Strong showing for Raiders at Greater Lansing Honor Roll Meet

On Tuesday May 30th school size, divisions, classifications were thrown out when the top high school Track & Field athletes from 40 different schools competed in the Greater Lansing Honor Roll Track Meet. This year’s meet was held at Waverly High School and Raider from Portland had several that qualified.

The Portland trio of throwers Evan Bower, Annabelle Bower, and Noah Simpson continued their 2023 success each grabbing medals. Seniors Simpson and Bower will be a huge hole to fill next year for Portland’s throws team ended their year the way they have all season. Simpson took home the gold in a strong group of throwers this year with a Personal Best (PR) of 169’ 3” on his 3rd throw in the Discus, besting Gavin Nurenberg of Pewamo-Westphalia’s Personal best of 162’ 3”. Evan Bower fired his 3rd throw 143’ 4” to take the 4th Place medal home. The Simpson also grabbed a 4th Place Medal in the Shot, while Nurenberg returned the favor by chucking his PR of 55' 11.5".

While the men were throwing, Lily Buckland was doing what she does best, medaling in the 100 and 300 hurdles. After Lily’s 100 hurdle medal run, Annabelle Bower punched several consistent throws out far enough to grab 2nd Place Medal in the girls Discus with a 115’ 3” throw.

That wasn’t all, Portland’s first year Track runner Matt Seavey continued to show he will be a force next year, racing to his second best time of the season in the 1600m on this hot night. That was followed by freshman Nolan Zbytowski who convinced coaches to allow him to run the 400m at the end of the season and did not disappoint again. Seated last, Nolan ran another PR of 43.17 and placed himself #1 on Portland’s Freshman Top 10 list. Nolan will definitely be a force for the next 3 years! Lastly, hopefully Maykah Mora understands that the 300 hurdles ARE his event! Seated last also, Maykah ran a Personal Best of 42.32 and if he had paid attention to the very different starting buzzer and not a gun, he would have grabbed himself a medal and ran under the automatic State qualifying time. Mora will also be part of Portland’s strong track runners coming the next couple years.

The strong meet was a great tune-up for the 3 throwers and Buckland who will compete at the Division 2 State Championships this Saturday at Forest Hills East High School.