High School Notebook: Lakeview tennis wins regional; city track athletes shine
It is one thing to qualify for states in tennis. It is another to be taking a regional championship trophy along with you.
Lakeview achieved its stated goal of qualifying for the Michigan High School Athletic Association State Tennis Finals. And the Spartans did it in style by winning their Division 2 Regional tourney championship at Mason with 25 team points to outdistance second-place East Lansing.
"I am very proud of the girls for this big accomplishment," Lakeview coach Jeff VanDis said. "To go to state takes a lot of work and dedication and the girls have done that this year. To win the regional was a bonus.
"Each year I have two goals, which are to make the athletes better tennis players and better people. The athletes then choose their goals. This year I added to go to state because I really felt we had the athletes to get us there. In addition, they had that as a goal. It was a team effort to get there."
Lakeview will compete in the state meet at Holland on June 3-4.
The Spartans had three flights win regional championships, including No. 2 singles Sade Blackwell, No. 3 singles Aryana Banerji and No. 4 singles Paula Martinez.
MORE: Vote for Enquirer Athlete of the Week
Track Regionals
Lakeview and Battle Creek Central had some impressive individual performances at the Division 1 Track Regional at Portage Central.
The Lakeview boys finished third overall as a team with 83 points.
Caleb Bost helped lead the way for Lakeview, taking first in the 800 meters in 1:55.65. He was also part of the 1,600 relay that took third with the team of Drake Morris, Jaris McIntosh, Davis Barr and Bost. The 3,200 relay team also took third with Parker LaGro, Aiden Moore, Kevin Grady and Bost.
Lakeview 800 relay took fourth with the team of Fidel Gonzalez, Josh Turner, Malaki Bell and McIntosh.
Individually, Moore also placed by taking fifth in the 1,600 with LaGro finishing second in the 3,200.
In the field events, Lakeview's Andrew Berryhill was a double winner, taking first in the discus in 151-7 and first in the shot put at 57-2. Gavin White was first for the Spartans in the pole vault at 14-6
Also Barr was third in the long jump and Morris was eighth in the high jump, Alex Byrd was seventh in the discus and Brendon Allard was seventh in the shot put.
In the girls regional, Battle Creek Central's Samya Fisher was first in the 100 in 12.98 and first in the long jump at 17-7. She finished fifth in the 200.
The Bearcats' Bailey McCulloch was second in the 400 and eighth in the 200.
Lakeview girls took eighth in the 3,200 relay with the team of Kaitlyn Thomas, Arianna Pontoni, Alyssa Hinton and Isabella Adams. Spartans took sixth in the 800 relay with Andi Wilsey, Bryanna Meija, Hannah Bauserman and Adams and Lakeview was fifth in the 1,600 relay with Thomas, Adams, Meija and Bauserman.
Indvidually, Bauserman took eighth in the 400.
In Division 2 regionals, Harper Creek boys finished second with 96 team points. The Harper Creek girls eighth in their regional.
Leading the way for the boys was Owen Gilbert, who took first in the 800 in 1:59.04, second in the 1,600 in 4:33.04 and third in the 3,200.
The Harper Creek 1,600 relay team took first with the team of Cristo Castellanos, Ryan Wallace, Cole Patty and Logan Wood. The Beavers' 3,200 relay was second with Castellanos, Samuel Torres, Josh Maurer and Gilbert and the 400 relay team was second with Nehemiah Wert, Will King, Bronson Carpenter and DaShawn Leslie. The 800 relay team also placed, taking fourth with Wert, Logan Wood, Cole Patty and King.
Also individually for Harper Creek, Will King was fourth in the 100 and third in the 200. Chris Castle was seventh in the 100. Wood was third, Wallace was fifth and Castellanos was eighth in the 400. Brayden Shifflett was fourth in the 1,600 and Dominic Lowrie was fifth in the 3,200. Mason Oaks took eighth in the 110 hurdles. Peyton Rowe was seventh in the high jump and Bryce Casselman was eighth in the pole vault.
For the Harper Creek girls, Lilly Kentzler was regional champ in the pole vault at 9-3. Madison Berning was third in the 400, Olivia Ellenwood was eighth in the 3,200, Jade Brock was eighth in the 300 hurdles. The Beavers were seventh in the 400 relay with the team of Taylor Vandenberg, Imani McCray, Brock and Aubree Newman. The 1,600 relay team was sixth with Aubree Newman, Lilly Kentzler, Brenna Withers and Berning. The 3,200 relay team was seventh with Jaydan Courtright, Ellenwood, Mackenzie Weller and Karli Rzepka.
Pennfield's Natalie Hensel won the 400 in 1:01.27 and was fifth in the 200.
In a Division 4 regional at Webberville, St. Philip finished with a handful of placers.
Hans Strenge led the way with a first place in the shot put. Ryan Casterline was third in the 400 and Max Shugars was eighth in the 1,600. The Tigers' 400 relay team was sixth with the team of Denzel Kaspar, Vincent Thian, Tyler Jenkins and Sawyer Weiss. The 1,600 relay team was third with Shugars, Luke Sprague, Jacob Thome and Ryan Casterline and the 3,200 relay team as second with Casternline, Shugars, Thome and Sprague.
On the girls side, Camille Rojas was sixth and Ingrid Strenge was eighth in the 400, Emma Shugars was fourth in the 3,200. The 1,600 relay team was third with the team of Alex Kersten, Mimi Hibbard, Shugars and Therese Camos. The 3,200 relay team was second with Shugars, Kersten, Hibbard and Campos. In the field events, Hibbard was fifth in the shot put and fourth in the discus.
Boys Lacrosse
Lakeview and Harper Creek both will compete in a Division 2 regional semifinal on Wednesday at Portage Northern.
Lakeview advanced by earning a 22-1 win over Portage Central in the Spartans' regional opener. Lakeview will now face Mattawan in a 4 p.m. contest.
Harper Creek defeated Vicksburg, 13-4, to reach the regional semifinal and will meet host Portage Northern at 6 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Notebook: Lakeview tennis wins regional; city track athletes shine
