Track season begins at Cadillac

By Dan Hardenbrook

The Newberry girls and boys track and field teams took center stage in the first meet of the season last Friday in Cadillac. The host Vikings welcomed schools large and small from across the upper half of Michigan for a highly competitive early season event.

Outmatched and definitely outnumbered, both Newberry teams battled it out, with a number of top finishers on the all-new Cadillac track at one of the state-of-the-art new stations.

Both the girls and boys placed in the top 10 overall in the team standings, and were among the best groups among small schools for the invitation-only event. The Newberry boys scored 18 points while the women scored 20 points against a total field of 14 participating teams.

Leading the way for the Indian girls was Abby Taylor, who took first in the 400 meters for the small school division, with a time of 1:06.70. Taylor’s final time was good enough for 5th place among all runners. Taylor also earned points by placing second in the 800m. Sister Samantha Taylor started her season strong, finishing third in the 1600m and fifth in the 200m.

Lucie Rabochova shined in her first race with the Lady Indians, also taking first place in the 100Mm race for junior school runners. Rabochova finished in 13.96 seconds and was 8th overall. The versatile Rabochova also scored points in multiple events: She was second in the 300-meter hurdles and finished 5th in the long jump.

“It was a cold day and late night, but it was definitely worth it to compete against a big school on a brand new track at a great facility,” said Lady Indians Coach Cori Canfield. “I want to congratulate all the athletes who participated. We were very impressed with everyone and can’t wait to see what the rest of the season brings!”

The Newberry boys also had a pair of event wins—one in track and one in field. Garrett Lewicki finished first in the men’s 800 meters with a time of 2:13.20. His time placed him in the top three overall, just seconds off the fastest time of the day.

Newberry throwers had a big day, too. Liam Nalette was the best small-school thrower in the meet, with a 132-foot, 10.5-inch, top-five mark for the meet. Nalette’s fellow throwers put up big numbers, especially in the shot put where Ethan Pavey (4th) and Gabe Luck (5th) took points for Coach Drew Schultz’s team.

“Our throwers had a great day with Ethan and Gabe each throwing over 40 feet and Jude Taylor having his best throw to date. They set a solid standard for the season,” Schultz said.

Athlete Kennedy Depew was second in the 100m and fourth in the 200m. Liam Rao was not far behind in the 100m, finishing fourth. Sam Rahilly finished sixth in the 1600m.

Multiple relay teams finished high, with the 3200-meter relay (Lewicki, Rahilly, Sebastian Patterson, and Oliver Sevarns) taking third, and the 400-meter relay team of Nalette, Luck, Brien Nelson, and Rao taking first place. the fourth.

Schultz said it was a good taste of what’s to come for his team.

“We got a lot out of our trip down there and we were able to compete with the guys getting their first taste of good competition in a good facility,” Schultz said.