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FP Boys 4X800 relay, first place Max Mainville, Joey Mainville, Izaiah Tarter and Will Hoffman. -
FP Ava Fischer, new school record of 48.00 in the 300 hurdles, she also placed first in the 100 hurdles.
FP Boys 4X800 relay, first place Max Mainville, Joey Mainville, Izaiah Tarter and Will Hoffman.
FP Ava Fischer, new school record of 48.00 in the 300 hurdles, she also placed first in the 100 hurdles.
Photos by Kathy Holm
By Patrick Browne
CRYSTAL FALLS — The Forest Park Trojans had an outstanding track season and capped their year with strong performances at the Upper Peninsula Championships June 1.
“The U.P. finals were a fantastic end to a great season,” Coach Kurt Anderson said.
The team walked away with three first-place medals and four second-place medals. More importantly, every point the Trojans garnered was earned by an athlete who will be returning next year — and many by freshmen. Both the girls’ and boys’ teams finished a strong fifth out of 19 teams.
“The day could not have started better than the victory by the 4-by-800-meter first-place finish for our boys,” Anderson said.
Forest Park took the relay, finishing 15 seconds ahead of second place, Dollar Bay. Freshman Izaiah Tarter, running the anchor (and later earning second in the 3200-meter), could not have been more pleased with his first trip to the Championships.
“I got the MHSAA Championship medal on my wall! To bag a championship freshman year is really special, but I definitely could have not done this without my coach, DJ Rasner.”
Ava Fischer, a multi-sport athlete with a gift for hurdles, set a personal record in both the 100- and 300-meter races. Her second place in the 300 was made more remarkable as she broke her own school record. In addition to hurdles, Fischer earned fifth place in the pole vault.
Freshman Vienna Price earned 10 of the Trojans points by placing fifth in the 1600-meter and fourth in both the 800 and 3200 races. Price’s finish in the 3200 saw her only beaten by seniors and has her hopeful next year will see her be the favorite.
Vic Giuliani, also a freshman, set a personal record in clearing six feet in the high jump. The impressive leap earned him first place and his team 10 points. His fifth-place finish in the 100-meter garnered two team points and his second medal of the day, while his long jump saw him earn fifth place. His brother, junior Kevin Giuliani, earned second place in the discus with a throw of 133 feet one inch, and fifth place in the shot put. Combined the brothers scored 24 points, enough to have them best 12 of the schools represented at the meet.
Additional Trojans medaling included Elsie Williams, Dax Huuki, Dietrich Rasner, Max and Joey Mainville, Will Hoffman, Ella Gasparich and Lilly Sarder.
“All in all we couldn’t have asked for a better group of kids or a better season,” Anderson said. “We’re very thankful for the four years our seniors [Tatum Clark and Lauren Kudwa] gave us, and we will miss them tremendously. However, it is exciting to see how many returning athletes we will have back next year.”