Lake Leelanau St. Mary will be introducing its track program this spring as the Eagles plan to field nearly two dozen athletes on the track.
This is the third time in school history that St. Mary has sported a track team, according to coach Nick Papes.
“I knew that we had a few kids from our cross country program that were going to miss out on a spring sport. I went around and did the laps amongst parents and boosters to figure out exactly how we could pull it off,” he said. “It’s going to be a pretty robust program and it shouldn’t subtract from our spring sports that are already in place,” Papes said. “It’s another avenue, another celebration of our students. That’s what St. Mary track is going to be this spring.”
St. Mary does not have a track and field facility, so the program will primarily focus on track events instead of field events.
St. Mary and Suttons Bay dissolved its spring sports co-op program in the fall of 2023, which allowed for the program to be considered. The Eagles will still be cooperating with Suttons Bay football and soccer.
“It’s tough to see what kids are interested in. Things turn over and change all of the time. It’s just now time to host track at St. Mary based on our student body,” Papes said.
Papes says there are about a dozen boys and a dozen girls that have expressed interest in the track program. Without a track facility, technical training like hurdles, pole vault, high jump, and long jump are going to be mostly out of the question for St. Mary athletes.
“It’s going to be a learning curve,” Papes said.
St. Mary will not compete in a conference this Spring as the Eagles will only be allowed to compete at invitationals, which are bigger meets that typically take place on the weekend. The Eagles will still have a chance to compete at the State Championships through the regional meet.
“We went to the athletic council and they were pretty supportive, so we decided to move forward with boys and girls track for grades 8-12,” St. Mary athletic director Toby Waggener said.
The cost for the track team to compete this year will be roughly $8,000 to $10,000, according to Waggener.
“Equipment-wise is insufficient... Blessed without field event cost,” he said.
St. Mary also announced that the Eagles will be cooperating with Leland for baseball this year, and possibly, softball down the road.
