Zeeland West’s Chase Holwerda dominates at West Ottawa Von Ins Invite

PARK TWP. - Zeeland West track and field races into the final month of the season, Chase Holwerda remains at the top of his game.

Despite the rainy conditions, he took first place in both the 800-meter run and the 1600 in

Zeeland West’s victory at the West Ottawa Von Ins Invitational.

He says that confidence in himself has been the key to success.

“In every event that I go into, having a sense of confidence and knowing that I’m here to compete is something I think about a lot, especially when it comes to championship season,” Holwerda said.

Holwerda’s phenomenal day began with the 3,200 relay, as he, Keagan Smith, Nathan Golding and Caleb Smith finished second. He followed that with a first place finish in the 1,600-meter run. He crossed the finish line after 4:34.36, more than a second faster than any other runner.

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The 800 saw Holwerda enter unfamiliar territory: being behind going into the final lap. After gaining ground on Ethan Grevengoed of Spring Lake, he ran a gutsy final 200 meters to capture the top spot with a time of 1:59.81. He attributes the ending of his race to head coach Phil Hoover.

“This year I’ve been blessed with doing a lot more speed events,” Holwerda said. “Coach Hoover has done a fantastic job developing me into a more mid-distance runner and sprinter and so having that (400m dash) background helps me in the (800) to bring it home in the last lap.”

Holwerda’s motivation for this season comes from the result of last season, when he barely missed the cut for the state meet.

“Last year I missed the state qualifying time in the (800) by 0.05 (seconds),” Holwerda said. “That was a big heartbreaker for me. This season I promised myself that I would never put myself in a position where I miss it by that little, so every meet and every workout I’m here to compete and I’m here to win.”

Despite the individual accomplishments and aspirations, Holwerda’s “team first” attitude is where Hoover has seen the most improvement since he began running track.

“Chase is a great senior leader for us,” Hoover said. “The last four years he’s definitely improved as an athlete, but he’s also improving himself as a human and taking care of some of the guys on the team.”

Holwerda and Zeeland West won the invitational with 2207.5 points. West Ottawa finished third with 1763.5 points, Zeeland East finished fourth with 1688 and Holland took eighth with 1082 points.

The following athletes took first place in the men’s meet: Zeeland West’s Parker Holman in the 100m dash (11.42), Zeeland West’s Skyler Geurink in the 200m dash (22.42), Zeeland West’s Caleb Smith in the 3200m run (9:29.92), West Ottawa’s Andrew Spilotro, Ben Monger, Bryce Buckner and Ruben Esparza in the 400m relay (43.10), Zeeland West’s Colton Ruster, Trevor Wallar, Holman and Geurink in the 800m relay (1:29.56), West Ottawa’s Allen Payne Jr., Quinten Tirado, Monger and Esparza in the 1600m relay (3:26.87), Zeeland East’s Parker Williams in the shot put (52-8 3/4), Zeeland East’s Garrett Weeden in the discus (148-6) and Zeeland West’s Andrew Craft in the high jump (6-2).

Zeeland West also won the women’s meet with 2272.5 points. Zeeland East took second with 2192.5, Holland took sixth 1070.5 and West Ottawa finished eighth with 770 points.

The following athletes took first place in the women’s meet: Zeeland East’s Allie DeLost in the 100m dash (12.88), Zeeland East’s Emma Drnek in the 1600m run (5:20.71), Zeeland East’s Meredith Cook, Allison Kuzma, CC Kuras, and Drnek in the 3200m relay (9:54.43), Zeeland East’s Mariah Sackett in the shot put (38-5) and the discus (118- 4), Holland’s Eva Whiteman in the high jump (5-4), Zeeland West’s Lindsey Peterson in the pole vault (9-0) and Zeeland West’s Avari Peddie in the long jump (16-9 1/2).

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Zeeland West’s Chase Holwerda dominates at West Ottawa Von Ins Invite