Union City finishes 4th at Big 8 meet behind Cole double gold; Quincy takes 5th, Bronson 7th

Troy Tennyson, The Daily Reporter
·6 min read

QUINCY — The Union City Chargers and the Bronson Vikings joined the rest of the Big 8 conference Wednesday night in traveling to Quincy High School for the 2022 Big 8 Conference Track and Field Championship.

When the smoke had cleared on a busy night of action it was Concord taking home the championship with a team score of 120 points. Reading finished in second place with 94 points and was closely followed by Jonesville who finished in third place with 92 points. Union City finished the night in fourth place with 82 points, followed by Quincy in fifth place with 49 points, Homer in sixth place with 42 points, Bronson in seventh with 34 points and Springport in eighth with 14 points.

The Union City Chargers saw their fourth place effort bolstered by four conference championships, with three titles coming in the field events and one coming in the hurdles.

Sophomore throwing machine Logan Cole continued his dominance of the pits, winning both the shot put and the discus, with the later coming in record breaking fashion. Cole started off his day with a championship win in the shot put, besting the field with a personal best throw of 47 feet, 1 inch. The state bound sophomore then moved on over to the discus where he took home another gold medal, doing so with a new record. Cole broke his own UCHS discus record, set earlier this year, with a championship winning and new record throw of 150 feet, 3 inches.

Union City's Alex Hull fought off a nagging ankle injury to win the conference title in the pole vault Wednesday night
Union City's Alex Hull fought off a nagging ankle injury to win the conference title in the pole vault Wednesday night

Junior Alex Hull brought home the other field event conference championship for the Chargers as the junior overcame a nagging ankle injury on his way to a gold medal win in the pole vault with a vault of 11 feet, 6 inches.

On the track it was Union City sophomore Nathaniel Maurer taking home the crown in the 300 hurdles, winning the gold medal in a time of 42.13 seconds, a personal best time.

Union City's Nathaniel Maurer took home the conference championship in the 300 hurdles Wednesday
Union City's Nathaniel Maurer took home the conference championship in the 300 hurdles Wednesday

Charger sprinter extraordinaire Riley Laird also had a big night for the maroon and gray, taking second place in the 200 in a time of 23.80 seconds and third place in the 100 in a time of 11.80 seconds. Laird was also a part of the silver medal winning 800 relay team along with teammates Caden Hughes, Hunter Sinke and Alex Hull who took second place in a time of 1 minute, 35.76 seconds.

Rounding out the Union City effort with a top six finish in their respective event was Caden Hughes, fourth place in the 100 and sixth place in the 200; Hunter Sinke, sixth place in the 400 and fourth place in the long jump; Jason Shoop, sixth place in the 1600; Dylan McDonald, fifth place in the 300 hurdles; the 400 relay team of Hughes, Hull, Maurer and Rick Austin, fifth place; the 1600 relay team of Maurer, Laird, Hull and Sinke, fourth place; and the 3200 relay team of Jason Shoop, Zach Bishop, Cohen Burdick, and Malachi Payne, sixth place.

Quincy's Tae'Sean Bodley finished with runner-up honors in the 300 meter hurdles at the Big 8 championship on Wednesday
Quincy's Tae'Sean Bodley finished with runner-up honors in the 300 meter hurdles at the Big 8 championship on Wednesday

While the Quincy Orioles did not boast a Big 8 conference champion there were several athletes who earned valuable points in their respective event. The top finisher for Quincy came in the 300 hurdles where senior Tae’Sean Bodley finished in second place overall with a run of 42.43 seconds, a new personal best. Bodley also brought home a fourth place finish in the high jump with a jump of 5 feet, 8 inches and was also a part of the third place 400 relay team along with Bryce Bellamy, Ethan Hollister and Michael Daniels who took the bronze in a time of 46.46 seconds.

The Orioles had a big night in the field events, combining for a total of seven medals across the five events. Ashtyn Morris led the way in the throwing events, taking third place in the discus with a throw of 130 feet, 0 inches while also taking sixth place in the shot put with at throw of 40 feet, 1 inch. Also bringing home a throwing medal was senior Gabe Watson who took fourth place in the discus with a throw of 127 feet, 7 inches while teammate Carter McClellan finished in fifth place in the discus with a throw of 117 feet, 11 inches.

Quincy's Corey Turner vaults over the bar on his way to a third place finish at Wednesday's Big 8 championship
Quincy's Corey Turner vaults over the bar on his way to a third place finish at Wednesday's Big 8 championship

Rounding out the field event medals for Quincy was freshman Corey Turner who took third place in the pole vault with a vault of 11 feet, 0 inches and Jachin Murray who finished in fifth place in the pole vault with a vault of 10 feet, 6 inches.

Finishing off the Quincy effort with a top six finish was Ben Schreur, third place in the 200; the 800 relay team of Landen Kelley, Ethan Hollister, Cameron Barry and Noah Pearson, fourth place; and the 1600 relay team of Gabe Watson, Cameron Barry, Bryce Bellamy and Landen Kelley, sixth place.

Bronson's Boston Bucklin finished in third place in the high jump at the Big 8 championship on Wednesday
Bronson's Boston Bucklin finished in third place in the high jump at the Big 8 championship on Wednesday

While the Bronson Vikings did not boast a conference champion at the event, they did see a number of athletes earn top six finishes. The Viking effort was led by freshman Boston Bucklin who finished in third place in the 400 in a personal best time of 53.24 seconds in addition to a third place finish in the high jump with a jump of 5 feet, 10 inches.

Bronson's Jordan Shadix finished in third place in the shot put at the Big 8 championship Wednesday night
Bronson's Jordan Shadix finished in third place in the shot put at the Big 8 championship Wednesday night

Down in the throwing pits it was state bound senior Jordan Shadix who earned himself a bronze medal in the shot put, finishing in third place with a throw of 41 feet, 9 inches.

Rounding out the Bronson effort with a top six finish was Tyler Wilber, sixth place in the 800; Perry Lake, third place in the 3200; Jacob Britten, fifth place in the 3200; the 800 relay team of Landon Fletcher, Steven Pfister, Tyler Wilber and Boston Bucklin, fifth place; the 1600 relay team of Pfister, Wilber, Bucklin and Kamern Bracket, fifth place; the 3200 relay team of Drew Seekman, Perry Lake, Tanner Norton and Tyler Wilber, fifth place; and Isaac Grate, sixth place in the pole vault.

Big 8 Conference Champions

100 meter dash- Duke Green, Reading

200 meter dash- Malachi Boyd, Concord

400 meter dash- Alan Knowles, Jonesville

800 meter run- Tyler Bays, Reading

1600 meter run- Tyler Bays, Reading

3200 meter run- Jonathan Mikovits, Concord

100 meter hurdles- Tayshawn Bester, Reading

300 meter hurdles- Nathaniel Maurer, Union City

400 meter relay- Concord (Tyler Carpenter, Mekhi Wingfield, Malachi Boyd and Omarion Culliver)

800 meter relay- Reading (Duke Green, Brady Kling, Tayshawn Bester and Jacob Hamilton)

1600 meter relay- Jonesville (Kaden Playford, David Fowler, Brady Wright and Alan Knowles)

3200 meter relay- Concord (Adair Artis, Joe Bulko, Isaac Waldron and Jonathan Mikovits)

Shot Put- Logan Cole, Union City

Discus- Logan Cole, Union City

High Jump- Mekhi Wingfield, Concord

Pole Vault- Alex Hull, Union City

Long Jump- Curtis Knapp, Jonesville

This article originally appeared on The Daily Reporter: Union City finishes 4th at Big 8 meet behind Cole double gold; Quincy takes 5th, Bronson 7th