May 21—MANTON — Hunter Jones has won his fair share of regional titles, but the Benzie Central senior has never been able to celebrate a championship with his entire team. That changed Saturday.

The Benzie Central varsity boys track and field team was not the favorite heading into Saturday's Division 3 regional meet at Manton High School, and a slow start out of the gate in some of the field events put the Huskies behind the proverbial 8-ball. But Benzie would not be denied, coming from behind to take the overall team regional title ahead of odds-on-favorite Hart by a 112-101 final.

"We had a lot of great things go our way," Benzie boys head coach Asa Kelly said. "We had a lot of good stuff going on."

The win was the Huskies' first regional title since 2019, the season before Jones' freshman year.

In his quest to sweep the 800-, 1600- and 3200-meter races at the state finals, Jones achieved that feat at Saturday's regional. The senior ran a season-best in the 800m to capture the gold, finishing in 1:57.76. Jones ran a 4:19.78 to win the 1600m, and he then dusted the competition by almost 20 seconds to win the 3200m in 9:24.89.

Jones' teammate, Pol Molins, was right there with his fellow Huskie. The sophomore was third in the 800, second in the 1600 and third again in the 3200 to qualify for state in all three races. Jones and Molins also helped the 4x800 relay team to a second-place finish in 8:22.16, qualifying them along with Ethin Chandler and Lucan Louwsma for state.

Noah Murphy and Tyrone Brouillet both set personal records and finished first and second, respectively, in the 110m hurdles. Murphy ran a 15.87, and Brouillet was one one-hundredth of a second behind at 15.88. Brouillet won the 300m hurdles in 41.91, and Murphy was third with a PR of 42.74.

"We challenged our kids to go back out there and make up some of those points on the track and get some redemption," Kelly said. "And they did that, in a major way. As the meet progressed and they saw we had a chance, I think that fired them up."

Traverse City St. Francis finished third on the boys side followed by Manton in fifth, Lake City in seventh, Manistee in 10th, McBain in 12th, and Grand Traverse Academy in 13th.

Other area boys winning regional championships included Lake City's Dayne Blair in the 100m with a PR of 10.99 and the 200m with a PR of 22.8; and Manistee's Damien McEntaffer in the pole vault after he cleared 12 feet.

Area boys state qualifiers not already mentioned included St. Francis' Cam Sellers (100m, 200m), Burke Flowers (100m), Josh Slocum (3200m), the relay teams of Eddie Walters, Flowers, Tucker Krumm, Sellers (4x200), Krumm, Lewis Walter, Josh Kerr, Judge Morgan (4x400), and Morgan, Connor Donahue, Krumm, Kerr (4x800); Manton's Nolan Moffit (800m, high jump), Zander Johnigan (300m hurdles) and Carter Helsel (shot put, discus); Lake City's Enzo Ramalho (1600m) and Rowland Ball (shot put); Benzie's Ryan Kincaid (shot put); and McBain's Ben Rodenbaugh (high jump).

Hart did win the regional championship in the girls division, scoring 137.2 points to runner-up St. Francis' 93.53. McBain was fourth followed by Manistee in fifth, Benzie in sixth, Manton in seventh, Lake City in eighth, and GT Academy in 10th.

Area girls winning regional championships were Manistee's Audrey Huizinga with a season-best 1:00.2 in the 400m, the 4x200m team of Ashtyn Janis, Huizinga, Libby McCarthy and Lacey Zimmerman at 1:48.57; McBain's Analiese Fredin with a PR run of 48.57 in the 300m hurdles, and the 4x400 relay team of Gabrielle VerBerkmoes, Fredin, Aubrey VandePol and Peyton Grant in 4:12.45; St. Francis's Kate Classens in the shot put with a throw of 34-5.5 and Maya Padisak in the long jump at 15-8.5; and Manton's Mattie LaFreniere in the pole vault, clearing a PR height of 9-6.

Area girls qualifying for state included St. Francis's Sophia Tucker (100m, 200m), Mary Masserant (800m), Sophia Rhein (1600m, 3200m) and Helen Ludka (100m hurdles); McBain's Peyton Grant (400m) and Isabel Rozeveld (shot put, discus); GTA's Petra Foote (800m, 1600m); Manistee's Cecilia Postma (1600m), Madalyn Wayward (discus), Brooke Jankwietz (discus) and Libby McCarthy (high jump); Benzie's Mylie Kelly (1600m, 3200m) and Gloria Stepanovich (long jump); Manton's Chloe Colton (3200m) and Mattie LaFreniere (discus); and Lake City's Sadie Larson (100m hurdles), Rylee Cohoon (100m hurdles) and MacKenzie Bisballe (high jump).

State-qualifying relay teams included Manistee's Janis, Huizinga, McCarthy, Zimmerman (4x100); St. Francis' Maya Padisak, Sophia Ellalasingham, Olivia Padisak, Sophia Tucker (4x100); McBain's Gabrielle VerBerkmoes, Analiese Fredin, Sydney Heuker, Peyton Grant (4x200); and Benzie's Mylie Kelly, Bianca Delogu, Ava Iverson, Nora Grossnickle (4x800).

The Division 3 state finals are set for June 3 at Kent City High School.

REGIONALS

Frankfort girls earn D4 regional title; Buckley's Frazee, Harrand win 4 each

MARION — Saturday was a banner day for the Frankfort varsity girls track and field team, and that means the 2023 Panthers will have a Division 4 regional championship banner hanging in their gym in the near future.

The Panthers won the girls overall title with 141 points, besting runner-up East Jordan with 103.33. Buckley placed third followed by Glen Lake in fourth, Central Lake in sixth, Leland in seventh, Forest Area in eighth, Mesick in ninth, Bellaire in 11th, and Suttons Bay in 12th.

Buckley's Brooklynn Frazee and Aiden Harrand dominated the track once again as Frazee won regional championships in the 100m (12.87), 200m (27.64) and 400m (1:02.93) and Harrand took home regional gold in the 800m (2:19.15), 1600m (5:06.52) and 3200m (11:26.04). Harrand won the 3200m by nearly a minute and a half.

Frazee and Harrand were also part of the Bears' 4x400m relay team that won the regional title along with Kinsey Peer and Addisen Harrand in 4:18.83.

Othe relay regional champs included Frankfort's Eliza Frary, Sofia Alaimo, Addison Chownyk and Gwyneth Dunaway in the 4x100 (52.38) and then Grace Wolfe, Alaimo, Payton Miller and Dunaway in the 4x200 (1:50.9), and Leland's Ariana Rodriguez, Bridgette Duncan, Amabel Schwaiger and Ella Knudsen in the 4x800 (10:43.57).

Glen Lake's Gemma Lerchen won the 100m hurdles in a season-best 17.89. East Jordan's Madelyn Hardy took the 300m hurdles in 52.54 and won the long jump as well with a PR leap of 15-11. Frankfort's Grace Wolfe won the high jump, clearing 5-0, and teammate Kate May won the pole vault with a PR vault of 9-0.

On the boys side, Buckley was second to champion Marion by just a half-point — 104.5 to 104. Glen Lake was third followed by Frankfort in fourth, East Jordan in fifth, McBain Northern Michigan Christian in sixth, Bellaire in seventh, Mesick tied for eighth, Central Lake in 10th, Leland in 11th, and Suttons Bay in 12th.

Regional champions for the boys included Buckley's Nick Simon (100m, 11.52; 200m, 23.55), Jackson Kulawiak (800m, 2:06.68), the relay teams of Jake Romzek, Jeremiah Pasbjerg, Kulawiak, Simon (4x200, 1:33.17), Pasbjerg, Kulawiak, Simon and Kyle Deshasier (4x400, 3:35.91), and Garret Ensor, Pasbjerg, Kulawiak, Matthew Bentley (4x800, 8:30.21), Tyler Apple (shot put, 45-8.25); Suttons Bay's Dashel Courson (400m, 53.1); Glen Lake's Colebrook Sutherland (1600m, 4:47.7); Frankfort's Skylar Werden (3200m, 10:42.59); East Jordan's Logan Shooks (110m hurdles, 16.98), the relay team of Daniel Ziebarth, Max Beal, Shooks, Braylan Grybauskas (4x100, 46.71); Bellaire's Jayden Hanson (discus, 146-9.5); and McBain NMC's Isaac Bowden (pole vault, 13-6).

Several area athletes win individual regional titles at Brethren

BRETHREN — Although no team in the Record-Eagle's coverage area left Brethren with an overall regional championship, plenty earned individual gold Saturday.

Taking home Division 4 regional titles in the girls division were Brethren's Abby Kissling (100m, 200m) and fellow Bobcat Maddy Biller (shot put, discus) as well as Manistee Catholic Central's Lauren Niedzielski (400m).

On the boys side, Manistee Catholic's Lee Pizana won the pole vault, clearing 10-6, and Onekama's Adam Domres nabbed first in the shot put with a throw of 45-6.5.