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Sports

Fenton Track Teams Exceeding Expectations

Boys and girls teams post convincing wins in tri-meet Tuesday.

Heading into this season working several new runners into the equation, girls' track coach Todd Mills was hoping the team could muster a .500 finish in the Metro League. After beating Clio 105-32 and Brandon 69-68 on Tuesday, the Fenton girls are now 7-1 in the league.

"We've surpassed that goal (of finishing .500)," Mills said. "The girls have just worked really hard this year."

The team's success has been a result of strong leadership from the seniors on the team.

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"That's helped us out quite a bit," Mills said. "They help keep the younger ones motivated, and that makes it a whole lot easier."

Fenton has had several runners step into key roles this season, but the Tigers have been able to count on Alyssa Sanders in both hurdle events as well as sprinter Alessandra Kozlowski and long jumper Brittany Robinson for consistent points all season. The rest of the team's success has come from consistent improvement and good practice habits.

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In the close matchup with Brandon, Fenton's versatility helped the team hold on to that win thanks to some strategic switches in a couple of events.

"I was kind of doing the math in my head and I knew after checking a couple scores, we had to go 1-2-3 in the two-mile (to win the meet)," Mills said. "We switched a couple people out of our mile relay so our mile relay wasn't as strong, but we were able to go 1-2-3 in the two-mile."

Individual winners for Fenton in Tuesday's meet included Kira Rentschler in the discus, Taylor Thorpe in the 1,600, Alyssa Sander in the 300 hurdles and Ellie White in the 3,200.

Although the competition at the top of the league remains strong, Fenton has positioned itself as one of the top squads in the Metro this season.

"The competition has been pretty good," Mills said. "Holly has a pretty good team, Brandon is very good in the sprints. At the league meet, it's going to be very tough."

The boys' team is now 5-3 in the Metro League after convincing wins over Brandon and Clio and, as always at Fenton, the distance runners are the most consistent point-scorers on the team.

"Our bread and butter is always our distance program," said coach Reggie Manville. "We've had great distance guys come through here for the last seven or eight years. Our 800s, our miles and our two-miles are taking care of business and our 4x800 relay team is pretty tough. Those guys are always scoring points for us."

Most of the team's experience is in that group of distance runners and in the high jump. Four Fenton high jumpers are already jumping more than six feet in the high jump, a depth that few programs in the area can boast in that event. The rest of the team is young and working on development with the coaching staff.

In the wins over Brandon and Clio, Manville was very pleased that Fenton was able to get points in some events that have given the Tigers problems earlier in the season.

"I'm extremely happy with the kids tonight," Manville said. "We've struggled in the field events all year long. We're rock solid in the high jump with four guys all headed to regionals, all jumping 6-foot, but other than that, our other field events just weren't there for us. But today, those guys really met the task and stepped up for us."

Individual winners for Fenton included Aaron Felts (100 and 400), Max Krysa (800 and 1,600), Ryan Sawle (discus), Alec Anderson (200), Mike Burgess (high jump) and Matt Gilbert (3,200). The 800 and 400 relay teams also won events.

Although Holly and Kearsley remain the favorites in the league, Fenton has been competitive and improved throughout the season, something Manville hopes will carry over into the league meet and postseason meets.

"Starting at the top with Holly, that's just an amazing program," Manville said. "I love competing against them. In terms of where they're at, you have to be up in order to compete with them, so I enjoy that. We squeaked by Creek and we matched up pretty evenly with them. Linden and Kearsley, however, squeaked by us. In terms of the overall competition in the conference, it's tough, good competition.

"I like where we're at. I like taking our small group of guys to a big meet and making a lot of noise. There's some talent here, and we may not win the meet, but you have to respect the fact that we can come into a big meet with sometimes half as many guys as bigger schools have and finish third or even second sometimes. These guys really step up to the challenge."

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