The Manchester Enterprise
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Competitive times boost Manchester
Track teams begin league title defense at Playmaker's Invite
By Ed Patino, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 3, 2008
James Hughes and Liz Timoszyk made sure that the Manchester varsity boys and girls track teams didn't look out of place against bigger schools.
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Both placed in the top six in their respective events as Manchester kicked off the 2008 track season March 25 with the Playmaker's True Team Invitational, hosted by Michigan State University at the Jenison Fieldhouse.
The event was the Manchester coaching debut of John Bancroft, who coached for 35 years at Troy High School before taking over the Flying Dutch from former coach Mike Forner. Manchester had the option of entering the small-school competition, but opted to run in the larger-school meet. The Manchester teams competed against the likes of Lansing Eastern, Okemos, Grand Ledge and Holt. In all, 18 teams competed in the event.
"All of the schools we competed against had over 950 students, so I didn't know what might happen," Bancroft said. "But I thought the kids showed me some aggressive running. This is a gutty team, and that's something Forner instilled in them."
Hughes led the way for the Manchester boys team. The senior earned a second place finish in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:38.1. Hughes also teamed with Carl Wharam, James Heslip and Nate Hyde in the 3,200-meter relay, helping the Flying Dutchmen post a time of 8:54 and place sixth.
"It was nice to see the guys finish in the top six in everything," Bancroft said. "There were some nice performances from some of our younger kids who surely will get their names in the paper a lot down the road."
Senior Jarod Sawyer placed third in the high jump for the Dutchmen, clearing 6-feet. Brian Fargher ran the 400-meter dash in 52.8 seconds, earning a fourth-place finish.
The Manchester boys are the reigning three-time Cascades Conference champions, but graduated a deep core last year, including their entire 1,600-meter relay team (Zach Greca, Greg Schaible, Jake LaCross and Andrew Tindall) that went undefeated last season. However, Bancroft is optimistic about his younger runners filling the voids this season.
"We have quite a few new sophomores, and we should still be good in the mile relay," Bancroft said. "Brian Fargher is the real deal and should give us quality quarter miles."
The boys team did receive a blow when sophomore pole-vaulter Jesse Forner, coming off a successful freshmen season, was lost for the year with a broken ankle. Bancroft had hoped to use Forner in both the pole vault and high hurdles this season.
"Jesse is a natural who will be tough to replace," he said. "But he's one of those track guys and he'll be back next year."
Timoszyk, a sophomore, helped secure a pair of fourth-place finishes for the Manchester girls. Individually, Timoszyk recorded a time of 5:56.1 in the 1,600-meter run for fourth-place. She also teamed with Tracy Schaible, Brooke Fuller and Kate Brown to help the 3,200-meter relay team take fourth at 10:36.
Manchester's Shelby Lalik and Ginny Garback tied for third in the high jump as both cleared 4-10.
After winning just one dual meet in 2006, the Manchester girls went undefeated in dual competition last year en route to sharing the Cascades Conference title with East Jackson (the Trojans took first overall at the league meet). With the girls team returning most of its core, Bancroft believes they're poised for even bigger things this season.
"The girls' times were good and competitive, and I think some of them will be better than last year," he said.
Lansing Eastern took first place overall in the boys competition, beating out second-place Grand Ledge. Official results for the girls event were not available as of press time.
Manchester is on Spring Break this week. The teams will return to action April 8 when they travel to Adrian Madison.
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