The Red Arrows knew they had their work cut out entering day 2 of the RCA conference meet as they stood in 7^th place.  The challenge for the guys was to compete and see how many points we could put on the board in the next three hours.  Lowell started out HOT as Chris Wigger won the 110HH in a time of 14.75 which moved him to #2 on the LHS record board.  Fellow senior Mason Butler ran a 11.13 (LHS#2) in the 100m which was good for 3^rd place and junior Marek Pullen grabbed 5^th in the 100m with a time of 11.35 (LHS #5). The 800m relay team of Wigger, Ian Kuntz, Jacob Ort, and Butler avenged an earlier season loss to Allendale as Butler came from behind to grab first place by .04 seconds for the Arrows breaking a 25-year-old school record in a time of 1:31.35.  Marshall Huhn made sure that the distance crew got into the act as he took 2^nd in the 1600m in a school record time of 4:27.47.  His time breaks the old record which was set in 1957! 

As the meet continued fast times, new records, and the points continued to be found.  Wigger, Butler, Pullen, and Kuntz teamed up for 2^nd place finish in the 400m relay running 43.82 which broke the school record from 1990.  Wigger continued the show winning the 300H breaking his school record with a time of 39.55.  Butler and Pullen took their turn in the 200m as Butler grabbed 2^nd in 22.71(LHS#2) with Pullen finishing 5^th in 23.07 (LHS#5).  With the stage set, Huhn took the track for the 3200m and grabbed the lead with 600m to go winning the event in 9:451.15 which is LHS #2 and the fastest outdoor 3200m.  In the race Cooper Byrne grabbed Lowell’s final medal as he finished in 5^th place with a time of 9:50.89 (LHS#7).

On the night Lowell had five all conference athletes as Chris Wigger, Ian Kuntz, Jacob Ort, Mason Butler, and Marshall Huhn all earned that honor.

Lowell has two meets this week with the JV Conference meet on Tuesday at Greenville and the MHSAA Region 1-3 at Portage Central on Saturday.

You knew times would be fast when 17 teams from multiple states get together for a track meet.  Lowell experienced exactly that as they made their first appearance at the JT Long Invitational hosted by Kalamazoo Central HS.  The Arrows were able to snag four medals on the day including a event championship as Chris Wigger won the 300H in 39.72 which broke his school record of 39.91.  Earlier in the day Wigger raced the 110HH and came in 2^nd to Kalamazoo Central’s Jamar Dobbins missing 1^st place by .01 seconds.  In the distance events Cooper Byrne and Marshall Huhn tackled the 1600 and 800 with each capturing medals as Byrne went 4:32.55 for 3^rd place and Huhn going 2:01.90 for 5^th place.  Both efforts were personal records for the runners.  Other bright spots were the two sprint relay teams as they each ran season best times inching closer to the elusive school record.  The 400m relay team of Wigger, Kuntz, Pullen, and Butler ran a 44.57 which is .19 from the record and the 800m relay team of Wigger, Kuntz, Ort, and Butler ran a 1:32.68 which is .24 from the top spot.

Next up for the team is the RCA Conference meet on May 8-9 hosted by Coopersville HS.

On paper the meet against Greenville is like looking in a mirror.  For the most part both team’s strengths are in the same areas so the winner of the meet would come down to who had the better day.   Greenville would go on to win the meet 87-50 which secured their first-place spot going into the RCA conference meet.  Lowell did grab a three-point win against Cedar Springs 70-67 to finish the RCA regular season in 5th place with a 2-3-1 record.  Mason Butler provided a couple of highlights on the day as he won both the 100/200 going 11.25 and 23.01 with the latter moving him to #4 on the record board.  Cooper Byrne and Marshall Huhn completed a long night of miles as they took first and second in the 3200m finishing with times of 10:02 and 10:04 respectively.  Christopher Wigger notched a couple more wins in the 110HH and 300H going 14.93 and 41.18.  Next up for Lowell is the JT Long Invite at Kalamazoo Central before next weeks RCA conference meet.

Team Scores

Lowell   50                          Greenville 87

Lowell   70                          Cedar Springs 67

1^st Place Finishers

Mason Butler                    100/200                              11.25 / 23.1

Chris Wigger                     1110HH/ 300H                 14.93/41.18

Cooper Byrne                   3200m                                 10:02.36

800m Relay (Wigger, Kuntz, Ort, Butler)              1:33.78

2^nd Place Finishers

Cooper Byrne                    1600m                                   4:37.77

Marshall Huhn                   3200m                                   10:04.01

Saturday’s windy conditions did not interfere with seven records being set at the 025 Kathy Talus Memorial Invitational at Red Arrow Stadium which was won by Hudsonville HS.  The Red Arrow’s did not set any KT records but did see two athletes move up to the #2 spot on the LHS Record Board.  Mason Butler and Christopher Wigger won the 100m and 110HH as they ran 11.13 and 14.86 to capture gold medalist honors.    Both athletes continue to improve with the hopes that they peak in mid-May.  Earlier in the afternoon Wigger ran a 41.29 to win the 300H.  The Arrows were also able to capture medals in 6 additional events on the day which is great to see as each athlete earns their varsity letter.  The Arrows will close out the RCA regular season on Tuesday at Allendale HS.

Medalists

Mason Butler                    1^st           100M    11.13 #2LHS

Chris Wigger                     1^st           110H    14.86 #2LHS

                                                1st          300H    41.29

Cooper Byrne                   3^rd           1600m 4:37.68

Marshall Huhn                 4^th           1600m 4:39.45

800mRelay (Wigger, Kuntz, Ort, Butler)                               2^nd          1:33.16

SMR (Smith, Eikey, Inman, Maatman)                                  3^rd           1:43.21

HJ Relay (Bromley)                                                                         4^th           5’2”

PV Relay (O Boyle)                                                                         4^th           10’

Mens Varsity

While there was no energy in the finish line electrical outlet; there was plenty of energy in the Red Arrow performances as Lowell hosted Sparta and Allendale.  Of the 95 performances on Tuesday night, 64 resulted in either personal or season records.  The final team scores resulted in a tie w/ Sparta and a 88-49 loss to Allendale.  The Allendale score was much closer than it appears as 6 seconds separated a total of 20 points which would have flipped the meet the other direction.  The 400m relay team of Chris Wigger, Ian Kuntz, Marek Pullen, and Mason Butler were one of the highlights of the evening as moved to #2 on the LHS record board with a time of 44.70.  In the 3200m run Marshall Huhn and Cooper Byrne moved to #3 and #7 with times of 9:43 and 9:54 respectively.  Marek Pullen moved up the board in two events as he is now #5 in the 100m and #4 in the 200m with times of 11.36 and 23.18.  The hurdles saw Christopher Wigger coming in first in both the 110HH and the 300 hurdles going 15.70 and 41.05.  The Arrows are back at it on Saturday as they host the Kathy Talus Memorial Invitational.

Team Scores

Lowell   68.5      Sparta 68.5

Lowell  49           Allendale 88

The Red Arrows kicked off their 2025 RCA Campaign with a double dual hosted by Coopersville HS.  When all events were done the Arrows found themselves on the winning end against Kenowa Hills 78-59 and came up short against the host by a score of 72-65.  In the world of track the seven-point difference is a second and third place going the other direction.  The relays were the highlight of the evening as Lowell won three of the four with the 800m relay team of Chris Wigger, Ian Kuntz, Jacob Ort, and Mason Butler going 1:33.346 which is #4 on the LHS record board.  In addition to the relays Chris Wigger found 1^st place two more times as he swept both hurdle events.  Marshall Huhn and Cooper Byrne were frequent scorers as together they accounted for 22 points and were members of the winning 3200m relay team joining w/ Brayden Marchel and Cody Bromley. 

Team Scores

Lowell   78          Kenowa Hills  59

Lowell  65           Coopersville 72

1^st Place Finishers

Marshall Huhn                 800                        2:03

Cooper Byrne                   1600 /3200        4:49 /10:46

Chris Wigger                     110HH  300H   16.02/40.52

800m Relay       (Wigger, Kuntz, Ort, Butler)  1:33.36  #4LHS

3200m Relay     (Marchal, Bromley, Byrne, Huhn)  9:26

Next up for the Arrows is the Byron Center Bulldog Invitational on Saturday.

Lowell went to the site of the 2024 OK White Conference Meet to join fifteen other teams in the BC Bulldog Invite.  This inaugural event provided a chance for athletes to hit an “early qualifying” mark for the state meet.  The stiff competition also provided a stage for the Red Arrows to shine as we had four “gold” medalists at the end of the day.  Christopher Wigger was a double winner as he captured the 110HH and the 300H winning both in 15.27 and 39.93 respectively.  The time in the 110HH was #7 on the LHS record board and the time in the 300H was .02 from his own school record.  Cooper Byrne was next up as he passed the second-place finisher in the final 100m to win in 4:33.81.  Marshall Huhn closed the meet with a win in the 3200m running a solo effort of 9:49.38 which was #5 on the LHS board.  The relay team of Wigger, Kuntz, Ort, and Butler continue to get the stick around as they grabbed a fourth place medal in the 800m relay going 1:34.14.

Team Scores

Medalists

Cooper Byrne                   1600m                 1st         4:33  #7 LHS

Marshall Huhn                 200m                    1^st           9:49  #5 LHS

Chris Wigger                     110HH/300H   1^st           15.27 / 39.93

800m Relay (Wigger, Kuntz, Ort, Butler) 4^th        1:34.41

Lowell hosts the next RCA meet on Tuesday at Red Arrow Stadium.