Three boys on the Cedar Springs Red Hawks track team earned all-state honors at the MHSAA state finals last Saturday at Zeeland High School.
Junior AJ Olszewski was the first to be awarded by placing fourth in the pole vault with a new school record jump of 14’ 3”. Second, junior Justin Balczak finished third in the 110m high hurdles with a time of 14.85 seconds. He also was second in the 300m hurdles with a time of 39.57 seconds. Last was freshman Connor Mora, who placed seventh in the 1600m run with a personal best time of 4:22.31.
Other Red Hawks who competed but did not place at the state finals were James Putnam, in the 100 (11.42) and 200m dashes (23.22); the 3200m relay team of Alex Bray, Austin Mora, Achrim Tillbrooke, and Connor Mora (8:35); the 400m relay team of Ryan Austin, Casey VanEss, Alex Hemry, and Putnam (44.3); Connor Mora in the 3200m run (9:41.4) and the 1600m relay team of Ronny Fisk, Austin Mora, Tilbrooke, and Balczak (3:35.5).
“This is the most athletes that we have sent to the state finals in the time I have been with the program,” commented Coach Jeff Myers. “We are very proud of their accomplishments. Our seniors that competed today did an outstanding job of being great captains and leaders on and off the track.”
Myers said that he appreciated everyone’s attitude. “We came in with the idea of doing what we could to earn a medal and not being satisfied with just being here. We definitely saw the boys leave it all on the track today,” he said.
He noted that while the boys are happy about their accomplishments this season, they didn’t fulfill all of their team goals. “At the end of the season, many athletes began to realize what it takes to get to the next level,” explained Myers.
“We have a great group of juniors that will be excellent leaders next season as seniors. To get to the next level, they will have to lead the team to work harder in the off season than they ever have. I would like to thank my assistant and volunteer coaches for raising the expectation level of the athletes. Also, the parents have been great. Our communication has been better than ever, we had great support at each meet, and they like to cheer on each boy in every event,” he remarked.
