildcats' 1,600
relay team of Bailey, Grawey, Jones and Isaiah King also medaled,
taking eighth (3:44.7).
