by RANDY GREGORY
The boys track team at Rockford faced adversity with increasing frequency as the season progressed. Illness, injury and untimely suspensions combined to gradually dissipate the point potential of a Ram squad that persevered their way to several notable accomplishments. A regional title, several strong showings at invitationals and a second-place finish in an always-challenging OK Red conference highlighted the season.
The season concluded on Saturday, June 2 in the Division I state meet at East Kentwood. The Rams amassed 10 points as a team in extremely windy conditions that were not conducive to performance. Rockford scored points in three separate events and suffered a few mishaps in the sprint relays that kept them from more.
“Considering everything, it was a year that we were pretty happy with,” said Rockford Coach Andy Martin. “We had a few issues over the course of the season, but that does nothing to diminish what we accomplished both as a team and on an individual basis. Drew Woznick ran a very nice 1,600-meter and had a great year all around. Chris Eggenberger was a standout for us in the sprints and the 4×800 relay team had a good finish too. We had a few bad hand-offs that hurt us in the shorter relays, but it was a pretty satisfying day for us.”
Woznick finished third in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:23.07. That was less than three seconds from first for the talented junior. Eggenberger finished seventh in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.56. The 4×800 relay quartet of Austin Benoit, Casey Aman, Chris Coles and Woznick also ran to a seventh-place finish with a season best time of 7:55.14.
“We are really going to miss this year’s seniors next year,” said Martin. “But we have some talented juniors coming back, including all four members of the 4×800 team. In some ways it was a year of what could have been. But that shouldn’t take away from all the positives this year produced.”
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