The season ended for a host of Red Arrows as the guys finished in 13th place at the Portage Central regional meet. Ramsey Ponchaud shined on a rainy day as he tied for 2nd place going 12-09 in the pole vault which earned him a spot at the MHSAA state meet in Rockford on June 3rd. Levi Mills capped his Lowell career with a 8th place finish in the 400m going 52.84 and anchored the 5th place 1600m relay team where he was joined by Dylan Polczak, Benjamin Bromley and Ponchaud.    

The Lowell Arrows took a 5th place regular season finish to the OK White Conference meet looking to move up a place in the overall standings. At the end of the meet Lowell was able to set 14 personal records on their way to scoring 81 points which was good for 5th place. Lowell was .5 away from Greenville, and 3 away from EGR in the meet won by Byron Center. The highlight the meet was Ramsey Ponchaud winning the PV going 13’3” PR and followed it up on Friday w/ a 2nd place finish in the 300H and as a member of the 3rd place 1600m relay team. Two relays also were showcased as they ran times good enough for the record board. The 800m relay team went 1:33.91 which hit the #4mark and was good for silver medalist honors in the meet. Isaac Graham was a double medalist as he earned 2nd in the discus and 3rd in the shot put. Benjamin Bromley earned three medals as he was 3rd in the discus, 7th in the 800m, and was part of the 1600m relay team. The meet gives the Arrows something to build on as we work on the little things that will result in the single points in a big meet that would move us from 5th to 3rd.   ALL CONFERENCE athletes were Ramsey Ponchaud, Levi Mills, Isaac Graham, and Benjamin Bromley.   Lowell is off until Friday as they head to Portage for the MHSAA D1 regionals.

The Lowell track team came to compete in the dual meet against EGR and as such they hit 57 personal records in the loss to EGR. Conditions were near perfect and a lot better than the wind and rain that the week started with. Highlights of the meet were in the 100m where Xavier Young ran 11.45 to move to #5 on the LHS record board. Young’s time was the fastest FAT time ever at LHS. Thirty minutes later Levi Mills lowered his 400mPR and bettered his #7 time on the board. In the throws we had two record board marks as Drew Weber won the shot put in 45-05 which puts him at #8 on the board and Ben Bromley threw a PR 135-10 to take 2nd in the discus and move him on to the record board at #10.   Lowell is off until next week where they will be at Byron Center for the OK White Conference meet.

Lowell took advantage of some great competition to score some nice PR’s, grab some hardware, and post some national leading times at the Grand Rapids Elite Invitational. The meet was separated by open events but also had ELITE events that required qualifying marks to participate. Annika and Katrina Sandman opened the elite action in the MILE with two great races as Annika took silver medalist honors in 4:59.34 and Katrina set a new PR going 5:04.38. The meet had timing cameras at the 1600m mark which captured Annika at 4:57 and Kat at 5:02. Katrina hit the track and hour later in the elite 800m and raced a PR time of 2:18.83 which was less than a second from Rachael Walters school record, and an hour after that Annika set the new school record in winning the 3200m going 10:31 which is the 53rd best HS time in the US. Leah Krieger fit in a great 100H race as she took runner-up honors in a PR 16.55. Lowell’s PV team led the way for the field events as Isabel German won the event going 11-06 and just missing her attempts at 11-09, while Brooklyn Wobma hit a new PR going 9-00.

The Red Arrows had a chance to compete against the best West Michigan had to offer at the GR Elite Invitational. The Arrows started the day with PR’s across the board in the open 1600m and capped the morning off with a 3rd place finish in the shuttle hurdle relay with a team of Ramsey Ponchaud, Christopher Wigger, Rasmus Rewitz, and Noah VanLaan. The afternoon was highlighted with a runner-up finish by the SMR team of Brady Smith, Xavier Young, Brenden Wittenbach, and Levi Mills going 2:05.32.

Balanced scoring was the recipe for success as the Lowell boys track team scored wins against Northview and host Greenville. There were some giant PRs in addition to the scoring as Ramsey Ponchaud won the PV going 13-00 while Benjamin Bromley had a ten-foot PR in the discus going 131 feet. Lowell also received a couple of wins in the relays as they ran season best times in the 800m and 1600m, respectively. Other first place finishers were Chris Wigger in the 300H and Isaac Graham in the discus.

Lowell scored three first place finishes during the Kathy Talus Invitational held at Red Arrow Stadium. Ramsey Ponchaud went 12-06 in the Pole Vault and had two good attempts at the 13-00 mark. Isaac Graham won the discus with a toss of 135-6 and teamed up with Benjamin Bromley to win the discus relay. Graham would team up again with Drew Weber to take 2nd in the shot-put relay. The relay team of Xavier Young, Brady Smith, Brenden Wittenbach, and Levi Mills grabbed 2nd in the Red Arrow Relay. It was a pretty good day for the Arrows as they continue to grow as we are mid-way through the season.

Arrows Fall to Byron Center in Dual   On paper the meet wasn’t supposed to be close but Lowell made sure the Bulldogs knew they were in a scrap as the meet remained close three quarters of the way through the meet before BC hit the winning mark and closed out with a 80-57 win. Lowell earned five first place finishes in individual events led Xavier Young in the 100m, Chris Wigger in the 110HH / 300H, Ramsey Ponchaud in the PV, and Isaac Graham in the discus.   Young, Wigger, and Graham all set PR (personal records) to win the events. Lowell also captured two relays warning wins in the 800m and 1600m relays. Lowell heads to Caledonia on Saturday for the Soderman Relays.   Team Scores Lowell 57      BC                 80                Placing for the Arrows were…   1st place Xavier Young                   100m    11.61 Chris Wigger                    110H     17.26                                            300H     44.12 Ramsey Ponchaud          PV          12-00 Isaac Graham                   Discus   142-06 800m RELAY (Young, Wigger, Mills, Wittenbach)               1:36.88 1600m RELAY (Wigger, Polczak, Wittenbach, Mills)          3:41.95   2nd place Wyatt Baker                     200m    25.78 Levi Mills                           400m    52.32 Ramsey Ponchaud          110H     17.89                                            300H     44.26 Drew Weber                    SP          41-04 Noah VanLaan                 HJ          5-09   3rd Place Dylan Polczak                   400m    53.99 Brenden Wittenbach      200m    26.10 Noah VanLaan                 110H     18.29 Benjamin Bromley          Discus   122-02

Lowell opened their OK White Season by winning a close meet against FHN. Throughout the evening the score was within 10 points, but the Arrows closed the meet with a win in the 1600m relay and a 1-2 finish in the shotput to hit the magic number for the win. The Arrows used strong efforts in the discus and hurdles as both scored 1-2 finishes in their disciplines, but the team had pretty good balance across the events. The highlight performance was senior Isaac Graham as he moved up to #8 on the LHS record board with a toss of 140-09 feet. The Arrows will travel to Byron Center on Thursday.                            Placing for the Arrows were…   1st place Xavier Young                   100m    11.76    Levi Mills                           400m    53.35 Ramsey Ponchaud          110H     17.07                                            300H     43.61 Drew Weber                    SP          40-05 Isaac Graham                   Discus   140-09 Noah VanLaan                 HJ          5-07 800m RELAY (Young, Wigger, Mills, Wittenbach)               1:38.95 1600m RELAY (Simmet, Polczak, Wittenbach, Mills)          3:47.08   2nd place Dylan Polczak                   400m    55.37 Dannion Simmet             800m    2:14.37                                            1600      5:08.45 Chris Wigger                    110H     17.63                                            300H     43.86 Isaac Graham                   SP          39-03 Benjamin Bromley          Discus   115-06 Ramsey Ponchaud          PV          11-00   3rd Place Brenden Wittenbach      200m    25.37 Braylon Iakiri                    800m    2:29.94 Antonio Casarez              1600      5:14.90     Noah VanLaan                 110H     17.68

The Lowell Boys T & F team finally got to race outside as they competed at the Sparta Snowmelter Invitational. This meet was new for all members of the team as the last time mother nature and pandemics allowed us to compete there was 2018. The meet uses the MITCA style scoring which allows three members from each team to score in an event. So, with six teams a first place finishwill earn 18 points and it goes down from there. Lowell approached the meet as both practice and a meet as we are still looking for where the best fit is for many of the student athletes.   Sparta won the meet with 705.5 points which outdistanced the Red Arrow’s 557.5. Lowell snagged two wins in the hurdle events as Ramsey Ponchaud won the 110HH with a time of 17.19 and Christopher Wigger captured the 300H in 44.69. Levi Mills took first in the 400m dash with a time of 53.97 and was part of the winning 800m relay team joined by Xavier Young, Wigger, and Wyatt Baker as they got the stick around in 1:38.20.   Team Scoring Sparta                                   705.5 Lowell                                   557.5 GR Union                             333 GRTC                                     328 Grand River Prep              205 GR Wellspring Prep         125   Second place finishes were. Xavier Young                      100m     11.90 (PR) Dylan Polczak                     400m     56.58 Ramsey Ponchaud           300H      44.76 Isaac Graham                     Discus   123’11” Noah VanLaan                   HJ           5’4” 1600m Relay (Polczak, Simmet, Schmidt, Mills) 3:54.90 3200m Relay (Simmet, Morrell, Byrne, Iakiri) 9:56.10   Third place finishes were. Chris Wigger                       110HH   18.28 Isaac Graham                     Shot Put 38’3”