×

Braves take second place

Boys track

Mike Mattson | Daily Press Escanaba’s Tyler Cook, right sprints to the finish line on the last leg of the 4 x 100 relay event in Friday’s Division 1 regional at Escanaba High School. Cook and the Eskymos finished second behind Marquette.

ESCANABA — The Marquette boys continued their winning ways Friday as they dominated the Division 1 track regional with 93 points. They were followed by Gladstone 39, Sault Ste. Marie 33, Escanaba 17 and Menominee six.

Marquette athletes took first place in 11-of-17 events, including a sweep of the relays, leaving little opportunity for opposing teams to gain individual victories.

“We’re glad to get this meet in,” said Marquette coach Kyle Detmers. “We have a good group going through (to the Upper Peninsula Finals).”

Senior Ryan Sanderson provided the Redmen with two individual firsts, taking the 400-meter daah in 53.34 seconds and 800 (2:04.12).

The Redmen, led by sophomore Raphael Millado’s leap of six feet, four inches, grabbed three places in high jump. They also took three spots in long jump, with senior Wyatt Goodwin taking it at 20-7.

“High jump went well for us,” said Detmers. “We had two guys clear 6-2. Unfortunately, our fastest sprinter (sophomore Ethan Martysz) went down with a strained hamstring, but Andrew Gale did a great job. Our handoffs in the 4×200 relay were a little rough, but Andrew ran a monsterous (anchor) leg.”

Gale also anchored the winnng 400 relay and placed second in the 100 (11.95) and 200 (24.53).

Gladstone sophomore Adam Bruce copped the 1600 (4:44.53), used a late surge to prevail in a tightly-contested 3200 (10:18.77) and placed third in the 800 (2:06.4).

“I knew it was going to be tough,” said Bruce. “I just focused on running my race and let them set the pace. I’m very happy with my run and that I qualified in all three of my races.”

Senior Kyle McKenzie added a first for the Braves in pole vault (12-0) and junior Jared Demeuse captured discus (113-8).

Sault’s leader was senior Ryan Jones, who won the 100 (11.89) by edging Gale by .06 second, and broke away from the field to take the 200 (23.93).

“I had a decent start in the 100 and it went a little better in the 200,” said Jones, who will play football at Michigan Tech this fall.

“This is the first time I ever ran in Escanaba. I just needed to get used to the track. It has been difficult not having a home track (due to construction) this year. Although, we’ve been practicing on Lake State’s (200-meter) track twice a week.”

Senior Hunter Royer and junior Cody Vandermissen were Esky’s highest individual finishers.

Royer was runner-up in pole vault (11-6) and Vandermissen took second in shot put (39-5).

The Eskymos added a second in the 400 relay (46.66).

“Our 4×100 relay is continuing to drop times and the kids are excited about it,” said Esky coach Scott Dykema.

“We got all our relays in and the kids who didn’t qualify had personal-bests. From where we were in the beginning, I never thought we’d have this many going.”

Menominee’s top individual place-finisher was senior Brayden Wickstrom, who took third in shot put (38-8).

The Maroons host the Great Northern Conference meet Thursday.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today