Not So Fast! Injury Spoils Ferndale Boys Varsity Track Team's Day At State Finals

Jamarius McTear couldn’t wait to race at the Division 2 state finals with his legs 100 percent healthy.

So much for that.

McTear suffered a strained quad during the first prelim race of the tournament and couldn’t race the rest of the afternoon. As a team Ferndale finished in 15th place (13 points) and picked up four all state finishes.

This year’s squad had aspirations of bringing home the school’s first state championship in track. Despite the accomplishments, the Eagles were disappointed with the finish.

“It’s funny how that’s disappointing for us this year,” Ferndale coach Scott Collins said. “That goes to show you how good these kids were. Most schools, including teams I’ve coached, would be happy with that many all-states any other year. This year it’s kind of disappointing.”

Last year McTear partially tore his hamstring the week before state. The injury flared up in the finals of the 100-meter dash and he needed over 90 seconds to finish the race.

This year McTear didn’t even get that far. The injury happened during the first 100-meter prelim.

The senior ran an 11.24 and finished in second place. He would’ve qualified for the semifinals, but the injury prevented him from competing in the next race. He also had to drop out of the 200-meter dash and two relay races.

“He had a spasm going on at counties and that went away for the entire week,” Collins said. “He pulled it in the prelims. It wasn’t a horrible pull, but there are no good ones. But continuing the race would’ve been a poor decision.” 

Trainers could feel a knot on the back of his leg. Running with the tightened up muscle could’ve significantly worsened the injury.

“When a kid is so fast like that he could end up with a rupture or career ending injury if he keeps running on it,” Collins said. “It’s different for sprinters than long distance runners.”

Collins had to replace McTear in the 400-meter relay and the 800-meter relay. His brother Jamael ran for him in the 400 and Nathan Hood ran for him in the 800. 

“I was really happy with how well they pulled it out,” Collins said. “Even with losing Jamarius they fought back just as hard.”

In the 400 they finished in seventh place (Earl Tillford, Hood, Kaiman White, Jamael McTear; 43.35) and in the 800 they grabbed a third place finish (White, Anthony Rice, Hood, Jamael McTear; 1:29.92). Ferndale ended the day with all state finishes in all three relay races. It also finished in sixth in the 1600-meter relay (White, Rice, Dave Miller, Jamael McTear; 3:27.02).

White had the biggest individual day for Ferndale. He was part of all three relay teams and also finished in seventh place in the 200-meter dash (22.58). 

“He is such a strong athlete and has so much longevity in him, what I mean by that, is he can race so many races of high quality,” Collins said. “He was able to give us a strong performance in every race of the day.”

One thing that took away some of the sting from Jamarius McTear’s injury was even with first place finishes in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and two of the relay races Ferndale still probably wouldn’t of had enough points to win the tournament.

East Lansing finished with 56 points, the third highest team total in the last five years. The winning team last year only had 30 points.

“They ran one hell of a meet,” Collins said.