It's been a great week for our program! We won the Ithaca Blue and Gold Invitational last Friday night and
just this past Monday the fellas won the Mt. Pleasant Oiler 9/10 Invitational for the 2nd year in a row! We
continue to learn a lot about this group- and we have to say we couldn't be more excited about what this
season has in store! The fellas have been working EXTREMELY hard and we couldn't be prouder of their
progress! The next couple of weeks will dictate the long-term success of this team. We can't wait to see how
the boys meet the challenges ahead of them!
In this week’s newsletter...
- Results/Highlights from last Friday's Ithaca Blue and Gold Invitational victory!
- Results/Highlights from Monday's Mt. Pleasant Oiler 9/10 Invitational!
- Looking ahead to Friday's Mason Bulldog Invitational!
- Information regarding next Tuesday's home dual meet against Montrose
- Last week's educator of the week - Mr. Leo Constine
- A big thank you to Woodard Furniture and the Mesh family!
- Looking ahead to next Friday's Cavalier Classic Invitational!
- Middle School picks up several big wins!
- Cavaliers burst onto State Rankings!
RESULTS & HIGHLIGHTS FROM LAST FRIDAY'S ITHACA INVITATIONAL VICTORY!
Last Friday, the boys and girls team BOTH won the large school division of the 21 team Ithaca Invitational! The boys
just nipped a fantastic Chesaning squad by just a few points- it came down to the final race! This is the 2nd year in a
row the fellas have picked up the win at this Invitational! The meet was highlighted by several key performances
and some big time gutsy efforts by several of our boys! In the last 3 years Chesaning and ourselves have battled for
the top spot at this meet- with less than 10 points separating us every year!
Highlights of the Meet included:
- Kyle Mesh winning the 800m run with a meet record time of 2:05.28! This is the 2nd year in a row Kyle has won
the 800m at this Invitational!
- Senior Noah Jacobs ran his first 1600m of the season-- clocking a state ranked 4:27.95!
- Junior Charlie Winemiller vaulted a season high - 10' 6!
- The 4x100 relay team of Logan Gehringer, Ethan Quinn, Cameron Welte, and Owen Walter picking up the
victory!
- Senior Cameron Welte ran his way to a runner-up performance in the 110HH with a state ranked 15.48!
- Senior captain Owen Walter scored huge points taking 3rd place in the 100m with a BLAZING time of 11.70!
- Senior captain Jake Steinacker throwing a season high 122'5 in the Discus!
- Senior David Dumond running a season best 24.23 in the 200m!
- Sophomore Charlie Bruckman breaking the 10-minute barrier in the 3200m - running a 9:55.31!
- The Cavaliers advancing 3 sprinters into the finals of the 100m dash- the only school to do so- Logan Gehringer,
Owen Walter, and Chase Ardelean!
Award Winners from Tuesday's meet were as follows...
Sprinter/Hurdler of the Meet- Owen Walter
Distance Runner of the Meet- Kyle Mesh
Field Event Performer of the Meet- Jaron VanFleteren
Rising Star Award- Logan Gehringer
Teammate Award- Mike Miller
Coaches Award- Chase Ardelean
RESULTS & HIGHLIGHTS FROM MONDAY'S MT. PLEASANT 9/10 INVITATIONAL WIN!
On Monday, the future of Corunna Track was on display at the 3 team- Mt. Pleasant Oiler 9/10 Invitational!
Running against bigger schools in Mt. Pleasant and Cadillac- the boys came away with the win for the 2nd straight
season! This meet is one of my favorite meets of the year because it gives our kids an opportunity to compete
against guys their same age and affords them the opportunity to take on leadership roles among their peers. The
meet started off with a bang- as we won the first 5 races of the day- the 4x800, 110HH, 100m, 4x200, and 1600m!
As the meet went on several of our youngsters stepped up and REALLY impressed Coach Robinson and myself!
Needless to say, the future is BRIGHT!
Highlights of the Meet included:
- Freshmen David Wyatt winning his heat of the 100m dash!
- Sophomore Logan Gehringer having himself a paycheck day- winning the 100m, winning the long jump
competition, and being on the winning 4x200 and 4x400!
- Will Strauch clocking a 2:09 split on the winning 4x800 relay. Relay members included Zach Gooding, Evan Roka,
Carter Lovejoy, and Strauch.
- Sophomore Ryan Lavery running a personal record time of 13.21 in the 100m!
- Freshmen Nick Richardson running a personal best 58.85 in the 400m!
- Sophomore Charlie Bruckman running a BLAZING 4:44.26 to WIN the 1600m!
- Dalton Kim running a personal best 5:39 in the 1600m!
- Freshmen Gabriel Baumchen WINNING the 110HH race in a time of 19.31!
- The 4x200 team of Logan Gehringer, Nick Yarmuth, Tyler Swatman, and Jeremy LaNore winning by over 3
seconds!
- Sophomore Tyler Hall throwing a career best 34'1.5" in the Shot Put!
- Freshmen Colten Snyder taking 3rd in the Discus with a toss of 102'5 - that throw propelled Colten to the ranking
of the 4th best freshmen discus thrower in Michigan in Division 2!
- Zack "Zippy" Smith throwing a career best 93' 1" in the Discus!
- Sophomore Shaun Vogan throwing a career best 79' 7 in the Discus!
- The 4x400 team of Will Strauch, Charlie Bruckman, Nick Richardson, and Logan Gehringer picking up the victory
at the end of the meet!
Award Winners from Tuesday's meet were as follows...
Sprinter/Hurdler of the Meet- Logan Gehringer
Distance Runner of the Meet- Will Strauch
Field Event Performer of the Meet- Colten Snyder
Rising Star Award- Brock Brewer
Teammate Award- Noah Jacobs
Coaches Award- Logan Gehringer
FRIDAY'S MASON BULLDOG INVITATIONAL
This Friday we will be taking a smaller line-up to the highly competitive Mason Bulldog Invitational! This meet
gives us the opportunity to run against some GREAT competition and the boys are geared up for the
challenge! A lot of the boys will be running fresh races, so we expect some FAST times if the weather
cooperates! In the past, this has been a late meet- PLEASE encourage your son to pack some extra food and/or
send him with some. If at all possible we want to avoid the boys eating concession stand food throughout the
night! Also- please remind your son to pack extra clothes- if the temperature dips down, it's never good to
shiver! The girls will not be attending this meet as they will be going to the Ovid-Elsie Invitational.
Meet Details:
3:30 Field events
4:00 Running events begin: 4x8, 110/100 hurdles, 100m
*** Break from about 5:15 - 6:00***
6:00 Resume meet on a rolling schedule, starting with 4x2.
Format is seeded heats of everything, fastest heats last, no prelims! Two heats for each gender of 800 and 1600, and
one or two for the 3200m
Shot put/discus 400 relay will be run as the last event of the meet, immediately after the 1600-meter relay. This is not a
scored event, but medals will be awarded to the winning men’s and women’s teams. The purpose of this event is to let
the throwers have some fun and to give the scorers a chance to finalize results.
SCORING: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.
Medals will be awarded to the top three finishers in all individual and relay events, and championship and runners-up
team trophies will be awarded to the top two men’s and women’s teams.
Competing Teams- Bath, Corunna, Dexter, Eaton Rapids, Fowlerville, Grandville, Hanover-Horton, Haslett, Holt, Jenison,
Lansing Catholic, Mason, Mt. Pleasant, Perry, Saginaw Heritage, Traverse City West
FIELD EVENTS:
Shot and discus will be run in flights with the higher seeds competing
in the later flights. Throwers will be given four (4) attempts, 2 and 2,
with no finals. Please have throwers weigh in their implements as
soon as you get to the track--weigh-in is located in back of the stands.
Long jump Jumping by gender for approximately two hours per gender
3:30-5:30 boys
6:00-8:00 girls
High jump will be conducted for boys and girls simultaneously on
separate pits, both starting at 3:30. Tentative starting heights are 4’6” for girls and 5’6” for boys.
Pole vault will be run as efficiently as possible—please tell your athletes to be ready! Tentative starting heights are 7’ for
girls and 10’ for boys.
NEXT TUESDAY'S DUAL MEET AGAINST MONTROSE
Next Tuesday we will play host to the Rams of Montrose High School in GAC Red action! Field events will start
at 4:30 and running events at 5:00! As usual, we will ALWAYS welcome help at the meet! Because they don't
use athletic.net it's hard for me to tell, but Montrose normally carries a small squad- so this would be a great
meet to get your feet wet if you're new to working a track meet! As I did last week for our double dual against
Lake Fenton and Mt. Morris I have created a spreadsheet for volunteers to sign up- this is an online
spreadsheet and I'm 99.9% sure I have all the technical bugs worked out! As always- if you would like to
volunteer and you'd rather shoot me a text or email- I promise I won't be mad! We even take walk-up
volunteers! Thank you for all your help in making our meets some of the best in the state!
Volunteer spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JLD3WH1813dwafsRXw_KB2kIsmKfVAgkg2nRzC
nGKCM/edit?usp=sharing
LAST WEEK'S EDUCATOR OF THE WEEK - Mr. Leo Constine
Last week Mr. Constine became the first 2-time recipient of this award, as he also spoke last year to the team.
Delivering a powerful message of TRUST, Mr. Constine had over 80 boys sitting in complete silence and
attention! His message transcended Track or athletics to the future lives our young men will live- their
relationships with other people, their commitment to their jobs, their love for their spouse. This was certainly
a very powerful message for our young men to hear! Throughout his years in education, Mr. Constine has
developed THOUSANDS of positive relationships with kids at Corunna Public Schools. He continues to interact
with kids every day and the impact he has on the students or CHS can clearly be seen!
In his final year, before retirement- Mr. Constine is also setting a wonderful example to our student-athletes
about finishing- seeing things through to the end. In a day and age when a lot of people cruise into retirement
and take off extra days or curb their enthusiasm for going into work- Mr. Constine has been working tirelessly
and energetically to get the building ready for the bond construction, set to begin this summer and graduation
in May- along with all his other duties as our Operations Principal. For his energy, his passion for Corunna, and
for having such a profound impact on so many Cavaliers through the years we say THANK YOU to Mr. Constine
for always reminding us that it's GREAT to be GOLD!
SHOT PUT TOE BOARDS - REFURBISHED THANKS TO THE MESH FAMILY & WOODARD FURNITURE!
A few weeks ago, I posted on our Facebook page that we were looking for someone to help us out and sandblast
our shot-put toe boards- as they were starting to look a little rough. With a new toe board costing, upwards of
$350-$400 dollars it made sense to try to refurbish the ones we already had. Several folks stepped up and
contacted me- an overwhelming response! But it was connections made by Marv and Natalie Mesh that helped our
toe boards find their way to Woodard Furniture out on Delaney Road in Owosso. I can't do justice to the wonderful
work Marv and so many others did on these beauties! The toe boards were sandblasted and then powder-coated.
They look BRAND NEW! Thanks to the efforts of the Mesh family and all the good people out at Woodard's- we will
be able to use these boards for years and years to come! Please support Woodard furniture at all possible- they
have helped us out immeasurably! Pictured below is our throwers showing off the refurbished toe boards!
NEXT FRIDAY'S CAVALIER CLASSIC
Next Friday, May 5th we will play host to 11 teams for the 3rd annual Cavalier Classic track meet! As the meet
slowly becomes one of the best in the state- we are welcoming some big schools this year- Mason, Mt.
Pleasant, Flushing, Waverly, and Ortonville Brandon just to name a few. Widely known as one of the best
hosts across the state- I am once again reaching out for volunteers to help the meet run smoothly. I cannot tell
you enough how much I appreciate everyone's willingness to help and chip in to make the Cavalier Classic the
best it can be! For your information- Field Events will kick off at 3:00 next Friday and Running Events at 3:30. I
have attached a google spreadsheet for folks to sign-up if they'd like to volunteer. A quick email to myself or
Coach Montgomery or a phone call or text is always acceptable as well- WE WON'T TURN AWAY GOOD HELP!
Volunteer Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19QAWOdMAhsRsUHHgo8cNEWyR3dETYxHqDTWYbHC0_w/edit?usp=sharing
MIDDLE SCHOOL PROGRAMS ARE CRUISING!
What makes a good high school track program? A great middle school program- that's what we're lucky
enough to have! Recently our CMS squads have clobbered New Lothrop, Webberville, and Hamady just to
name a few. I think the thing that is the most impressive to me isn't that they are winning by sometimes over
100 points- it's the fact that those kids are having a blast and our learning what it means to be a Cavalier- to
win with class, show great sportsmanship, learn the sport, and COMPETE! Kudos to Coach Herrick, Coach
Bentley, and their entire staff- they truly are one of the best programs in the state!
CAVALIERS RANKED 3rd in the STATE- EARN BID TO MITCA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
Tonight, I received news that the newest rankings of Division 2 schools were released and your Corunna
Cavaliers are ranked 3rd in the State behind track powerhouses Zeeland West and Zeeland East! Also in the
top 5 were Grand Rapids Christian and Battle Creek Harper Creek! For those new to the whole MITCA vs.
MHSAA thing here is a quick summary- There are 2 state championships in Michigan, the MHSAA (the more
widely known one) and the MITCA State Championship (what we won last season). Here's the main differenceat the MHSAA Meet the meet is score 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1, so no one after 8th place scores. At the MITCA meet
everyone scores- so if there were 40 runners in a race, first place would get 40 points, second place- 39 points,
third place 38 points, etc., etc. You can get individuals qualified to the MHSAA meet only through the Regional
Championship Meet. To qualify to be invited to the MITCA State Championship you either have to be invited
because of your rankings or win your Region. Because we were in the top 3 teams this week- we have
received an AUTOMATIC bid to the MITCA State Championship to be held at Battle Creek Harper Creek High
School on Saturday, May 27th (Memorial Day Weekend). It is very important that our complete roster is
available to us that day. I know a lot of people will have Memorial Day plans- but nothing kicks off your
vacation like watching your kids win a MITCA State title! Last year we had an advantage over the competition
because our kids WANTED to compete at the meet and do something profound! We can't wait for another
great MITCA meet!
IN THE NEXT NEWSLETTER...
- Results and highlights from Friday's Mason Bulldog Invitational
- Results and highlights from next Tuesday's Dual Meet against Montrose
- A look ahead to next Friday's Cavalier Classic
- Getting to know our foreign exchange student-athletes
…and more!!!!!!
4 TEAM GOALS OF 2017
- Win a Conference Championship!
- Win a Regional Championship!
- Top 3 Finish at MITCA State Meet!
- Win a MHSAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP!
As we move closer to the middle portion of our season I want to take a few minutes to thank our fantastic
parents for letting us work with your sons. One of the best parts of my day, besides interacting with my
family is developing positive relationships with the boys on the team. As those relationships continue to
grow I often find myself worrying about things I never worried about several years ago. I worry about kids
making bad decisions on prom night, I worry about adults allowing kids to make bad decisions, and I worry
about missed opportunities. Please put my worrying mind to rest- if your son is going to prom next
weekend- understand that we want them to have fun, we want them to actually be a gentleman, and a
positive example for others. But the last thing we want is for one person's selfish decision to do something
they shouldn't be doing, derail the goals, dreams, and happiness of so many others. As I told the team
yesterday at practice- whether you think it or not, this team is writing a book. Every day is another chapter
in that book. What will the ending look like? Will it be a book you cherish? A book you pick up and read
often or will it sit on the shelf for the rest of your life and collect dust, because the ending is full of regret. I
know what I want this book to look like, I believe I know what the fellas want it to look like- the question
is... how will this book end? Have a FANTASTIC weekend- thank you for all that you do and ALWAYS
remember- It's GREAT to be GOLD
Jason
www.corunnatrack.com