Oconto Falls High School senior Mike Friedman had the Panthers’ best finish Saturday at the Bay Conference Championship at Marinette High School.
Friedman finished second in the 1,600-meter run and added a fourth-place finish in the 800 for the Panthers, who finished seventh among nine teams. West De Pere won the meet with 158.5 points, 38 points ahead of second-place Seymour. Luxemburg-Casco was third (111). The Panthers finished in seventh place with 44.5 points.
Friedman’s time of 4 minutes, 29.84 seconds was an improvement from his fourth-place finish at last year’s Bay Conference meet at Denmark, where he finished in 4:44.63.
“He broke 4:30 for the first time ever, which is a huge accomplishment for him,” Panthers coach Lon Ludemann said. “He had a great day out there.”
Friedman’s second-place finish in the 1,600 yielded a second-team all-Bay conference honor. He also received honorable mention as part of the 1,600 relay squad.
The senior was also on the third-place 1,600 relay squad with sophomore Aaron Kurth and seniors Luke Vrooman and Michael Fifield, finishing in 3:38.30.
Fifield, meanwhile, was third in the 800 run (2:06.10); Friedman finished 2.12 seconds behind in fourth.
The meet also marked the final time the Panthers will compete in the Bay Conference Championship, with the school moving to the Eastern Valley Conference next year.
“We had a good relationship with everyone in the conference,” Ludemann said, “but we are going back to the way we were.”
Oconto Falls was in the former Valley 8 conference with eventual foes Freedom, Fox Valley Lutheran, Little Chute, Waupaca and Clintonville prior to rejoining the Bay Conference in 2007.
“We are simply moving on,” Ludemann said.
Bay Conference Championship
Boys results - 1. West De Pere, 158.5; 2. Seymour, 120.5; 3. Luxemburg-Casco, 111; 4. Menasha, 94.5; 5. Shawano, 58; 6. Denmark, 49.5; 7. Oconto Falls, 44.5; 8. New London, 34.5; 9. Marinette, 31.
Oconto Falls results (top-eight finishes):
100-meter dash - 7. Jacob Yatso, 11.76.
200 dash - 7. Sam Fletcher, 24.19
800 run - 3. Michael Fifield, 2:06.10; 4. Mike Friedman, 2:08.22.
1,600 run - 2. Mike Friedman, 4:29.84.
4x100 relay - 4. Oconto Falls (Sam Fletcher, Jared VanHaren, Aaron Kurth, Jacob Yatso), 46.35.
4x200 relay - 8. Oconto Falls (Jared VanHaren, Dylan Kasper, Brett Markiewicz, Jacob Yatso), 1:39.14.
4x400 relay - 3. Oconto Falls (Aaron Kurth, Mike Friedman, Luke Vrooman, Michael Fifield), 3:38.30.
4x800 relay - 4. Oconto Falls (Liam Spillane, Matt VerVelde, Connor Iverson, Luke Vrooman), 9:00.43.
High jump - 6. Michael Fifield, 5-06.00.
Long jump - 6. Sam Fletcher, 18-06.25.
