EAST JACKSON — Whenever a team earns more than a dozen state qualifying bids for the Division 3 MHSAA track and field state finals, that would be considered a successful day at regionals.
And for the most part, it was a successful day out at East Jackson High School for coach Clay Schiman and the Hillsdale varsity track and field teams. However, after earning a region title last year, the boys track and field team came up just short of their rivals in Jonesville, who won this year’s championship trophy with a final score of 86-77.
“That’s sports man,” Schiman said. “That’s sports and life. We competed really hard today. Congratulations to Jonesville, and congratulations to Pete (Konieczki). I got a ton of respect for him. Pete is a great coach and an even better human being. This hurts, but congratulations to them.”
The Hornets suffered a setback when sophomore sprinter Cam Arnold, a key part of the team’s short distance events, went down with a leg injury in the 4×200-meter relay. He was also a part of the 4×400 relay team a week before that won a LCAA championship.
“Cam has been great this season and was running fast,” Schiman said. Schiman says the latest injury update has been good news for the sophomore, who was able to walk without much pain.
The 4×400 team was able to get a strong lap from junior Thayden Welch who replaced Arnold in the second leg spot of the climactic race. The team still qualified for the state finals with a final time of 3:30.44 and a third-place finish.
“I was proud of the way Thayden stepped up in the 4×4 to get us to state and also Evan Grant stepping in for the 4×1 with very little time to prepare for it. This is Thayden’s first year running track and he has worked hard to improve his 400. He had a huge breakthrough last week at the league meet and was really clutch stepping into a high pressure situation with three regular members of our 4×4, a relay that we have high expectations for. It showed a lot of guts to go out and compete the way he did.”
Hillsdale’s 4×100 team of Ashton Thornsbury, Miles Brown, Evan Grant and Brayden Taylor finished fifth overall with a final time of 45.13, just .23 seconds from state qualification
Arnold ended up just a tenth-of-a-second shy of second place and qualifying for the 100-meter dash, taking second with a time of 11.86.
Overall, the team had 13 qualifying bids across both the girls and boys teams. This was led by a regional title-clinching throw from senior John Petersen. Petersen broke his PR in the discus event and threw a distance of 149-feet, 8 inches to take an individual title.
“We had a lot of things go right for us,” Schiman said. “We took a great shot at it and had a lot of improved performances, PRs and breakthroughs. There’s a lot for us to be proud of that I’m excited about. There’s certainly no reason to hang our head, and we’ll keep working.”
The girls track team ended up taking fifth overall in team scoring, finishing with 55 points compared to title-winning Grass Lake’s 84. They were led by a two-state qualifying effort from senior long distance runner Chloe Stalhood.
Stalhood ran down state bids in the 1,600 and the 3,200-meter runs. Stalhood took runner-up in the 1,600 with a time of 5:31.96. She took second in the 3,200 with a time of 11:52.20.
Back in the boys state qualifier lists, Ashton Thornsbury had already qualified for the finals on EQ, but he would hit the state-qualifying standard again on Friday night with a 6-feet, 2-inch clearance in high jump. He took third overall.
Hill be joined by fellow junior Robert Garcia, who cleared 6-feet to qualify for the finals and take sixth overall. Senior jumper Hayden Handy was also already a state qualifier based on early EQ numbers, but the senior got his team important scores with his runner-up finish and a jump of 21-feet.
In the boys 400-meter dash, the senior pair of Miles Brown and Dominick Coke – fresh off of a first-second finish at conference – placed fourth and fifth respectively. They both qualified for the state finals, with Brown hitting a PR time of 51.80 seconds, and Coke hitting a 52.04 for a season best.
Two boys hurdlers would also earn state qualification. In the 110-meter hurdles, junior Ashton Thornsbury took third with a time of 15.90 to qualify for state. Sophomore Evan Towne ran down a state-qualifying time of 41.70 in the 300 hurdles. He took third overall.
Back on the girls track side of the qualifiers, the 4×100 team of Jayce Graham, Effie Heckel, Emily York and senior anchor Megan Kast finished just .29 seconds shy of a regional title but took runner-up with a 51.10 time. The team qualified for states. Kast came up just .03 seconds shy of earning a bid to the 100-meter dash state finals event, settling for third place and a time of 13.28.
Similarly, the 4×200 team of Heckel, Kiely Kroa, Emily York and Kast came up just over a second short of state qualification, settling for fourth with a time of 1:52.89. The 4×400 team of Kroa, Heckel, York and Brooklyn Slovacek came up three seconds shy of state qualification, but their 4:23.69 was enough for sixth place and to beat their rivals in Jonesville who took seventh.
Kroa was able to earn a state finals qualification earlier in the meet during the field event portion of regionals. She took fifth overall in high jump, clearing 5-feet to qualify for states.
Several other Hornets managed to hit personal-best times before the night was over. Boys 800-meter runners Theo York and senior Braden Lige hit new personal best times. Lige took second with a 2:23.28 and York took ninth with a 2:08.16. Lige also had a PR in the 1,600 with a time of 5:10.24.
Freshman Payton Belisle competed a new PR time of 11:26.71 to take 15th in the 3,200. In the 110 hurdles, Towne took eighth with a PR of 17.07. Talon Hugenall took 14th in pole vault, clearing a height of 10-feet, 6 inches.
On the girls side, junior Ava Evans took eighth in the 3,200-meter run with a new PR of 13:47.42. In shot put, sophomore Olivia Broesamle took 13th with a PR of 27-feet, 6 inches. Freshman Brooke Riggs took 11th with a PR of 4-feet, 7 inches.
The Hornets will join several of their Comet rivals in competing at the Division 3 state finals held in Kent City. The finals will be held on Saturday, May 31.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Hillsdale track qualifies 13 times for the D3 state finals; Petersen earns discus title
Reporting by Joseph Flaherty, Hillsdale Daily News / Hillsdale Daily News
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