Petoskey's Mitas becomes first sub 11 second Northmen athlete, sets new records

TRAVERSE CITY — Goals are meant to change.

Through the right amount of hard work and determination, they’re meant to be checked off, elevated and started all over again.

Petoskey junior Sam Mitas is in that starting over process at the moment.

The goals he once had, as the 2024 track season began? Those aren’t goals anymore, they’re accomplishments.

Eyeing personal best times and school records in multiple events, Mitas has since crossed off those goals with three school records in Traverse City recently.

He became the first-ever PHS athlete to run sub 11 seconds in the 100 meter dash, broke his own school record in the 200 and was part of the record setting 4x100 meter relay team.

“It felt amazing,” Mitas said. “All the hard work that I put in throughout the offseason working on being explosive. I’m just glad it’s paid off and hopefully we can keep getting that time lower.”

Up against some strong competition from Rockford, Hudsonville and TC Central, Mitas placed first in the 100 in a school record 10.95 seconds, beating the old mark of 11.00 set by Matt Hewson and Dane Doctor in 2004 and 2005, respectively.

“It was great, especially with the great competition and being able to get first place,” Mitas said. “That’s the best I’ve ever run in a race so far. Last year I touched 11:05, but this is the first time getting in the 10s, which I’m very excited about.”

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Along with the 100 record, Mitas set a new mark in the 200, breaking a record he set at the beginning of the season with a time of 22.44 seconds, second only to Rockford’s Sam Coyle, who is highly ranked within Division 1.

He was also part of another school record in the 4x100 in 43.04 seconds, with a group that included senior CJ Hibbler and fellow juniors Seth Marek and Mitch Eberhart.

Having Hibbler back within that group excites Mitas, as he feels only great things will continue, potentially with an even better time.

“It’s amazing now, especially heading into regionals and states,” he said. “(CJ) getting back on the track will help us a lot. He’s going to be starting because his starts are amazing. So hopefully that keeps dropping our time. We want to get in the 42s, which would put us in the top of the state. We know we can do it, we just know we have to keep putting the pieces together, working on our handoffs. We’ll get it eventually.”

The competition during the meet, the best Mitas and his teammates have seen this season, was a big factor for the times as well, as he feeds off the opportunity to go against some of the best. It's something he's felt thankful for in his own practices as well.

“Rockford was No. 1 for their boys sprinters in Division 1,” Mitas said. “That competition really pushed me to do my best. Same with all my teammates every day in practice. We just push each other to be the greatest we can be. So definitely, good competition, great teammates and all of that just keeps me pushing forward and getting better times.”

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Petoskey athletes have the Big North Conference finals ahead this Friday, May 10 in Cadillac, then the big regional competition will take place on Saturday, May 18 in Shepherd.

Just like the goals already achieved and records set, Mitas is confident he’ll be able to keep on meeting his mark ahead.

“When I ran the 10.95, my ankle actually gave out halfway through the race,” he added. “I feel like if I can tweak things like that, get my start a little better, I can keep improving heading into regionals and states. I know I have what it takes.”

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's Sam Mitas sets 100, 200 and 4x100 school track records