Track- Union City boys earn runner-up at Mendon Invite, Athens girls take title; Union City girls finish 3rd, Athens boys 8th

MENDON — Friday night eight teams from around the area descended on Mendon High School for the annual John Green Mendon Track Invitational.

On the boys side of the competition it was the very skilled team from Centreville taking home the hardware, finishing in first place with a team score of 158 points.

The Union City Chargers took runner-up honors at the event for their second straight tournament trophy, finishing in second with a score of 88 points. Martin finished in third place with 78 points, followed by Colon in fourth with 58 points, St. Phil in fifth place with 57 points, Mendon in sixth place with 36 points, Cassopolis in seventh with 33 points, and Athens in eighth place with 17 points.

The Union City runner-up finish was paced by sophomore throwing ace Logan Cole who earned himself a sweep down in the pits. Cole took first place in the shot put with a hefty throw of 43 feet, 4 inches while also taking first place in the discus with a throw of 134 feet, 0 inches.

Freshman long distance runner Jason Shoop captured a pair of runner-up finishes, taking second place in the 1600 in a time of 5 minutes, 2.06 seconds and second place in the 3200 in a time of 11 minutes, 34.24 seconds.

Aiding in the Union City effort with a second place finish was Riley Laird in the 200 in a time of 23.47 seconds; Nathaniel Maurer, second place in the 300 hurdles in a time of 43.93 seconds; the 800 relay team of Alex Hull, Riley Laird, Hunter Sinke, and Caden Hughes, second place in a time of 1 minute, 35.75 seconds; the 1600 relay team of Sinke, Laird, Hull and Maurer, second place in a time of 3 minutes, 41.95 seconds; and Alex Hull, second place in the pole vault with a vault of 11 feet, 0 inches.

Rounding out the Union City effort with a top six finish in their respective event was Riley Laird, fifth place in the 100; Caden Hughes, sixth place in the 200; Hunter Sinke, fourth place in the 400; Dylon McDonald, sixth place in the 110 hurdles; and the 3200 relay team of Jason Shoop, Zachary Bishop, Cohen Burdick, and Malachi Payne, fourth place.

While no Athens athletes earned a win on the day, there were a number of top six finishes for the Indians effort.

Finishing in the top six of their chosen event for Athens was the 1600 relay team of Landen Drake, Dru Slater, Brock Milam and Addison Stanton, fifth place; Evan Baylis, second place in the discus and sixth place in the shot put; and Addison Stanton, third place in the high jump.

Athens takes title at Mendon Invite, Union City finishes third

In the girls portion of the invite the high powered Athens Lady Indians took home the trophy, winning the event with a team score of 180 points.

The team from Centreville finished in second place overall with a team score of 102 points while Union City finished in third place with 83 points. Mendon finished in fourth place with 69 points, followed by Colon in fifth with 41 points, Martin in sixth with 27 points, Cassopolis in seventh with 19 points, and St. Phil in eighth with four points.

Athens Lady Indians run away with championship, Union City takes third

Athens ran away with the championship thanks to wins in eight of the 17 events, six runner up finishes, and 15 additional top six placements.

Leading the way for Athens was senior Sara Nobach who garnered the gold in the 200 meter dash in a time of 27.24 seconds along with a first place finish in the 400 meter run in a time of 1 minute, 1.98 seconds. Nobach was also a part of the winning 400 relay team along with teammates Kenneddi Cromwell, Jocelyn Hall and Kami Parlin who won in a time of 52.88 seconds and the winning 1600 relay team along with teammates Kylie Quist, Mckenzie Miller and Zoey Williams who finished first in a time of 4 minutes, 24.64 seconds.

Aiding in the Athens winning effort by bringing home the gold was Kenneddi Cromwell who finished in first place in the 100 in a time of 13.62 seconds; Kylie Quist who brought home first place in the 800 in a time of 2 minutes, 32.72 seconds; Jocelyn Hall who continued her dominance in the 100 hurdles, winning in a personal best time of 15.84 seconds; and the 3200 relay team of Mckenzie Miller, Alina Sprung, Zoey Williams and Kylie Quist, first place in a time of 11 minutes, 1.56 seconds.

Rounding out the Athens effort with a top six finish at Constantine was Kenneddi Cromwell, second place in the 200 and second place in the 400; Jocelyn Hall, third place in the 200; Alina Sprung, fourth place in the 400 and fourth place in the 3200; Mckenzie Miller, sixth place in the 800 and sixth place in the 1600; Kylie Quist, second place in the 1600; Shelby Evans, fifth place in the 100 hurdles, second place in the 300 hurdles and sixth place in the long jump; Zoey Williams, fourth place in the 300 hurdles; Chloe Badger, fifth place in the 300 hurdles and fifth place in the long jump; the 800 relay team of Jocelyn Hall, Kalecia Garza-Mcnutt, Zoey Williams and Addison Miller, third place; Emma Dexter, second place in the shot put and third place in the discus; Abby Youmans, fourth place in the shot put and second place int end discus; Addison Miller, third place in the pole vault; and Kalecia Garza-McNutt, fourth place in the pole vault.

Union City’s third place finish was bolstered by two gold medal finishes, two runner-up efforts and 10 additional top six finishes.

Taking wins for Union City was freshman Nevada Gillons who took first place in the 300 hurdles in a time of 51.20 seconds in addition to her third place finish in the 100 hurdles in a time of 17.82 seconds while Kyla Burdick took top honors in the pole vault with a vault of 7 feet, 0 inches.

Runner-up efforts for Union City went to freshman Naomi Schwark who finished with the silver medal in the high jump with a jump of 4 feet, 9 inches and the 800 relay team of Nevada Gillons, Mackenzie Hale, Christianna Davis and Kassandra Kohsmann who finished in second place in a time of 1 minute, 54.83 seconds.

Rounding out the Union City third place effort with a top six finish was Naomi Schwark, third place in the 100; Makayla Skirka, fourth place in the 200; Mackenzie Hale, fifth place in the 200; Kyla Burdick, third place in the 800; Skyler Fraley, fifth place in the 1600 and third place in the 3200; the 400 relay team of Nevada Gillons, Naomi Schwark, Shaelyn Lawhead, and Kassandra Kohsmann, third place; the 1600 relay team of Christianna Davis, Makayla Skirka, Willow Austin and Kyla Burdick, third place; and the 3200 relay team of Alissa Skirka, Amelia June, Skyler Fraley and Kyla Burdick, fourth place.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Reporter: Track- Union City boys earn runner-up at Mendon Invite, Athens girls take title; Union City girls finish 3rd, Athens boys 8th