Local Sports: Jefferson girls track takes fifth at MITCA team state meet
FOWLERVILLE – Jefferson's girls track and field team had two champions and finished in fifth place Friday in the Division 2 Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association Team State meet.
Jefferson scored 1020 points in the 14-team field. Zeeland East was the state champion with 1369 with Dearborn Divine Child (1276.5), Freeland (1223.5), and Gladwin (1039.5) also finishing ahead of the Bears.
Jefferson's boys finished 11th out of 12 teams with 679.5. Frankenmuth was the team champion with 1222.5.
"I figured that a good day would be finishing in 10th place," Jefferson girls coach Phil Speare said. "Anything better was just like having ice cream with sprinkles on top. Boy, did I get a lot of sprinkles today."
Junior Alexa Glancy took first place in the 400 with a time of :59.71. She also was fourth in the 200 and seventh in the 100.
Junior Veronica Fitzgerald placed first in the 800 in 2:23.46 and ran on three relays, including the runner-up 1,600 relay. That relay, which also included Glancy, Ellie Hintz and Alyssa Masserant, finished just over 2 seconds behind the winning team from Divine Child.
Jefferson competed in the MITCA team state meet for the first time since 2006.
"At this point, it has always felt like survival of the fittest when we competed in this meet," Speare said. "The reason being is because we’ve raced three big meets in eight days. By the time you hit this meet you can see the fatigue setting in on a lot of people on all the teams. I was pleasantly surprised to see our girls, even our young ones who haven’t ever run track and field before this season, just picking up their game so they don’t let their team down."
Other top finishes for the Bears were Jenna Pilachowski (second 3,200, fifth 1,600), Madison McKinney (third discus, seventh shot-put), Kim Miller (fourth 3,200), and Riley Peer (ninth in both 1,600 and 3,200). Jefferson also had a third-place finish from the 3,200 relay team of Miller, Madison Duvall, Peer and Pilachowski.
Austin Williams, Layla Tahmouch, Madison Duvall, Katie Powell, Lindsay Masserant, Sarah Anderson, Mia Schroeder, Ashlyn Nadeau, and Kirsten Vanisacker also scored critical points for Jefferson.
Alex Mansfield was a double winner for Jefferson's boys.
The talented thrower set a new personal best in the discus with a toss of 175-06 to claim first place by over 3 feet. Frankenmuth's Dalton DeBeau was runner-up (172-00) – just his second loss of the year.
Mansfield also won the shot-put with a throw of 58-06.
"Alex continues to amaze with his throwing abilities," Jefferson boys coach Josh Ludwick said. "There was a kid from Frankenmuth that supposedly had a 175-1 throw coming into the meet, but Alex stepped up and took care of business. He showed his focus and determination as he prepares for the individual state finals."
Carter McCalister also had a strong day for the Bears. The junior was third in the 3,200 and sixth in the 1,600. Isaac Merkel placed 10th in the 800, and Nathan Masserant was 10th in the shot-put.
Jefferson's 3,200 relay finished fourth with Von Wiggins, Blake Schroeder, McCalister, and Merkel.
"Normally people would shrug off 11th, but that's after beating out around 40-plus teams that even qualified," Ludwick said. "Overall, it's still an awesome experience for the kids. This is now the second time in school history that we've qualified for this meet. It gave a lot of my athletes a last race or one last opportunity to get a PR."
PREP SOFTBALL
Jefferson sweeps Mason
ERIE – Both teams hit the ball well, but Jefferson was slightly better Friday as it swept a doubleheader from Erie Mason 15-8, 14-5.
Emmi Liptow led Jefferson with five hits on the day. Amber Burzlaff, Julia Perry, Carly Grassly, Rylee Dunn, and Lily Liptow had two hits apiece in Game 1. Cameran Carter (three hits) and Samara Liparoto (two hits) led the offense in Game 2.
Perry and Burzlaff were the winning pitchers.
Aubree Winzeler had three hits in the opener for Mason. Olivia Doom, Lizzy Liedel, Audrey Hempel, Alexa Chesney, and Cami Zaleski had two hits each in the nightcap.
Mules work quickly
YPSILANTI – Bedford needed just three innings to beat Ypsilanti 15-0 Friday and push its record to 27-8.
Adrianna Kester faced the minimum of 15 batters in tossing a 1-hitter. Sydney Shammo and Payton Pudlowski collected two hits each.
PREP BASEBALL
Jets surge late
CARLETON – Airport broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning to surge past Plymouth Salem 7-3 Friday.
Shade Daniels provided the big hit for the Jets, driving in two runs for a single in the sixth.
Airport had 14 total hits, led by three a piece from Colin Nowak and Jack Mills, and two from Nolan Zajac, Dominic Jones, and Brayden Moore.
Corey Ferris was the winning pitcher in relief. Nathan Depew and Daniels also pitched well for Airport, which improved to 18-10 overall.
Milan stops Whiteford
MILAN – Luke Gebhardt gave up only 2 hits before Connor Dessellier came on to log the final out in Milan’s 2-1 win over Whiteford Friday.
Milan scored in the first when Ryder Knox walked, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a groundout by Evan Morelock. The Big Reds made it 2-0 in the fifth when Knox delivered an RBI single with two outs.
Milan scored again in the 5th on a two-out hit by Ryder Knox.
Whiteford finally dented the scoreboard in the seventh when Logan Tammerine led off with a double, moved to third on a while pitch and scored on a squeeze bunt.
Levi Hillard and Nate Stevens pitched well for Whiteford.
PREP SOCCER
Huron advances to final
TRENTON – New Boston Huron won 7-2 over Allen Park Friday in the semifinals of the Division 2 District tournament hosted by Trenton.
Huron improved to 10-5-3 overall and advances to the District final against Trenton (15-3-1) at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Trenton was a 2-1 overtime winner over Riverview in the semifinals.
PRO BASEBALL
Short lifts Hens
TOLEDO – Zack Short drove in two runs with a line drive single to left field in the eighth inning to lift the Toledo Mud Hens to a 6-4 victory over the Nashville Sounds on Friday.
It is the Hens' third-straight victory over the first-place Sounds, who lead all teams in the International League with a 30-15 record.
Ryan Lavarnway was 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles to lead the Hens' 13-hit attack. Trayce Thompson was 2-for-3 with his first home run of the season, Brendon Davis added a pair of hits, and Ryan Kreidler added a hit in his first game since coming off the IL.
Drew Hutchison was the winning pitcher, striking out three in two scoreless innings of relief.
Toledo improved to 24-20.
PRO HOCKEY
Walleye take control
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah – The Toledo Walleye defeated the Utah Grizzlies 5-4 in overtime Friday to take a 3-1 series lead in the ECHL's Western Conference finals.
Chris Martenet scored 5:01 into the extra period to complete a huge rally for the Walleye.
The Grizzlies took a 4-0 lead in the first period. Brandon Hawkins, Blake Hillman, Patrick Curry, and Brett McKenzie scored four unanswered goals for Toledo. McKenzie scored with 1:30 remaining in the third period to tie
GOLF
Keefer gets first ace
Butch Keefer recently shot his first hole-in-one in 55 years of golf, acing the 180-yard No. 11 hold at Green Meadows Golf Course with his driver.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Local Sports: Jefferson girls track takes fifth at MITCA team state meet
