Prep Track & Field: Mason boys win TCC; Jefferson sweeps Huron League
PETERSBURG – Erie Mason’s boys track and field team was undefeated in Tri-County Conference dual meets this season.
So, the Eagles had an excellent chance to win at least a share of the TCC title heading into Tuesday’s league meet.
But Mason coach Alex Russeau didn’t want his athletes to rest on their laurels.
“It’s one thing to win the league by being perfect in the regular season, but winning the league meet at the end matters and they rose to the occasion today,” Russeau said.
Mason scored 140.5 points to easily outdistance runner-up Summerfield (117) and third-place Whiteford (86).
“The guys took care of business today,” Russeau said.
It wasn’t as easy as Mason made it look. The Eagles and Summerfield both won Regional meets last weekend.
“The TCC is a really tough league with quality in every event,” Russeau said. “Summerfield may just well win D4 this year and Adrian Madison and Whiteford are tough, deep teams. It is a real honor to take the league crown in back-to-back seasons.”
Mason won it with depth.
Jackson Ansel won the 800 (2:02.48) and 1,600 (4:48.82) meters, and the 400-meter relay of Cooper Kinsey, Grant Shadler, Shane Pauwels, Landen Nastale crossed the finish line first in :45.43, but those were the only victories for the Eagles.
Seconds came from Ansel (3,200), Nastale (100), Alex Langenderfer (pole vault), Jacob Ansel (800), Louden Murbach (high hurdles), and Cooper Kinsey (200).
The 800 and 1,600 relays were third along with Gavin Larrow in the 400.
Other standouts were Shane Pauwels, Bryce Gardiner, Jackson Iocoangeli, Parker Campbell, Mark Sweeney, Tyler Belair and Logan Goodin.
Nathan Herrmann swept the hurdles for Summerfield, winning the lows in :39.86 and the highs in :15.34. He also ruled the 200 meters in :22.99.
The Bulldogs also had Brandon Thompson win the 400 in :51.88, Drew Defoe take the high jump at 6-2, and Roman Iott rule the long jump at 20-0.5.
Summerfield got seconds from Dakota Kohn (discus), Thompson (long hump) and Iott (high jump) and thirds from Iott (low hurdles) Dafoe (long jump) and the 800 relay of Dafoe, Herrmann, Thompson and Iott.
Also in the top five were Teddy Gault (high jump) and Evan Suydam (1,600, 3,200).
Whiteford won the 1,600 relay in 3:35.57 with Ty Ruddy, Ryan Oberle, Dylan Anderson and Jacob Iott, and the 3,200 relay in 8:57.33 with Keegan Masters, Oberle, Nick Oberle and Ruddy.
Masters won the 3,200 in 10:25.31 and was second in the 1,600.
Other standouts for the Bobcats were Jacob Iott (second 400), Rodgers (third 1,600, third 3,200), Stepan Masserant (third pole vault), Oberle (third 800), Ruddy (fourth 400), Anderson (fifth 400), Jackson Iott (fifth shot-put), and Kolby Masserant (fifth long jump).
Adrian Madison won the girls meet with 155 points. Mason was fourth with 78, Whiteford fifth with 47 and Summerfield seventh with 25.
The hurdles were the event for Mason with Kaylie Bash taking the highs in :17.37 and Beth Sweeney ruling the lows in :49.99.
Bash also won the long jump in 15-4 and was third in the 100.
Elizabeth Lambert (second 3,200, third 800, third 1,600) and Jenna Wright (fifth 400) also had good days for the Eagles.
Whiteford was second in the 3,200 relay with Aubrie Simmons, Annabelle Gapp, Alaina McClain and Margo Thomas and McClain was the runner-up in the 800.
Kenzie Gray (third shot-put), Haley Luse (fourth shot-put), Gapp (fourth low hurdles), Alena Ellis (fourth high jump) and Ali Bauman (fourth pole vault) were other high placers for the Bobcats.
Thirds from Keslyn Cay (discus) and Cameron Taylor (low hurdles) were the top finishes for Summerfield. Faith Secor, Gabrielle Stout and Alyssa Conley also cracked the top five.
HURON LEAGUE
MILAN – Jefferson's girls secured its second straight Huron League championship with a convincing victory at Tuesday's conference championship.
Jefferson's boys also went back-to-back, winning Tuesday's meet to earn a share of the league title with Milan.
The Bears' girls scored 143 points to easily outdistance runner-up New Boston Huron with 97. Grosse Ile (79.5), Airport (78.5), St. Mary Catholic Central (68), Milan (66), Riverview (61), and Flat Rock (28) rounded out the field.
Veronica Fitzgerald highlighted the day for Jefferson, winning the 800 in a school-record 2:22.07. That broke the previous record of 2:22.70 set by Bekah Smeltzer in 2004.
Fitzgerald also was part of the winning 1,600 relay with Ellie Hintz, Alyssa Masserant and Alexa Glancy.
Relays were strong for Jefferson, which also won the 3,200 relay with Kim Miller, Madison Duvall, Riley Peer and Jenna Pilachowski. The 800 relay was third with Fitzgerald, Vanisacker, Masserant and Hintz.
Pilachowski won the 3,200 in 11:56.30 ahead of Peer in second place. Pilachowski also was second in the 1,600 and fifth in the 800. Alexa Glancy was second in the 100, 200 and 400. Madison McKinney was second in the discus and third in the shot-put, and Layla Tahmouch was fourth in the shot and fifth in the discus.
"I told all the girls that I’m really proud of how well they’ve handled the success that they’ve had this season," Jefferson coach Phil Speare said. "They didn’t take anything for granted and came out and had some really great performances only four days after the Regional."
Elizabeth Anderson ruled the sprints for Huron. She finished first in the 100 (:12.43), 200 (:25.50), and 400 (:57.35). She also anchored the winning 800 relay with Madelyn Barbour, Neena Hale and Chloe Evans.
Kelsey Trombly also won for Huron, taking first in the shot-put with a throw of 34-9. She was sixth in the discus.
Barbour was second in the low hurdles and third in the highs, and Jordan Hickey was second in the long jump and third in the 100.
Airport's Mara Szuper was champion in the 1,600 in 5:21.72 and was runner-up in the 800. Tara Szuper took third in the 400 and fourth in the 800, Courtney Bovair placed third in the 3,200 and fourth in the 1,600, Bella Awishes was second in the shot-put and fourth in the discus, and Madison Rice took third in the high jump.
The Jets also were runner-up in the 3,200 relay with Avery Arsenault, Bovair, Tara Szuper and Mara Szuper.
SMCC's MaryAlice Lynch was first in the high hurdles in :17.27 and ran on the winning 400 relay team with Madison Ruhlig, Amaya Leslie and Ashley Ruhlig. Lauren Conant placed second in the high jump and fifth in the 400, Ashley Ruhlig was third in the long jump and fifth in the 200, and Leslie finished fourth in the long jump.
Marissa Beck was the top individual finisher for Milan, taking third in the discus. Cami Heath (fourth 100, fourth low hurdles) and Lauren Fairbanks (fourth 200) performed well. The Big Reds also were runner-up in the 800 relay with Jenna Griffin, Fairbanks, Heath and Malea Wourman.
Flat Rock's Alyssa Bonanno was champion in the shot-put with a throw of 29-1.75. Megan Woelkers finished fourth in the 3,200.
Jefferson scored 148 to win the boys meet, followed by Milan (126), Huron (123), Riverview (106), Airport (46), Grosse Ile (33), SMCC (23) and Flat Rock (16).
The Bears and Big Reds shared the Huron League title. Milan defeated Jefferson in a quad meet earlier in the season.
"It doesn't matter to us. A title is a title," Jefferson coach Josh Ludwick said. "We were just happy our kids handled their business tonight and gave us a chance to win.
"(Milan coach) Chad Lawver and I have great respect for one another. We both spend an abnormal amount of time working on our lineups with sleepless nights."
Carter McCalister was a triple winner for the Bears. He took first in the 1,600 (4:37.68) and 3,200 (10:18.14) and was part of the winning 3,200 relay with Isaac Merkel, Von Wiggins and Blake Schroeder. He also placed third in the 800.
Alex Mansfield took first in the shot-put with a personal-best 60-6 and won the discus with a throw of 165-1, and Merkel was first in the 800 in a personal-best 2:04.08.
Ben Merkel (second long jump), Garret Thomas (second high jump), Nathan Masserant (second shot-put), Caden Pridemore (third high hurdles), Malachi Pribyl (fourth high hurdles), Myles Tackett (fourth 400), Ty Grube (fifth 3,200), and Joey Duvall (fifth discus) also performed well.
"Bruce Pickens (assistant coach) told the kids on Monday that winning leagues is a moment that immortalizes you with the team photo forever. It is true. It's a moment that few get to experience," Ludwick said. "The kids worked incredibly hard this year to try and repeat as League champs. I'm very proud on them."
Zach Spradlin led Milan, setting a personal-best time of :15.45 to win the high hurdles and taking second in the low hurdles. Ethan Budd was first in the high jump at 6-2 and fifth in the long jump.
Other standouts for the Big Reds were Brayden Humes (second 800), Jack Funchion (third 3,200), Trent Spradlin (third 400), Ronny Johnson (third high jump), Tim Stapleton (fourth shot-put), Evan Budd (fourth discus), Noah Bussel (fourth long jump, fifth 400), Eli Lerette (fifth low hurdles), and Flannery Wayne (fifth shot-put).
Huron's Antonio Talley dominated the sprints, setting personal-best times in winning the 100 (:11.26) and 200 (:22.98) while also claiming the title in the 400 (:51.63). He also was part of the winning 1,600 relay with Ryan Anderson, Evan Town and Miles Fichtner.
Fichtner ruled the low hurdles with a time of :41.32 and was second in the highs. Huron also won the 400 relay with Isaac Smith, Gabe Anthony, Xander Scannell and Caleb Henninger.
Other key points were scored by Henninger (third 100, fifth 200), Griffin Mentzer (third 1,600), Anthony (third long jump), and Smith (fourth 100, fourth high jump).
Nik Hammond led Airport, hitting a personal-best jump of 21-2 to win the long jump. Matthew Foor was second in the discus and third in the shot-put, and Owen Verduyn took fifth in the high hurdles.
SMCC's Cole Jondro was runner-up in the 100 and 200. Flat Rock's Kenny Carlman was fifth in both the 800 and 1,600.
LCAA
ONSTED – Dundee’s boys had the best throwers in the league with Brayden Ratliff winning the shot-put in 43-11 and Carl Hubbell tossing the discus 142-10.
Ratliff was second in the discus and Hubbell fifth in the shot.
The Vikings also went 1-2 in the pole vault with Jacob Fenbert and Noah Nieman both clearing 11-6.
Those finishes helped the Vikings score 125 points to finish second to Hillsdale (153). Ida was seventh with 57.5.
Other Viking standouts were Johnny Swisher (second high hurdles, third low hurdles), Colton Bordine (second long jump), Isaak Rubley (fourth 3,200), Ashton Rakebrand (fourth high hurdles), Caden Bellaire (fifth low hurdles), and Logan Johnson (fifth high jump).
The 3,200 relay with Lucas Hernandez, Travis Goins, Zachary McMahan and Rubley was second.
Ida’s Kirby Carsten ran :23.4 to win the 200 meters. He also was fourth in the 100 and fifth in the 400.
Griffin Harmer (third 800) and Ty Hathaway (third shot-put, fourth discus) also placed well for the Blue Streaks.
Onsted was the girls champion with 148, with Dundee placing fifth with 69 and Ida sixth with 65.
Kaylee Stein won the 800 for Ida in 2:21.85 and she anchored both the runner-up 1,600 relay (MacKenzie Laroy, Tessa Rigel and Sophia Elmes) and 3,200 relay (Rigel, Emma Mandelka, Katelyn Bydlowski).
Elmes was second in the high jump. The Blue Streaks also got fourths from Bydlowski (3,200) and Veronica Sortor (low hurdles) and fifths from Rigel (800) and Madison Seinman (shot-put).
Bridget Waterstradt was third in the 3,200 and fourth in the 1,600 for Dundee. Other Viking standouts were Joslyn Ball (third discus), Madison LaVoy (third pole vault), Sydney Curtis (fifth pole vault) and Kaylee Hovey (fifth 3,200).
DOWNRIVER LEAGUE
WOODHAVEN – Gibraltar Carlson’s boys fell just two points short as Woodhaven scored 159.5 points and Woodhaven accumulated 161.5.
Ben Przytula swept the throws for the Marauders, tossing the shot-put 50-2.5 and the discus 140-8.5, and Jon Anderson (4:42.58 in 1,600) and Cody Britt (:15.8 in high hurdles) won events.
Anderson also was second in the 3,200, and Britt was fourth in the 200 and fifth in the low hurdles.
Other Carlson highlights came from Carson Blake (second 800, third 3,200), Scott Miller (second discus), Adam Nagy (third high hurdles, fourth low hurdles), Van Price (third long jump), Aiden Ferguson (fourth pole vault), Brandon Scheffler (fifth 100), Adam Bowdler (fifth 400) and Caleb Greear (fifth pole vault, fifth long jump).
Woodhaven also won the girls meet with 185. Carlson was fourth with 95.
Elyse Miller won the 200 (:26.35) and 400 (1:00.94) for Carlson and was second in the 100. Emily Petty ran :49.27 to win the low hurdles and was fourth in the highs.
The Marauders also got thirds from Grace Norton (3,200) and Reese Tolstyka (high jump) and a fifth from Lauren Wilson (long jump)
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Prep Track & Field: Mason boys win TCC; Jefferson sweeps Huron League
