LocalSportsJournal.com
The Grand Haven track teams made a solid showing on Friday at the OK-Red track championships.
The Buc boys finished third (89 points) and the girls came in fourth with 80 points. Rockford was the girls’ meet champion while East Kentwood won the boys’ meet.
The Grand Haven girls were led by sophomore Valerie Beeck who contributed to all four first-place finishes. Beeck led the 4 x 800 team with Addie Smith, Eleanor Mitchell, and Peyton Hosely to a second-place finish at 9:27. That time is fourth-best in the state.
Beeck came right back and dominated the 1600-meter with a time of 5:05 then ran away from the pack with a 2:19 to win the 800-meter run.
“We had personal records set across multiple events of the day,” Grand Haven girls coach Melissa Richardson said. “Our athletes came prepared for the day. I am so proud of their collective efforts and teamwork.”
Other notable contributors were Nadia Prieditis with a second in the 300 hurdles, Eleanor Mitchell was fifth in the 800, Addie Smith was sixth in the 800 and Eden Smith was fourth in the 400 with a 59.8.
The 4 x 100 team of MacKenzie Stanhope, Phelps, Grace Harrison and Izzy Robbins took third with a season-best of 1:47.1.
The girls ended up with a school record six All-Conference athletes.
The Grand Haven boys recorded six conference championships with the boys’ distance crew contributing 56 points.
Seth Norder contributed to three of the championships. He set a school record 1:53 in the 800-meter run that broke a time set in 2012 by Schalk VanNiekirk. Norder dominated the 800 after running a 1:56 in the 4 x 800 with Ben Eisnor, Nolan Clark and Logan Vining and shaving off 7 seconds from the previous school record with a 7:50. Their time is second-best in the state.
Norder then won the 1600m with 4:16.1 with Clark taking a close second with 4:16.8. Clark then came back to win the 3200-meter run with a gutsy performance of 9:30. Clark is now a back-to-back conference champion in that event. Logan Vining was second in the 800 with 1:58. Will Korenstra and Harrison Sorrelle finished fifth and sixth in the long jump and Chase Follis was fourth in the shot put.
Toby Robbins winning a tough battle in the pole vault with a personal record of 14-3. With four jumpers left, Robbins set the stage by clearing the height on his first attempt and putting pressure on the competition.
“Toby had a great night, his year round training has paid off,” Grand Haven boys coach John Tarr said. “And I can’t say enough about our distance guys. They worked as individuals and as a team to put us third in the tough OK Red.”
