The Sault High Blue Devils wrapped up their Track and Field season on Saturday in Kingsford at the U.P. Finals. The Blue Devils competed against some tough Division 1 competition, against other qualifiers from Marquette, Escanaba, Gladstone, Menominee, Negaunee, Kingsford, Iron Mountain, Ishpeming Westwood, Houghton and Calumet. Both teams placed third overall. The girls earned 83 points behind winners Marquette with 130 points and Negaunee with 96 points. The boys had 90 points behind winners Marquette with 124 points and runners up Kingsford with 106 points. There were several personal records and season records set on Saturday. Coach Martin noted, “I cannot tell you how great the kids did and how proud I am over the final results.”
There were a number of champions on the team when the day was done. Senior Hannah Maurer won the girls shot put with a throw of 37’04.5 (PR). Sophomore Johnny Osborn won the boys adaptive shot put, and set a new MHSAA record, with a throw of 15’3.5 (PR). Junior Rayce Rizzo broke his own pole vault record he just set earlier in the week, by jumping an impressive 13’3 (PR). Senior Carter Oshelski won the 200m dash with a time of 22.89, and the 400m dash with a time of 51.43 (PR). The boys 4×800 relay team of Freshman Caleb Klier, Senior Logan Haskins, Freshman Gabe Litzner and Senior Cody Aldridge took first place with a time of 8:25.28 (SR).
In the field events, the Blue Devils had several athletes with PRs. For the girls shot put, Junior Katie Anderson placed third with a throw of 34’09.5 (PR), and Sophomore Annabelle Fazzari placed fourth with a throw of 33’06. In the boys shot put, Junior Evan Arbic placed third with a throw of 44’08.5 (PR). In the girls discus throw, Anderson was runner up, with a throw of 101’10 (PR), Maurer was third with a throw of 99’7 (PR), Fazzari was fifth with a throw of 97’7 (PR) and Senior Ava Donmyer was sixth with a throw of 86’2. For the boys, Arbic placed seventh with a throw of 115’. In the boys high jump, Junior Talon Thomas-Holm came in fifth place, with a jump of 5’8, and sophomore Maddie McLean placed eighth in the girls long jump, jumping 13’4. Throwing Coach Brad Boven had many good things to say about his athletes. “The Sault athletes came with a chip on their shoulder this weekend and it showed. Our throwers were no different, Evan Arbic was the only thrower from the boys side this year and beat his PR significantly to jump to 3rd place in the Shotput. The Lady BlueDevil side came in strong to this meet with very high expectations of themselves. All throwers placed and earned points with Hannah Maurer taking off with a huge PR in the Shotput to take 1st overall. Katie Anderson PRd big as well coming in 3rd and Annabelle Fazzari has been consistantly increasing her throws all year and earned a 4th place. In the Discus we had multiple PRs broken as well with Katie Anderson leading the way with a throw over 100 for the first time all year and Hannah Maurer and Annabelle Fazzari also breaking hers. I want to thank Ava Donmyer for showing up as a leader for our throwers this year as she has been to the state meet before and helped so many throwers this year in our own group as well as some of the up and coming middle school throwers, she also capped off her season placing in discus. This season for our throwers has been a special one and I am proud of every single one of them.”
On the track, the girls 4×800 relay team placed third. Seniors Cassandra Gallagher and Ella Marchand, and Juniors Abby Walther and Izzy DeWildt had an SR with a time of 10:34.09. Freshman Isaac Niebuhr took seventh in the boys 110m high hurdles (18.44). In the girls 100m dash, Senior Mackenzie Bell took eighth (13.61) and Oshelski was runner up for the boys (11.22). Osborn was runner up in the Adaptive 100m dash (24.89). Both teams had SRs in the 4×200 relays. For the girls, Bell, Maurer, Junior Tarynn Pratt, and Sophomore Bella Smith came in fourth place with a time of 1:52.21. Senior Alex Jacek, Sophomore Donnivan Dykraaf, Niebuhr and Oshelski took third with a time of 1:35.43. In the 1600m run, Gallagher took fourth for the girls (5:48.40 – SR) and Litzner took third for the boys (4:38.68). The girls 4×100 relay team of Pratt, Bell, DeWildt and Smith came in fourth with a time of 53.44 (SR). Pratt was runner up in the girls 400m (1:04.29 – PR), and Junior Dayna Szabo came in seventh (1:06.18). Osborn placed second in the boys Adaptive 400m (1:49.26 – PR). In the 300m low hurdles, Fazzari was sixth for the girls (53.32 – SR) and Sophomore Owen Rice was fourth for the boys (44.29 – PR). DeWildt was runner up in the girls 800m run (2:31.44 – PR) and Haskins was fourth for the boys (2:08.86). Bell was sixth in the girls 200m (28.52) and Osborn was second in the boys adaptive 400m (50.54 – PR). In the 3200m run, Gallagher was fourth for the girls (12:44.80), and Litzner was runner up (9:56.19) and Aldridge was third (10:13.22) for the boys. The girls 4×400 relay team of DeWildt, Szabo, Sophomore Ava Mayer, and Pratt came in third (4:26.81 – SR).
The teams were coached by Scott Menard, Jim Martin, Brad Boven, Becky Arbic, Tony McLain, and Matthew Rand. Coach Menard reflected on the season. “All the coaches were extremely pleased with the performances of our UP Finals teams. Both the girls and boys teams met and then exceeded our expectations. We had great performances throughout the day from both teams.”
Photo credit: Ursula Walther
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