Track roundup: Gaylord travels to Chesaning, GSM, JoBurg at Mancelona

GAYLORD ― The up-and-down weather has hit the happy medium we are more accustomed to in the later stages of April here in Northern Michigan, meaning hopefully, warmer weather is on the way.

However, the weather was just warm enough to keep the local sporting events on schedule this week, meaning a busy end of the week for area track and field teams as all three high schools were in action.

Gaylord was one of 16 teams that competed at the Chesaning Track and Field Classic on Friday, April 21, while Gaylord St. Mary's and Johannesburg-Lewiston were two of 18 teams competing at the Mancelona Invite that same day.

See how each team fared in their latest meets.

Berkshire sweeps distance events, leads successful meet for Gaylord girls

Between the two Gaylord teams, the girls have been the more successful in the first few meets, and the Chesaning Track and Field Classic was no exception.

The girls were among the top finishers in the larger schools division, with freshman distance runner Katie Berkshire turned in the best individual day, winning both the 1600-meter and 3200-meter runs with times of 5:19.87 and 11:19.21 respectively, both personal bests.

She led the successful group of runners for the GHS girls, with Ana Fortier placing second in the 100-meter run (13.25 seconds), Lily Sargent placing first in the 800-meter run (2:37.27) and Lauren Rigney placing third in the 300-meter hurdles (51.39 seconds).

The girls also had two top-ten finishers in the field events, with Ivy Roberts placing fourth in the high jump with a leap of 4 feet 8 inches and Ella Moylan placing fourth in the shot put with a toss of 32 feet, 6.75 inches.

On the boys side, their field event athletes had the best day, with senior Gage Looker's second-place finish in the shot put with a toss of 48 feet. Michael Cheek also placed seventh in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 5 inches, matching Williamston's Tommy Pratt and Swartz Creek's Darrion Youngblood.

Russell Hush was the other top-ten finisher, placing seventh in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 44.23 seconds.

Gaylord is scheduled to be back in action on Wednesday, April 26 for a dual with Cadillac.

Gascho's two-mile record highlights area teams efforts in Mancelona

Meanwhile, both of the area's Division 4 teams were in Mancelona on Friday as Johannesburg-Lewiston and Gaylord St. Mary's in the Mancelona Invite.

JoBurg led the way with multiple event winners, but it was Malaki Gashco's effort in the 3200-meter that highlighted the area teams' efforts on Friday.

Gascho, one of the best cross country runners for the Cardinals as well as one of the top distance runners for the track team, has been recovering from a torn Achilles tendon suffered in the first cross country meet of the 2022 season. After A long fall and winter spent rehabbing and recovering, Gascho is not only back to his normal self, he is thriving again.

He won the 3200-meter with ease, outpacing the second-place finisher by over six seconds as he set a new personal best time with a 9:54.63, the lone sub-ten minute time of the event. That time was also good enough to beat his own school record by nearly six seconds, cementing him as one of the school's top distance runners while re-cementing himself as a major force for the rest of the 2023 campaign.

"This race was a massive validation for the years of work he's put in and especially the mental resiliency he's had to find over these last eight months coming back from injury" head coach Brenden Marcum said.

That was one of four events won by JoBurg on the day, with Blake Fox winning both the 800-meter and the 1600-meter runs with times of 2:04.47 and 4:37.43 respectively. JoBurg also won the girls 4x800-meter relay, with Yolanda Gascho, Rosalinda Gascho, Madalyn Agren and Allie Nowak combining for a time of 10:29.82.

Nowak and Agren both set new individual PRs, with Nowak taking 11 seconds off her previous best time in the 1600-meter run with a 5:27.70 and Agren taking four seconds off her best time in the 3200-meter with a 12:06.36.

Rosalinda Gascho's performances in the hurdles rounded out the Cardinals' day, placing third in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 18.05 seconds and second in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 52.20 seconds.

St. Mary's also had a few top-ten finishers, led by Miriam Murrell's fourth-place finish in the 800-meter run (2:35.93) and fifth-place finish in the 1600-meter run (5:39.71) as well as Emma McKinley's fifth-place finish in the 400-meter run (1:07.53). Peyton DeWeerd had two top-ten finishes in the field events, tying for fourth in the high jump with a 5-foot, 2.25-inch leap and fourth in the long jump with a mark of 18 feet, 7 inches.

JoBurg placed fifth on the girls side with 45 points, while the boys placed eighth with 37 points. St. Mary's girls placed 13th with 14 points, while the boys placed 18th with 6.67 points.

Both teams will be back in action on Tuesday, April 25 at the Bellaire Open.

CORRECTION: Results were updated to show the larger schools/lower schools divisions, rather than all results combined.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Track roundup: Gaylord travels to Chesaning, GSM, JoBurg at Mancelona