By John Raffel
Correspondent
MCBAIN — Diane Eisenga, track coach at Northern Michigan Christian School enjoyed many high moments this season.
Eisenga coached from 1994-1999 and this was her first year back since then.
“I knew we would have potential for several of our boys to return to the State Track Meet, but I was excited for them to return in so many events,” she said. “We broke the 4x200m Relay and 4x400m Relay school records with the team of Nathan Eisenga, Isaac Bowden, Collin DeKam and Tucker Tossey).”
NMC qualified for state in the following events:
Pole vault with Isaac Bowden who was first at 13-0; the high jump with Nathan Eisenga who was fourth at 6-1; the 4x400m relay of Nathan Eisenga, Collin DeKam, Isaac Bowden and Tucker Tossey
which placed sixth at 3:37.54; the 300-meter hurdles with Isaac Bowden who placed 11th in 43.25
and the 4x200m Relay of Isaac Bowden, Collin DeKam, Nathan Eisenga and Tucker Tossey, which was 13th in 1:36.15.
“We were definitely challenged by having such a small team,” Diane Eisenga said. “We only have one girl and 10 boys which makes it very difficult to place in meets although we did place fifth at the Highland Conference meet for the boys.”
Graduates are Jacob Booher, Isaac Bowden, Nathan Eisenga, Collin DeKam and Tucker Tossey.
Next year, “We will return a few runners but we hope to focus on gaining some new runners for next year,” Eisenga said. “It has been amazing to coach these kids. Their hard work and determination to do well in every meet, propelled them to great success at State. Our seniors will certainly be missed.”