Somers Soars into Record Books

New school record holder Conor Somers (right) with former record holder Dan Radar

Somers Soars into Record Books

For anyone who pays any attention to the sport of running, it is a well-known fact that Fremont has a long standing tradition of greatness, especially in their distance teams. Year after year Coach Cliff Somers has produced quality caliber athletes who very often go on to post-secondary schools to continue their running careers.

Coach Somers follows in a long line of phenomenal coaches who have built the cross country and track and field programs: Rich Thompkins for both cross country and track from 1969 until 1997; Herb Lindsey until 1999 when Somers took over both programs (Tom Elmer did take over for track for a handful of years in the mid-2000s with Somers as his assistant). This long history of consistent, knowledgeable coaching has transferred into consistent, outstanding performances from many runners.

The most recent mark of greatness came on Tuesday, May 10 when senior Conor Somers crossed the finish line well ahead of his CSAA Gold competitors with a flourish of excitement: he had just broken the 800 meter school record previously held by Dan Radar.

According to Coach Somers, Dan graduated in 1993 and ran cross country and track for Fremont.  He was part of 2 State Championship teams, ran on a State Championship 4x800 relay, and was the 1993 800 meter State Champion where he set the (previous) school record of 1:56.0.

After hearing of Conor’s breaking the record, Radar drove up from Grand Rapids and surprised Conor with flowers and congratulations for beating his record. 

The meet on Tuesday was a delayed start due to a pop up storm that hung over the area, causing the 4:00 start to be pushed back more than an hour. Fremont’s boys team didn’t let this stop them as they mentally dialed in and ended up winning the Conference Championship after going undefeated in the league.

Coach Somers gave the play-by-play that “Conor hit the 200 in about 28 flat and the 400 in 56.45.  He really stayed in his rhythm through the next 200.  With about 100 to go he was starting to try to force it and needed a reminder to stay smooth.  He relaxed and finished in a new school record of 1:54.81 which is also the fastest time in the state currently.” (Editor’s note: this mark was bested on Friday, May 13 by Brady McArdle at the Davison Twilight Classic and  a time of 1:54.18)  

Near North Now had the opportunity to talk to Conor and ask him a few questions about this great accomplishment.

What do you think about being the one who currently holds the state fastest time* in the 800? “To be honest it doesn’t feel any different, I still have other things that I want to accomplish this track season but having that time definitely checks something off the list.

Fremont has a long standing tradition of impressive runners who have set school records. What does it mean to you to be a part of this tradition?
Means a lot to be part of a long legacy of success here at Fremont and it feels amazing to have my name alongside so many other legends.

Have you always had your mind set on the 800 record or has that developed this year?
My mind was not necessarily set on only the 800 meter record; I was also chasing the 1600 m record.

What drives you to continue putting in the miles and dialing in on your speed?
The hunger to be great is probably the main reason. Though I do enjoy running in general so it’s easy to train.

When at the level you’re running, improvement can be by tenths of a second or even hundredths. How do you set new goals now that you have reached this big one?
I don’t think that I’ve hit a level where I’m only improving by tenths of a second I think that I have a lot of room left to improve and I think that when you do reach that level you still have one common goal, and that’s just to get faster, no matter the margin.

We saw that you attended the elite 2 mile race in Farmington last week. How did you focus on recovery after that to come back with such a quick turnaround?
I didn’t really do anything special. I just took my runs extra easy in order to prepare for not only our Homie but our conference champ meet that was on Monday.

Coach Somers said about his son and athlete’s accomplishment: “It was really exciting for him to be able to perform like that in front of some of the old legends in attendance;  Don Klingel and Dan Price (both former school record holders at the 800), Jim and James Lanciaux, and others.”

The Packers will have the next opportunity to show what they’ve got at their Division 2 Regional at Zeeland East on Friday, May 20th.