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Sports
By Patrick Browne
CRYSTAL FALLS — The Forest Park Trojan track team participated in the annual Munising Lions Under the Lights Invitational Track meet Friday, May 10. The meet is an Upper Peninsula favorite as it is run after dark and allows runners the opportunity to participate in a meet using only the football stadium lights to guide them.
Participating in a meet with 16 other teams gave Forest Park the opportunity to see how they might perform at the Skyline Conference meet May 21.
When the meet was finished, the Trojans finished first in two events, second in four events, and had three third place finishes. With strong individual performances, the girl’s team took third place while the boys finished in eighth.
Sophomore Ava Fischer accounted for both the Trojans’ first place finishes as she bested the field in the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles. Forest Park’s school record holder is coached by Lindsay Anderson, a former hurdles champion. The expertise Anderson has passed along, combined with an impressive work ethic had Fischer running well.
“My coach really pushes me to do my best and jump to the best of my ability,” Fischer said. “She really believes in me and, even if I am having a bad day, she tells me to keep working and it will pay off eventually. She’s the best and has helped me in more ways than just my athletics.”
Sophomore Elsie Williams put points on the board for the Trojans by finishing second in both the 400-meter dash and second in the long jump. Williams missed first in the long jump by just four inches.
“When I saw I missed it, I was mad knowing that I was just that close and my foot wasn’t in the right spot,” Williams said. “If it had been, I would have had that first place. It was a good learning opportunity and reminds me to make sure you do the small things right.”
Finishing out the second place finishers were freshman Izaiah Tarter who finished the 3200-meter run (two miles) with a personal record time of 10:40 and junior Kevin Giuliani who set a personal record with a discus toss of 126 feet four inches.
Third place finishers included Haven Van Sickle in the 100-meter hurdles, Vienna Price in the 3200-meter run, and the 4-by-400 meter relay team of Dietrich Rasner, Dax Huuki, Vic Giuliani and Will Hoffman.
While the thrill of running under the lights was not soon to be forgotten, with the team bus rolling back into Crystal Falls well after midnight, Trojan Coach Kurt Anderson shared jokingly, “It was a looooooong night!”