Petoskey sprinters have school records and all-state finishes on their mind
PETOSKEY — It was only as handful of years ago when the Petoskey track and field teams were carried by the distance groups on both sides.
They're even what propelled the girls’ program to a 2021 Division 2 state championship.
But, oh how fast things can shift. Fast is the key word there.
Speed is now the draw for the Northmen, on both teams, with so much of it that relay teams can essentially be tossed together and still find success.
And practice? That might be the best competition they’ll see during a week.
“It’s crazy,” Petoskey junior Sam Mitas said. “At practice we’re all pushing ourselves to be the greatest. Just with all the competition, it’s been pushing all of us to our max potential. We have the best coach, he’s been really pushing us.”
Mitas leads the group for the boys, all of which hold some pretty high expectations for the season.
They’re so high, that even after Mitas blazed the competition by four tenths of a second in the 100 meter dash Wednesday when Sault Ste. Marie and Alpena visited Northmen Stadium, there was disappointment on Mitas’ face.
“I lost all my focus and form at the end of my race and thought I could have done a little better,” he said. “It’s the first race though.”
No problem. Mitas shook it off and just went back out for the 200 meter dash and set a new school record in a blistering 22.63 seconds.
He’s got goals to get below the 11 second mark in the 100 ahead as well.
“I’m looking at maybe 10.8 or 10.7 by the end of the season,” Mitas said. “I want to run a mid or high 10 this year. Last year I ran 11.05 and I just ran 11.10 as an opener, so I have high expectations for myself.”
The group around Mitas is one that any team would love to have as their anchor runner and leading the sprint group. It’s comprised of guys like juniors Mitch Eberhart, Seth Marek, Finn Yurek, Mason Fralick, Logan Beer and senior CJ Hibbler once he’s able to get back on the track.
“The last couple years, we’ve switched all our workouts to be more explosive,” added Mitas. “Every day we hit the high explosive workouts and it’s definitely changed. Just with all the records being broken every year, it’s changing.”
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Eberhart was just behind Mitas in the 200 Wednesday in 23.56 seconds, while the 4x100 team of Mitas, Marek, Fralick and Eberhart – all strong football players for the Northmen as well – earned a first place time of 44.43 seconds, besting the competition by over two seconds.
As good as the boys have it with their sprint group, there’s just as much talent on the girls’ side.
Junior Madeline Loe leads the group, which is nearly fully intact after a runner-up state finish in the 4x200 relay last season. She also earned a top 10 state finish in the 100 in 12.53 herself.
To have nearly the whole band back together again is thrilling for Loe to say the least.
“It’s super exciting,” Loe said. “We have a really solid group of girls. I’m really excited about our relays. We have a great 4x100 and 4x200. We can make a run at states and school records, we’re getting those. Last year we got the 4x200 and we were only like 0.4 from the 4x100, so we were right there.”
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On Wednesday, Loe was opening the season with wins at Northmen Stadium, topping the competition in the 100 (12.90) and the 200 (27.46). But, like Mitas, Loe knows she's got lower numbers ahead.
“I just came back from hockey, so I think I need to recover a little bit more, but there’s room to grow and some tweaks with mechanics,” Loe said. “I thought (the 100) was good. It was a lot better than my season opener last year and I’m really excited about this season.”
Along with Loe, there’s seniors Lucy Tarachas and Marley Spence, juniors Nevaeh Leonard and Alison Bailey and even sophomore Emma Mitas, showing it runs in the family.
Petoskey’s group of Tarachas, Loe, Mitas and Leonard earned a win in the 4x100 relay in 51.26 seconds, then Bailey, Spence, Fiona Scott and Bre Wcisel topped the competition in the 4x200 in 1:55.09.
“This whole group, we’ve improved so much over the offseason,” Loe said. “There’s a couple girls coming back from other sports, so just need some recovery. I’m excited.”
Note: For more results from Wednesday's track opener, check Thursday's 'Top Performers' file.
Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey track and field gets outdoor season started vs. Alpena, Sault
