The East track will be full this year with 75 boys filling the lanes during practice.

Due to the size of this team, this group has a large amount of new runners who are excited to contribute to the up and coming team. This team is not short on potential with strong athletes, enthusiastic newcomers, and experienced seniors. The team expects that as the new runners gain experience they will come back from their recent loss on Thursday, April 14th, at their dual-meet in Caledonia.

Despite of the team loss, there were many impressive individual performances in Caledonia. Michael Eerdmans ‘16 placed first in the shot put. His victory was complemented by victories in the 4 by 200 and 4 by 400 events. Matthew Levitt ‘16 and Jackson Luce ‘16 also helped the team by both finishing second in the 3200 meter and 400 meter respectively.

As the season progresses, the team has big expectations for their seniors this year to step up and lead the team.  

“The Team’s goals are to perform well in conference meets and to have another successful season. Key runners are guys like Will Reinke, Jackson Luce, Reid Grunewald, Nathan McCardell, Matthew Levitt, Earl Sain” Sam Matthews ‘16. The responsibility will fall to these seniors to pass on their knowledge and experience to the 68 runners who are looking up to them this season.

The ever-competitive Grand Rapids Christian will pose stiff competition for this young team. This long awaiting meet is currently scheduled for next Wednesday, April 20th. But is could potentially be rescheduled due to complications with finding a location for the meet.

This match-up is expected to be very close and as Sam Matthews ‘16 explains “Our meets usually come down to the last few events and are very competitive.”

The track team is focusing on preparing the inexperienced players for these intense and competitive match ups.

“We are really trying to make sure guys are healthy and ready for their races. We have been trying to make sure guys know what to expect in the meets and sure everyone has prepared properly” Matthews ‘16.