by Ben Murphy
Sports Writer
Lawton girls win regional championship, boys place third
The Lawton track and field teams had quite the day on their home track on Friday, when they hosted a Division 3 regional meet. The Blue Devils had the girls’ claim enough points to become regional champions, and the boys were able to rack up enough points for third place. Both had several state qualifiers as well.
This is the second straight regional crown for the Lady Blue Devils.
“They are a very good and fun group of girls,” head coach Mike Meyer said. “Very hard-working as well. We had two school records broken at the regional meet as well. Heidi Newhouse broke her own school record in the 400 meter at this meet as well as Jake Rueff beating the long jump record. Kendra Koster was a four time regional champion. Heidi Newhouse was a three time regional champion.”
On the girls’ side, Camille Barber was seventh in the 100 meter dash and Heidi Newhouse won the 200 meter on a time of 27.23, to put her in the state finals. Newhouse also won the 400 on a time of 59.56 and she took second in the high jump to put her in the state finals in those as well. Kendra Koster is state finals bound in the 800, 1600 and 3200, as she won all three on times of 2:25.92, 5:28.88 and 12:13. Sofia Oertel was also fourth in the 1600, sixth in 800 and seventh in the 3200.
In the 100 hurdles, Alexis Girolami will make the state finals thanks to a second place finish and Reese Olson was sixth in the 300 hurdles.
They won both the 4×400 and 4×800 relays to punch more finals’ tickets. The 4×400 team saw runs by Megan Robertson, Addisyn Price, Reese Olson and Newhouse while the 4×800 featured the efforts of Koster, Oerttel, Olseon and Ashley White.
In the shot put, Kylee Somers was 12th. Rylee Oxley will be in the state finals in the pole vault thanks to a win with a vault of 8’9 and Megan Robertson took second in the pole, punching her finals’ ticket as well.
On the boys’ side, Kal Motter and Jason Crall finished 11th and 12th in the 100 meter dash, Jake Rueff was third in the 200, Kamden Olson was 10th in the 800 and James Holder was eighth in the 110 hurdles. Oscar Mancera-Guerra was also fourth in the 300 hurdles.
The Blue Devils won the 4×100 and took second in the 4×200, making the state finals in both. The 4×100 had a team of Motter, Rueff, Cooper Geib and Crall while the 4×200 was Crall, Rueff, Geib and Aiden Obrien.
They had two brothers qualify in the shot put, as Mason Mayne won (47’7) and Carter Mayne (46’8) was second. M. Mdayne was also 18th in the discus.
Aiden Obrien was seventh in the high jump, Zack Kooyers was sixth in the pole vault and Rueff added a state finals berth by winning the long jump at 21’7.75.
“Our boys team overall competed extremely well and almost all of them improve their time, distance, height from what they did throughout the entire year,” Meyer said. “Us coaches could not be more proud of both of these groups.”
Paw Paw sees action in tough Division 2 regional
The Paw Paw track and field teams competed in a Division 2 regional at Berrien Springs on Friday. The girls’ team finished eighth and the boys were 11th out of the 14-team field.
The girls were led by Jenna Quinones who was 10th in the 100 meter dash, Molly Goodwin was 15th in the 200 and 13th in the 400 and Amelia Gibbs was 10th in the 800.
Madison Johnson had a sixth place finish in the 1600, Taylor Meier was fourth in the 3200, Lillian Holloway added a ninth place finish in the 100 meter hurdles and Sammi Jurgensen was 14th in the 300 hurdles.
Their to relay team was in the 4×800, as Madison Johnson, Meier, Amelia Gibbs and Kali Bunce took fourth place.
Savanna Rickli was fifth in the shot put and fourth in the discus, Jurgensen was fifth in the high jump and Quinones was fourth in the long jump.
On the boys’ side, Aaron West was 11th in the 200, Landon Brown was 14th in the 400, Aden Webber was 15th in the 800 an din the 3200 Austin Williford and Will Vanderbor were fourth and fifth. West was also third in the 300 hurdles.
Dennis Strey was seventh in the shot put and 16th in the discus and Shawn Jurgensen was 16th in the long jump.
Mattawan takes part in D3 meet, Yasmin Pirbhai qualifies for states in shot put, high jump
The Mattawan track and field teams made the trip to Portage Central on Friday for their regional meet. The girls’ team was able to get a sixth place finish while the boys had enough points to come in 12th, out of 17 teams.
The girls were led by Damryn Ely who was 15th in the 200, Hope Webber was third in the 1600 and she was fourth in the 3200. Emily Reeves was sixth in both distance events.
Marley Elsmore was also 11th in the 100 meter hurdles.
Yasmin Pirbhai took second in both the shot put and high jump, qualifying her for the state finals. Her shot put distance was 37’2.25 and her jump measured at 5’2. She was also fifth in the discus.
On the boys’ side, Conner Daggett was 13th in the 100 meter dash, Sawyer Davenport was fifth in the 200, Trey Bennett was eighth in the 400, Blaine Rogers was fifth in the 110 hurdles and Miguel Miller was 15th in the 300 hurdles.
James Campbell was fourth in the discus and 18th in the shot put, Hugh Ford was 10th in the pole vault and Jack Rusinek was 19th in the long jump.
Gobles, Lawrence compete in D4 meet
Gobles served as hosts to a Division 4 regional on Friday, with Lawrence also attending the meet. Gobles had a fantastic showing with the girls’ team coming in second and its boys placing fourth, while Lawrence had its girls place eighth and boys place ninth. There were plenty of state qualifiers as well.
For the Gobles’ girls, Kaya Huizenga will be in the state finals after winning the 100 meter dash on a time of 13.40, and Morgan Modert will join her thanks to her time of 13.43, which put her in third.
Modert and Huizenga were also third and fourth in the 200, Elli stender and Deanna Wood were fourth and fifth in the 400, Aziza Jumaeva was 14th in the 800 meter run and Leonie Fallito was 13th in the 1600.
Sasha Doll had a sixth place finish in the 100 hurdles and Helena Carretero was fourth in the 300 hurdles.
They’ll also have three relay teams at the finals. The 4×100 team of Wood, Huizenga, Kambree Tackett and Woodard on a time of 53.59. The winning 4×200 team had runs by Alyson Tripp, Wood, Modert and Woodard for a time of 1:53.53 and the winning 4×400 team, who had a time of 4:31 was D. Wood, Zoie Wood, Stender and Modert.
Stender was able to make the finals in the discus with a second place finish and she was also fourth in the shot put. Huizenga won the high jump for another finals appearance at 5-00 and Charlotte Zantello was sixth in the long jump.
For the Lawton boys, Alex Lee was fifth in the 100, Mason Mansfield was 13th in the 200, Eli Huizenga was ninth in the 400 and Simone had a state qualifying win in the 800, on a time of 2:09.95.
Nile Devers will compete in the state finals in both distance events, as he won the 1600 on a run of 4:39 and the 3200 on a time of 10:28.
The 4×100 team of Mansfield, Huizenga, DeAndre Champan and Lee took fourth place, but their time of 46.42 was good enough to qualify them for states as well.
Nolan VanHorn is state finals bound in the shot put thanks to a win at 41-06 and he was also eighth in the discus. Lee was sixth in the high jump, Chris Ruiz was third in the pole vault and Mansfield added a 10th place finish in the long jump.
For the Lawrence girls, Jian Toy had state finals’ qualifying second place finishes in the 100 and 200 meter dashes, with times of 13.42 and 27.65. Shelbi Rindfield was also fifth in the 200 and seventh in the 100.
Madeline Madsen was eighth in the 1600 and 11th in the 800, Anna Remelts was ninth in the 1600 and 13th in the 800 and Sophie Miller was 10th in the 300 hurdles.
Their top relay team was the 4×100, which took third thanks to the efforts of Ashely Reed, Leslie Reed, Rindfield and Toy.
The Lawrence boys saw Christian Smith come in 10th, Mauricio Mancera was 13th in the 400, Isaiah Beiter was third in the 800 and he Beiter qualified for the state finals in the 1600, with a second place finish and time of 6:04. Smith was also seventh in the 300 hurdles.
John Schuman had a second place state qualifying finish in the long jump, with a distance of 19-08.25 and Conner Tangeman was seventh in the discus and eighth in the shot put. Gabe Gonzalez was also 10th in the discus.