The Sault High Blue Devils Track and Field teams sent athletes to compete in the Queen City Relays in Marquette on Tuesday, and the girls’ team made their mark. In a field of nine teams from schools across the Upper Peninsula, the Lady Blue Devils were top finishers in each event their athletes participated in, winning five of those events. Girls Head Coach Scott Menard praised the athletes on their performance. “Even though it was a different format than we are used to, I thought our girls performed very well, placing in the top three of all the events.” The running events consisted solely of a variety of relays, and field events took the top three scores from each school to determine the top three placers of the field relay events.
The 4000m distance medley relay (1200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m) team of Regan Sporte, Dayna Szabo, Isabella DeWildt, and Abby Walther finished second with a time of 14:43.83. Talyah Pace, Ahnaka Oshelski, Natalie Prestien and Bella Smith won the 4x100m relay with a time of 55:33. DeWildt, Szabo, Sporte and Walther took third in the 4x800m relay with a time of 11:27.40. Grace Mayer, Oshelski, Prestien and Smith won the 4x200m relay with a time of 1:57.27. The same four were runners up in the 800m sprint medley relay (100m, 100m, 200m, 400m) with a time of 2:04.40. Lastly, in the 4×400 relay, Walther, Alyvia Coullard, Natalie Heyrman and Szabo finished third with a time of 4:39.70.
In the field relay events, the girls won the long jump, thanks to Maddy McLean (14’10), Heyrman (13’3) and Jolene Elkins (11’9.5). In high jump, Gracie Akridge (4’6), Mayer (4’4) and Jordyn Giffen (4’2) placed second. The throwers won both relays, with Katie Anderson (32’75), Abigail Kachur (23’9.25), and Lexi Landis (23’2.5) in shot put, and Anderson (95’11), McLean (66’1), and Kachur (59’5) in discus. Throwers’ Coach Brad Boven commented on the girls’ top finishes. “The meet in Marquette went really well for our throwers group who the girls placed first as a collective throw relay where the top 3 throwers best throws were added together for a total. We had 5 total throwers out for the girls with Katie Anderson leading the way.”
The Sault Boys had a good day in Marquette as well. The Sprint Medley Relay team of Dean Roe, Jaden Rishmawi, Ryver Ryckeghem and Owen Rice placed second, with a time of 1:46.63. Rayce Rizzo (18’11), Isaac Niebuhr (16’7.5), and Max VanDoren (16’6) won the long jump relay and Talon Thomas-Holm (6’0), Niebuhr (5’2) and Nate Koepp (5’2) placed third in the high jump relay. Throwers Brady Ditmyer (41’5.75), Evan Arbic (39’7.25), and Walter Anderson (36’0.5) placed in the shot put relay, and Arbic (111’), Mason Berry (80’02), and Ditmyer (79’9) placed third in the discus relay. Coach Boven was happy with the boys’ performances as well. “Boys had taken 3rd in the shot with Ditmyer, Arbic, and Anderson recording top marks for our throw squad. It was nice to see some competition between Arbic and Ditmyer in the shot yesterday as they’ll be battling all season which brings out the best with competition. We will be bringing our full throws squad to St Ignace next Monday and looking forward to being outside and seeing the progress our team has made.”
The teams will make the short trip to the straits area for a five team, non-conference meet, the first of two meets on their schedule next week.
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