By Craig Beilfuss
LocalSportsJournal.com

FREMONT— Fremont senior Conor Somers will continue his cross country and track and field career at Grand Valley State University next fall.

The soon-to-be Packers’ graduate has signed his national letter of intent to become a Laker.

“Conor has been a joy to coach,” Fremont coach Cliff Somers said. “I don’t know if it is hard to be the ‘Coach’s Son,’ you would have to ask him, but he has been very coachable. He has been committed to getting better each year.”

In the early stages of his career, he had the luxury of following the lead of Nathan Walker. Somer credits Waller for pushing him into a bigger role as he got older.

“While showing steady improvement with his times and placings, he has also grown as a competitor and the way he approaches races,” Sommers said. “This cross country season had a rough start as he was unable to train for the last 6 weeks of the summer due to injury.”

That injury was a major learning experience for Somer, who was relegated to running 5 minutes every other day. He was forced to take it slow and cautious and trust the process of healing.

When he ran 16:49 on the Packers’ home course at Branstrom Park to win the conference championship, everyone knew he was ready to compete at a high level.

“Conor is a great addition and really positive fit for our program,” GVSU coach Jerry Baltes said. “He has the potential to come in and be a contributor for us in cross country over the 8k and 10k distance.”

“Coach Somers has built a great training background for Conor and has put him in a great spot to come in and be ready to take the next step in the training progression,” Baltes said. “We are excited to see what Conor does to finish out his high school career this spring.”

Conor has a 3.95 GPA and is planning to study exercise science at GVSU.

Career highlights:

Freshman

Cross Country – CSAA All-Conference, All-Region

Track and Field – CSAA All-Conference, All-Region

Sophomore

Cross Country – CSAA All-Conference, All-Region, All-State, Academic All-State – State Championship team

Track and Field – No season due to Covid.

Junior

Cross Country – CSAA All-Conference, 1600 Conference Champion, All-Region, All-State, Academic All-State – State Championship team

Track and Field – CSAA All-Conference, All-Region, 3200 Regional Champion, State Finals All-State 3200 3rd place, Academic All-State

Senior year

Cross country – CSAA All-Conference, Conference Champion, All-Region, Regional Champion, All-State, Individual State Runner-Up, Academic All-State, ran 16:49 on the Branstrom Park Course (third best all time on the course.

Track and Field –4:14.69 in the 1600, which is just slightly off the school record.