GREAT FINISH TO AWESOME SEASON

The 2010 track season ended with a spectacular two weeks for both the boys and girls teams. Both teams had excellent results in the biggest meets of the season.
Regionals began on Friday and didn't end until Monday but it turned out to be a meet to remember for much more than the two-day delay. The girls repeated as Regional Champs and remarkably scored in every event and won by a convincing margin again. Regional Champions for the girls team were Sara Wegener in the discus and the shot put (breaking her own school record with a throw of 36-1.75), Megan Heeder in the 1600 and 3200 and the 400 relay team of Annie Hanis, Jessica Doody, Monica Lopez and Jamie Holtham. Other state meet qualifiers were Emma Frost in the 1600 and 3200, the 3200 meter relay team, the 1600 meter relay team and the 800 meter relay.
The boys team also had a spectatular meet with the Zach Zingsheim winning the 800 meters and the 1600 meter relay winning a thrilling race. The 400 meter relay team finished second to qualify for States but in the process set a new school record. Also qualifying for States was Louis Savona who was third in the 800 and the 3200 meter relay team.
League Meet
Just 41 hours after the regional meet ended the Cougars were back in action in the CAAC White league meet. Depite the short turnaround the Cougars came out ready and had a great meet for both teams. The girls backed up their 4-1 dual meet record by finishing second and locking up a league runner-up finish for the second straight year While the boys who came into the meet in fourth place surprised the teams above them by finishing second in the meet (for the 2nd time in three years) and finishing in third place overall. League champions for the girls were the 3200 meter relay team of Catherine Swiderski, Annie Fata, Allie Brown and Megan Heeder, and Megan again in the 3200 and 1600 meter runs. League Champions for the boys were Zach Zingsheim in the 800, the 400 meter relay team of Jon Lopez, Jack Swain, Matt Macksood and Cedric Lee and the 1600 meter team of Zach Zingsheim, Greg Rybinin, Matt Macksood and Louis Savona.
MITCA
Just 3 days after the league meet the girls team competed in the MITCA team state meet against the top teams in Division 3. The girls finished in 8th place in the 14 team field and had many solid efforts. the highlight of the meet was Megan Heeder who ran three great races in the 85 degree heat. She started her day with a season best 2:28 in the 3200 meter relay then ran another PR of 5:12 in the 1600 and capped it off with a dominating performance in the 3200 meter run where she set the MITCA meet record of 11:07 while easily beating a field of very good runners which included two-time XC State Champion Devan John of Allendale.
Honor Roll
The stretch of big meets continued with the Lansing Area Honor Roll meet. The Cougars performed very well in the area all-star meet. The girls 3200 meter relay lowered their season best to 10:07 and finished on the medal stand with a thrid place finish. Megan Heeder who anchored the relay finished in second place in the 1600, Sara Wegener in 4th place in the shot put, Emma Frost in 5th place in the 3200 in a PR of 11:46 and the girls 1600 meter relay was 5th in a season best 4:12. The boys 3200 meter relay team was 4th and the 1600 meter relay was 7th in a season best 3:29.
State Meet
The season ended at the State Meet with the Cougars performing very well once again with four relays earning All-State honors as well as two individuals. Megan Heeder led the way by earning All-State recognition in two events finishing second in the 3200 meter run and third in the 1600 meter run with a time of 5:10. In the 1600 meter run freshman, Emma Frost also earned All-State by finishing in 8th. Emma also just missed a second top eight finish by coming in 10th in the 3200 meter run.
The top relay effort of the day came from the boys 400 meter team which won their heat and finished fourth overalll and lowered their own school record to 44.08. The boys 3200 meter team ran a spectacular race finishing in 6th but with an excellent time of 8:05. the boys 1600 realy team ran a season best of 3:28 and finished 8th and the girls 1600 relay team finished in the money as well with a time of 4:12 for eigth place.
Summary
A track season can become grueling at times with a lot of meets in a short period of time but in the end that kind of schedule paid off when the big meets came and both the boys and girls teams had strong meets in all the most important meets. Some teams "save themselves" and rest while the Cougars pride themselves on never backing down from tough competition and never taking the easy way out. When it is time to perform the Cougars are ready for all the big meets not just some of them. Toughness developed throughout the season is a big reason why.
The boys team went from a team that won no dual meets in 2009 and finished 6th in the league meet and had only two senior varsity athletes returing to a the second best team in the league. Jack Swain was second in the league in the long jump as a freshman, Cedric Lee was one of the conferences best sprinters as a sophomore, the 3200 meter and 1600 meter relays finished as all-staters with no seniors and only two juniors. The two returning seniors had great seasons. Jon Lopez was great on relays and ended up 3rd in the league in the 300 hurdles and Pat Gauthier was league runner-up in the pole vault. The future is very bright for this talented group.
The girls team continued to dominate everyone but Williamston in the league and everyone in the region. School records were set by Sara Wegener in the shot put, Hannah Sailar in the pole vault and Megan Heeder in the 3200 meter run. The seniors on this year's squad all had great seasons and played major roles in the teams success over the past four years. Annie Hanis, Jessica Doody, Lizzy Balboa, Sara Wegener and Megan Whybra all will be missed a lot. They can all go in the school in the years to come and see their names on two regional championship trophies.




http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/Michigan/