KENT CITY – Roman Smith had a companion for the long drive home.
On the seat next to the St. Mary Catholic Central coach for the journey home after the Division 3 state track and field finals was the championship trophy.
And yes, he had a seat belt secured snuggly around it.
“I had to,” he said. “It’s very valuable.”
The Falcons scored 39 points to finish 7 ahead of runner-up Elk Rapids.
“It was an incredible day,” Smith said.
A lot of Monroe County Region athletes enjoyed incredible days at the Division 3 finals.
Erie Mason’s Giuliana Nastale defended her titles in the 100 and 200 meters and Julia Hughes of Ida did the same in the high hurdles.
Olivia Beaudrie of SMCC’s girls team also was a champ, ruling the high jump.
SMCC becomes the eighth Monroe County Region team to win a state title in track and field and the first since Whiteford in 2007.
The other boys champs were pre-1950. Monroe won in 1930, 1931, 1936 and 1937. Dundee ruled the state in 1949.
The only girls team to bring home a state championship was SMCC in 2003.
“My coaching staff and I started looking at the seeds about a month ago and thought it might be possible,” Smith said.
The optimism stemmed from two relays that were seeded first in the state. But the Falcons didn’t get all of those points.
The 400 relay of Cole Reinhardt, Gavin Swartout, Vince Harris and Brady Reinhardt defended its seed, winning in :42.2.
That broke the Division 3 state record by a second.
SMCC’s 800 relay of Brady Reinhardt, Carson Welker, Easton Kwiatkowski and Harris slipped to third, however, because of a poor exchange.
Swartout more than made up for those lost points.
“He was seeded 23rd, but ran :10.82 to take third,” Smith said. “He had the race of his life.”
Swartout’s previous best time was :11.2.
Christian Craanen was responsible for most of SMCC’s other points.
The sophomore was second in the 3,200 at of 9:29.35 and third in the 1,600 at 4:21.53. Both of those times were personal bests.
He also was sixth in the 800 (1:59.55).
Craanen normally includes the 3,200 relay in his schedule, but the coaches decided to pull him from that event so he would be fresher in his individual events.
Phineas Totten, Kenny Knudsen, Brennan Menzies and Max Foldvary still took 29th in that event.
This was a very special day for our kids, the program, the parents, the community – everything,” Smith said.
Nastale hit a personal-best of :11.9 in the 100 and won the 200 in :24.91. She also picked up a pair of 10th-place finishes, going 1:00.15 in the 400 and running the anchor leg on the 400 relay with Adrianna Cosby, Tanyei Neff and Paige Konrad.
Hughes also was busy, posting a personal-best of :14.42 in the highs, placing third in the lows and running on a pair of relays.
She ran with Kaidence Weaver, Gabriana Ganer and Camilla Mommerency on the 22nd-place 1,600 and with Holly Clifton, Weaver and Claire May on the 26-place 400.
Windy conditions early in the day made things hard on the long jumpers, but Beaudrie didn’t seem to notice.
She won with a leap of 5-4 and helped the Kestrels take fourth in the 400 relay. Angie Illes, Adela Illes and Katelyn Boberg completed that unit.
Other strong finishers for SMCC’s sixth-place girls were Adela Iles (fifth 100, seventh in the 200), Bella LaFountain (14th 800, 15th 1,600) and the 1,600 relay of Angie Illes Ava Lucarelli, Adela Illes and LaFountain (17th).
Lincoln Murbach of Erie Mason and Whiteford’s Brek Ruddy came close to joining the Region’s parade of champions.
Murbach was the runner-up in the low hurdles, dropping his school record to :39.55.
Ruddy also eclipsed his school record by clearing 14-6 for third in the pole vault.
Murbach was 16th in the high hurdles and anchored the 16th-place 1,600 relay with Jackson Carner, Joseph Coluca and Amari Harris.
Whiteford finished fourth in both the 400 (Drew Ruddy, Antonio Nachtrab, Brody Hillard, Nate Andrews) and 1,600 (Andrews, Brek Ruddy, Hillard, Saylor) relays.
Saylor snared seventh individually in the 400 and the 800 relay of Drew Ruddy, Nachtrab, Hillard and Andrews was 14th.
Brielle White of Whiteford ran a personal-best of :26.15 for 10th in the 200, helped the 1,600 relay take eighth and was 14th in the 400. Other relay members were Sierra DeBarr, Braelynn Chiotti and Briar Wing.
Ida teammates Braden Bydlowski and Brandon Tross took 10th and 15th, respectively, in the pole vault.
Other Region finishers were Nina Bauman of Whiteford (13 discus), Logan Doom of Mason (14 1,600), Mason’s boys 3,200 relay of Colaluca, Caleb Healey, David Mills and Doom (14), Madalynn Roderick of Ida (15 long jump), Paige Konrad of Erie Mason (16 long jump), Whiteford’s girls 3,200 relay of Briar Wing, Breslin Wing, DeBarr and Chiotti (18), Mason’s girls 800 relay of Cosby Aubrey Iocoangeli, Kaylee Wright and Konrad (24), Ida’s boys 800 relay of Jacob Young, Mason Reynolds, Braden Bydlowski, Brenner Nelson (28) and Ida’s boys 1,600 relay of Young, Bydlowski, Luke Stanley and Nelson (33).
A roundup of Region finishes in the other divisions follows.
Division 1
ROCKFORD – Bedford junior Maddi Duke took fourth place in the 800 with a personal-best time of 1:53.87.
He also ran on the 1,600 and 3,200 relays, which both placed 10th. Bryce McCloud, Logan Thomas and Brandon McCloud joined him on the 1,600 and Cam Varner, Thomas and Dane Hieronimus completed the 3,200.
Monroe’s Zamier Austin cleared a personal-best 6-5 to tie for eighth in the high jump.
Masyn Moran of Bedford was 22nd in the discus.
Sam Przytula was the top place for Gibraltar Carlson by finishing 15th in the discus. The Marauders’ Reece Wieckowski III took 24th in the 100 and anchored the 800 relay to 25th place and Zachary Peterson checked in at 24th in the high jump.
In the girls meet, Bedford’s Tayah Croley was 29th in the 100 and the 3,200 relay of Sophia Johnson, Iva Ravindra, Cheyenne Ivey and Mailah McKibben placed 30th.
Piper Ashbaucher was 22nd in the discus.
Division 2
HAMILTON – Cameron Crane of New Boston Huron was third in the pole vault with a personal-best 14-4.
Jacob Stanislawski of Flat Rock nabbed ninth place in the 3,200 and was 18th in the 1,600.
Airport sophomore Ella Baker ran a personal-best 2:21.08 to place 10th in the 800.
Milan’s girls were 11th in the 1,600 relay with Amerie Wilson, Madison Lancaster, Kaily McDaniel and Angelina Wilson and Braeden Lerette placed 25th in the boys high hurdles for the Big Reds.
Luke Dulecki of Huron ran 12th in the 3,200 and ran with Brenton Musallam, Cole Druyor and Garrett Patrick on the 27th-place 3,200 relay.
Huron’s 400 relay of Jayden Lundy, Ian Petrick, Jordan Stasak and Jamil Brown was 29th.
Avery Turk, fresh off helping Huron win a District title in girls soccer the night before, wound up 33rd in the low hurdles.
Anthony Tamahkyarov of Airport’s boys team was 23rd in the 200 and anchored the 25th-place 400 relay.
Orion Galloway’s 19th in the 800 was the best finish for Jefferson.
The Bears’ Zane Knezevich hit a personal-best of :22.47 for 24th in the 200. He also anchored the 43rd-place 400 relay with Grant Hakeos, Alex Brown and Zy’Rell Henley and ran on the 27th-place 1,600 relay with Maddex Shotwell, Josh Hargraeves and Galloway.
The 800 relay of Shotwell, Alex Brown, Hargraeves and Henley was 31st.
Jefferson’s lone qualifier for girls, Claire Miller, ran 24th in the 3,200.
Breanna Sexton of Flat Rock was 22nd in the girls shot-put.
Division 4
HUDSONVILLE – Summerfield set a pair of school records.
JT Lemert threw the discus 153-0 for fourth place and the girls 3,200 relay of Makenzie Wolfe, Abby Raymond, Allison Ost, and Grace Raymond ran 10:10 to shatter the school standard by 13 seconds and place eighth.
Seven-place finishes were logged by Austin Taylor (boys pole vault) and Gabi Myshock (girls discus).
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: SMCC boys win state track title, Nastale, Hughes, Beaudrie win events
Reporting by Niles Kruger, The Monroe News / The Monroe News
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