STURGIS — The MHSAA state track and field finals will take place next weekend in West Michigan.
Plenty of local student-athletes will be competing once again this year. Rockford High School will be the host school for the Division 1 finals, though no local schools will be competing there this year. This story features the local members of each school who will be competing at the finals.
Division 2 at Hamilton
Sturgis and Three Rivers will be competing at the Division 2 finals at Hamilton High School.
The Sturgis girls did not win the regional title, but had plenty of positivity in finishing second. They will be well represented.
“The goal was to get as many kids to qualify with good marks as possible,” Sturgis coach Lesley Starkey said.
Sydney Bir won the 400 meters on Friday, she broke the school record in that event at 57.84 seconds.
Tessa Hatt will run in the 800 at state. Her time was 2:22.83.
Berkley Holtz will run in both distance races. She was the regional champion in the mile at 5:11.92 and met the time in the two-mile race at 11:18.03.
Both Kenzie Eicher (47.90) and Juliet Mendoza (48.49) will run in the 300 hurdles, meeting the time.
“For me, the big highlight was our hurdles. Those kids were looking at different combos and we knew there was potential to make it out,” Starkey said. “They completely destroyed those marks and both ran out of their minds. They were super determined and had great days.”
In the 400 relay, Sturgis’ team of Addison Eicher, Kinder Smith, Madelyn Oswald and Angela Cary finished second at 50.67. The 800 relay is also headed to state. The team of Addison Eicher, Angela Cary, Bir and Smith posted 1:47.88.
For the mile relay, Sturgis’ squad of Smith, Holtz, Olivia Green and Bir clocked 4:09.28 to qualify.
The Trojan two-mile relay is seeded second for the D2 finals. The team of Bir, Hatt, Smith and Holtz finished with a time of 9:25.03 earlier this season and are just behind Holland Christian’s time of 9:24.14.
Vivian Massey, a multi-time state champion, will take part in the adaptive shot put. She is the top overall seed for that event at 18-2 feet.
Cary is tied for the top overall seed in the high jump with Sarah Pippin of Edwardsburg. They each have a height of 5-5 heading into the finals.
Oswald qualified in the pole vault as well. She cleared a height of 9-6.
For the boys, Gift Mugisha will compete in the adaptive 100 dash. He will also compete in the adaptive shot put.
Caleb Hohn is one of the top seeds in the 200 meters at 21.99 seconds. He is also in the top five seeds for the 400 at 49.27.
Sturgis’ 400 relay ran a time of 43.94 as Drake Fisher, Hohn, Beckett Lamb and Lukis Bir met the time.
For the mile relay, Sturgis’ team of Micaiah Arreola, Hohn, Darren Speelman and Benji Morales posted 3:30.80 to qualify.
Three Rivers had several qualifiers. In the 200 meters, both Blake Stewart (22.19) and Peyton Muzzey (22.69) hit the qualifying time.
For the 110 hurdles, both Carter Rice (14.58) and DJ Fuller (14.86) are headed to the finals. Rice is also headed to the finals in the 300 hurdles, his time was 39.50.
The Wildcat 400 relay team qualified. Stewart, Muzzey, Elijah Craig and Canady Marzett ran a time of 43.25. In the 800 relay, the Wildcat team of Muzzey, Marzett, Craig and Stewart punched their tickets with a time of 1:29.83. Also competing will be the Wildcat mile relay as Fuller, David Wills, Charlie Brauer and Dominick Banks posted a qualifying time of 3:27.37.
Sweeping the board to reach the finals was the two-mile relay as well.
Wills will compete in the high jump. He cleared 6-6 feet.
TR’s 400 relay girls team is going as well. Lily Kane, Na-ki Austin, Raegan Wenzel and Olivia Wenzel posted 51.29 seconds.
Braylee Burg met the distance in the discus at 117-9.
The Wenzel sisters both qualified in the pole vault. Olivia reached 11-1 while Raegan met 10-0.
Division 3 at Kent City
The Constantine girls won a regional championship last week at Hillsdale. They finished with 94.5 points, this was better than Jackson Lumen Christi’s second-place finish at 82.5 points.
Jaedyn Herlein will compete in both hurdling events. She finished second at regionals in both, running a time of 15.95 in the 100 and 47.85 in the 300. Herlein will join teammates Kaitlyn Jones, Morgan Niblock and Kailee Jones in the 800 relay, they were second at regionals at 1:51.05.
Herlein’s fourth event is the mile relay. She will run with Jones, Kailee Jones and Niblock in that race, which they won a regional title in at 4:14.19.
For the two-mile relay, Constantine was second at regionals. The team of Niblock, Ashlynn Michalek, Allison Burns and Kailee Jones ran 10:21.36.
Eliza VandenBerg was second in the shot put at 34-10, earning a spot at state. She will also compete in the discus event as she posted a second-place finish at 105-0.
Constantine’s Ryan Manes finished second overall in the 400 at regionals. His time was 53.06 to make state. Manes is also part of the mile relay which qualified as he, Aaron Hofmeister, Cael Smith and Bear Geibe ran a time of 3:33.28 and finished fifth, but met the time.
Manes finished third in the shot put, his distance of 48-8 was good for qualifying.
The Falcon two-mile relay team is also onto the finals. Alessandro Avila, Hofmeister, Luke Platz and Geibe ran a time of 8:23.61, which was second at regionals.
In pole vaulting, Aaron Hochstetler leaped 13-9, that was second.
The Centreville girls will be represented by Diannah Schwartz in adaptive action. She posted 18.64 seconds in the 100 adaptive race and 41.09 in the 200. Schwartz will also compete in the adaptive shot put as she won a regional title at 16-3 feet.
The Bulldog 400 relay features Nevaeh Prichard, Leah Roberts, Berkley Shingledecker and Kaylyn Coney. They posted a qualifying time of 52.27 at regionals.
For the mile relay, Centreville will be represented by Shingledecker, Kate Hulin, Ellie Reed and Coney. They ran 4:16.04 to qualify at regionals. In the two-mile relay, the Bulldog team of Shingledecker, Emma Boucas, Hulin and Reed will run as they qualified at 10:18.95 and won the regional title.
Lena Reed won the regional title in the shot put for Centreville at 35-2.5 feet.
Deandre Stout will run the sprints at the finals. He qualified in the 100 at 11.09 and finished second in the 200 at regionals at 23.07.
Will Hulin won a regional title in the two-mile run at 9:39.02. He will also run in the mile as he finished second at 4:26.19.
Centreville’s 400 relay team is headed to state. Stout, Brendan Sre, Dylan Schwartz and Brayden Swanwick finished at 44.30 to meet the qualifying time. The mile relay team is also going. Stout, Swanwick, Micaiah Sylvester and Hulin posted 3:32.94 to qualify.
For the two-mile relay, the team of Hulin, Oliver Mildenberg, Max Reed and Riley Monson posted 8:25.91 to qualify.
Matthew Bates will be in the throwing events at state. He won a regional title in the shot put at 54-10 and finished second in the discus at 164-3.
Brayden Fritz will compete in both throwing events. He won a regional title in the discus event, posting 174-9 feet. He also placed second in the shot put at 52-1.5 feet.
Stevie Wilson is competing in the 110 hurdles. His qualifying time was 15.63.
Miriam Sanchez will also compete for Bronson. She posted a time of 2:27.15 in the 800 to meet the qualifying run.
Division 4 at Baldwin Middle School in Hudsonville
For Division 4, the area will be represented at the state finals by Colon, Marcellus, Mendon and White Pigeon.
Mendon’s 400 relay team qualified for the finals. The team of Owen Gorham, Ryder Gorham, JT Lux and Xavior Zinsmaster ran a qualifying time at regionals, finishing fourth at 45.49 seconds.
The mile relay team is also headed to state. Kyron Truckey, Gorham, Gorham and Zinsmaster clocked a time of 3:34.34 in their regional to qualify as well. They finished third at regionals.
For the two-mile relay, Mendon finished second overall at regionals. The team of Truckey, Gorham, Gorham and Zinsmaster posted a time of 8:35.47 to reach the finals.
The Mendon girls qualified in the 400 relay. At regionals, the team of Gracie Schultz, McKenzie Bakeman, Brooklyn Marshall and Taylor Zinsmaster recorded a time of 53.08 seconds to meet the qualifying time while finishing third.
The 800 relay for the girls is also headed to the finals. Bakeman, Laney Buchanan, Marshall and Zinsmaster finished fourth at regionals, but beat the qualifying time and ran 1:54.51.
Jabari Falls of Colon will be competing in the throwing events at state. He won the regional championship in the discus event at 142-6 and met the qualifying distance for the shot put at 43-11.5 feet.
Dalton Williams is also going to state for Colon. He finished second at regionals in the 400 meters with a time of 53.64 seconds.
Marcellus will have Martelle Enright run in the 200. He posted a time of 23.37 seconds at regionals, that met the qualifying time while he finished fourth at regionals.
In shot put action, Marvin Jones Jr. is headed to state. His distance was 45-10 to finish second.
White Pigeon has 10 overall entries at the finals.
Jesse Fielis met the qualifying time in the mile run at 4:41.17, finishing third at regionals. David Lane will represent the Chiefs in the two-mile race, he finished with a second-place finish at regionals at 10:50.43.
White Pigeon’s 400 relay squad is also going. The team of Maddix Jancasz, Hunter Pant, Jase Roach and Mason Yoder clocked a time of 44.97 at the regional round, finishing third with a qualifying run.
For the girls, Addison Mercer will run in the 100 hurdles. Her time at regionals was 18.85, that was good for second place.
In the shot put, two Chiefs will compete in the finals. Sadie McDaniel won the regional title in the shot put at 36-8.5, Sydney McClure was fourth but met the throw mark at 32-3.
McDaniel will also throw the discus. She finished second at regionals with a distance of 102-10.
Contact Sports Editor Brandon Watson at bwatson@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @BwatsonSJ.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Sturgis-area track and field athletes who qualified for MHSAA state finals
Reporting by Brandon Watson, Sturgis Journal / Sturgis Journal
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