John Raffel
Sports Scene
Considering his team won the Division 3 boys track and field state title by five points, 47-42, over Hillsdale, Sam Forsyth’s title in the long jump was huge.
His jump of 21-6 ½ beat Tai Alle of Manistee, who had a 20-11, by 7.5 inches.
He ran a lot of events for the Indians this season. He had a 100-meter dash personal record of 11.52 seconds in the 100-meter dash. But he had a lot of success in the 200-meter dash and placed third in the state at 22.88 seconds. His personal record was 22.55 seconds. He won the regional and TVC Central title in those events. He also ran the 400 meters and had a personal record of 51.96 seconds.
But the long jump was Forsyth’s main event. He covered 22-1 on May 3 at a meet for what is still his personal record. He won the regional (21-0) and TVC Central (21-10) titles and then went 21-6 ½ for first in the state meet.
Forsyth was also the anchor of the 2×400-meter relay team that clocked a 1:29.55 at the state meet. Zach McFarlan, Brady Fraiser and Brandon Keys were also in that event
Forsyth was the third leg of the 1,500-meter relay that clocked a 3:24.59 at the state meet for fifth place. Paxton Ruddy, Hayden Giesken and McFarlan were also in that relay.
In the long jump, “I got second last year so I was hoping I could get at it again,” Forsyth said. “It depends on that day, I guess. I was feeling good that day. It’s all about speed for the long jump.”
He has a year left and Forsyth will go for back-to-back success next season with hopes of even a better performance.
In this year’s 1,600-meter relay, Forsyth recalls getting the baton for the last leg when the Indians were way ahead.
“We worked our handoffs a lot,” he said. “We don’t have anyone who is super fast. We have a lot of people who are decently fast. We had three guys who could probably qualify for state in the open 200.”
It was Forsyth’s first state title. He was second in the long jump during the 2016 season when he was a junior; the 4×200 relay team had taken second place in 2016, and the 4×400 relay squad was fifth.