It is safe to say that things went pretty well for the Munising track and field teams last spring. The boys’ team won conference and regional titles and capped things off with a Division 3 U.P. Championship. The girls’ had plenty of success themselves, winning a regional title as well. The Mustangs hope for similar things to happen this season, but things will be a bit more difficult as they move up to Division 2.
“That will be a challenge but we do have some returning athletes to help us compete,” longtime head coach Matt Mattson said.
And with the success that the Mustang basketball teams saw this winter, they are getting off to a bit of a late start.
“Practice prior to spring break was non-mandatory with our basketball teams making post season runs, I felt it was important to give our athletes some time off,” Mattson said. “So, we have a couple weeks to get the kids into shape prior to our first meet in Manistique on April 19th. We have about ten days off prior to our second meet so that gives us close to a month to get athletes ready.”
While there are some down sides to moving up a division, Mattson was quick to point out that there could be some good to come from it as well. The main one being that they’ll have fewer teams to compete against.
“It means competing against larger schools but there’s also less of them,” he said. “In Division 3 there’s over 30 schools at the U.P. meet. In Division 2 there’s only 11 teams. So, team depth will factor in more so in Division 2 than 3. We’ve had good numbers in the past and we’ve worked with other sports on multiple sport athletes so hopefully that continues and our depth can help us.”
Some key returning members of the boys’ team will be Reece Cotey and Zack Lindquist in the sprint events. Joe Kelley returns in the hurdles, Trevor Nolan and Dan Goss return as middle and distance runners. For the girls’ Sabryna Smith and Olivia Cotey will lead things in sprints and mid-distance, Alex Goss will see action in many events, including the 200 and 400 meter races. Dayne Behning will be a hurdler, Kate Mattson will be on some relay teams and a pole vaulter, Tessa Salo will also pole vault and Elizabeth Wing will be a thrower.
“Track is a great sport because there’s the individual aspect where you can get faster or jump higher but there’s also the team aspect where individual achievements are helping your team,” Mattson said. “I also enjoy it because maybe an athlete isn’t going to help a team score but they just set a personal best in their event. With working with multiple sport athletes we may go to a meet without a full team which is tough at times. So, we focus on our conference meet, regional meet, and U.P. Finals meet. All of our other track meets are used to get ourselves ready for the big meets and to look at times to see how we can piece the team together to get us the most points on those big meet days. So, our team goals are to place as high as we can at those big meets.”
Munising opens the season April 19 at Manistique and will return to action April 29 at Gwinn.
“I’m sure we’ll get an April snow storm but with the lack of winter snow it will help our track teams be able to train properly,” Mattson said. “Friday May 10th is the Munising Lions ‘Under The Lights’ Invitational meet which is a fun meet for our team and spectators. The final race of the night 4 x 400 relay is always run ‘Under The Lights’ and will provide a lot of excitement for the fans. If you haven’t attended a track meet, I’d recommend marking May 10th on your calendar to come watch.”
