Branch County sends 11 to state finals out of Division Three Track Regional

HILLSDALE, MI. - Hillsdale High School played host to 16 schools on a rainy and stormy Friday night as teams from around the area made the trip looking for postseason glory, competing in the MHSAA (Michigan High School Athletic Association) Division Three Regional 25 Track and Field Invitational.

While none of the three teams from Branch County advanced on in the team standings, a handful of athletes earned the right to represent their schools at the MHSAA State Finals with either a top two finish or an effort within the additional qualifying standards in their chosen event.

Quincy Orioles 

Quincy will see three individual athletes advance on to the MHSAA Individual State Finals, led by their dynamic throwing duo of Sophia Snellenberger and Raigen Horsfall who advanced in both the shot and discus.

Senior Sophia Snellenberger capped off her final foray into the regional round of play with a pair of gold medals, winning the shot put with a new school record throw of 40 feet, 6 inches. With her throw Snellenberger has broken both the shot and discus records for Quincy this season. Speaking of discus, it was Snellenberger who also won the regional crown in the discus with a throw of 124 feet, 0 inches.

Also moving on to the state finals out of the throwing pits for Quincy will be senior Raigen Horsfall who qualified in both events. Horsfall punched her ticket to the state finals in the discus thanks to her runner-up finish after a throw of 118 feet, 4 inches. Horsfall did not finish in the top two in the shot put however she did earn the right to advance on to the state finals as she reached the additional qualifying distance. Horsfall took third place in the shot put with a qualifying distance of 35 feet, 5 inches. The qualifying distance for the shot put at the Division Three Regional is 34 feet, 0 inches.

Also advancing on to the state finals for Quincy is sophomore Brooke McVicker who finished with runner-up honors in the pole vault, taking second place with a vault of 8 feet, 3 inches.

Quincy also brought home a number of individual medals with a top eight finish in their respective events. Taking a spot on the podium for the Orioles was Sadie Miller with a seventh place finish in the 1600 in a time of 6 minutes, 9.83 seconds, a new personal best; Brookelyn Parker with a sixth place finish in the 100 hurdles in a time of 17.46 seconds and a third place finish in the 300 hurdles in a time of 53.23 seconds; the 1600 relay team (4x400) of Elizabeth Craig, Raylee Fulton, Cheyenne Marske, and Sadie Miller, eighth place in a time of 4 minutes, 41.62 seconds; the 3200 relay team (4x800) of Libby Butchart, Sadie Miller, Raylee Fulton, and Abby Loesh who finished in seventh place in a time of 11 minutes, 48.09 seconds; Emyleigh Burlew, seventh place in the discus with a throw of 91 feet, 0 inches; Coelie Smullen, sixth place in the high jump with a jump of 4 feet, 7 inches; and Lita Fulton, third place in the pole vault of with a vault of 7 feet, 9 inches.

The Quincy Oriole boys had one athlete earn the right to don the orange and black at the state finals as sophomore Corey Turner took runner-up honors in the pole vault with a vault of 12 feet, 0 inches.

Also pacing the Quincy effort with a top eight finish in their respective events was Tre’Von Bodley with a third place finish in the shot put with a throw of 42 feet, 11 inches; Ashtyn Morris with a fifth place finish in the shot put with a throw of 42 feet, 3.50 inches and a fourth place finish in the discus with a throw of 128 feet, 6 inches; Caleb Kelley with an eighth place finish in the shot put with a throw of 42 feet, 0 inches; and Ethan Hollister, seventh place in the long jump with a jump of 19 feet, 5.25 inches.

Union City Chargers 

The Union City Lady Chargers had three individual state finals qualifiers based on their efforts at the regional level.

Making a return trip to the state finals will be sophomore Nevada Gillons who will return to the big stage in her signature event as she finished in second place in the 100 meter hurdles in a personal best time of 16.51 seconds.

Joining Gillons at the state finals will be long distance ace Skyler Fraley who will make her first career track state finals appearance after taking second place in the 1600 meter run in a time of 5 minutes, 45.36 seconds, a new personal best. Fraley just missed qualification in the 3200 meter run, finishing in third place in a time of 12 minutes, 28.09 seconds, a new personal best time. The additional qualifying time for the 3200 meter run was 12 minutes, 5 seconds this season.

The final Charger to advance on to the state finals if times and distances are indeed correct will be junior Addy Rumsey who finished in fourth place in the long jump, but did so with a jump of 15 feet, 9 inches, the exact distance of the additional state qualifying mark set by the MHSAA.

On the boy's side of the competition the Chargers locked up three trips to the state finals in individual events while also bringing home a spot in the finals in a relay.

Pacing the field events for Union City was senior Alex Hull who brought home regional championship honors in the pole vault after a winning vault of 12 feet, 0 inches.

Junior Logan Cole secured two tickets to the MHSAA state finals, booking his trip in both throwing events. Cole finished with runner-up honors in the shot put with a throw of 43 feet, 1 inch while also earning the right to compete in the discus with his second place finish with a throw of 146 feet, 9 inches.

Union City will also be sending a relay team to the big stage as the 800 meter relay team (4x200) of Riley Laird, Caden Hughes, Hunter Sinke and Alex Hull finished in second place with a time of 1 minute, 32.58 seconds.

While three Lady Chargers are heading to the state finals, a number of their teammates earned some hardware with their top eight finish at the regional level. Taking individual top eight finishes was Addy Rumsey, eighth place in the 200 in a time of 28.92 seconds; Willow Austin, seventh place in the 400 in a time of 1 minute, 8.13 seconds; Kyla Burdick, eighth place in the 800 in a time of 2 minutes, 40.37 seconds; and Mackenzie Hale, eighth place in the long jump with a jump of 14 feet, 5.25 inches.

Also earning a top eight finish in the relay events was the 400 meter relay team (4x100) of Nevada Gillons, Addy Rumsey, Abigail Goodrich and Mackenzie Hale, fourth place in a time of 53.34 seconds, just short of the additional regional qualifying time of 53.10 seconds; the 800 relay team of Gillons, Hale, Goodrich and Rumsey, fifth place in a time of 1 minute, 52.43, just short of the qualifying time of 1 minute, 52.00 seconds; and the 3200 relay team of Skyler Fraley, Elizabeth Arlt, Lilly Eyre and Kyla Burdick, sixth place in a time of 11 minutes, 29.86 seconds.

Pacing the Union City boys’ effort with a top eight finish was Caden Hughes, eighth place in the 100 in a time of 12.86 seconds; Hunter Sinke, sixth place in the 400 in a time of 52.87 seconds; Ben Gautsche, sixth place in the 1600 in a personal best time of 4 minutes, 48.62 seconds; Jason Shoop, seventh place in the 3200 in a time of 10 minutes, 39.31 seconds; Nathaniel Maurer, eighth place in the 110 hurdles in a time of 17.05 seconds; the 400 relay team of Maurer, Hughes, Hull and Riley Laird, fifth place in a time of 45.63 seconds; the 1600 relay team of Maurer, Gautsche, Hull and Sinke, fifth place in a time of 3 minutes, 41.77 seconds; the 3200 relay team of Cohen Burdick, Jason Shoop, Malachi Payne, and Gautsche, sixth place in a time of 8 minutes, 39.70 seconds; and Rick Austin, sixth place in the long jump with a jump of 19 feet, 10.25 inches.

Bronson Vikings 

The Bronson Vikings had one athlete punch his ticket to the state finals as sophomore Boston Bucklin set a new personal mark in his second place finish in the 800 meter run, taking runner-up honors in a time of 2 minutes, 1.74 seconds. Bucklin also finished in eighth place in the 400 in a time of 53.58 seconds along with a fourth place finish in the high jump with a jump of 5 feet, 10 inches.

Rounding out the Bronson boy's effort with a top eighth finish in their respective events was Aden Hathaway, fifth place in the 1600 in a personal best time of 4 minutes, 42.73 seconds and the 3200 relay team of Hugo Barajas, Perry Lake, Kam Brackett, and Aden Hathaway, seventh place in a time of 8 minutes, 41.13 seconds.

In the girl's portion of the day no Lady Viking was able to book their trip to the state finals however a handful of athletes earned some hardware with a top eight finish in the event.

Leading the way for Bronson was sophomore Jaiden Hayes with a third place finish in the 300 hurdles in a time of 51.06 seconds and a seventh place finish in the 100 in a time of 13.77 seconds while teammate Ava Hathaway finished in sixth place in the 1600 in a time of 5 minutes, 59.03 seconds, a new personal best time.

Team Standings

As far as team standings are concerned, in the women’s portion of the competition, it was Hillsdale who took home the regional title with a score of 107 points. Lumen Christi finished in a distant second place with 74 points, while the Quincy Lady Orioles finished third with a score of 63.5 points. Union City finished in eighth place on the day with a score of 44 points while Bronson came in at fourteenth with a score of 11 points.

In the men’s portion of the day, it was Napoleon winning the regional crown with a score of 95 points. Constantine finished in second place with a team score of 77 points, followed by Jonesville in third place with a score of 72 points. Union City led the local trio of teams with a seventh place finish thanks to 57.5 points scored while Quincy finished in ninth place with 26 points. Bronson rounded out the local contingent of teams with an eleventh place finish with 20 points.

The three local teams will now shift their focus to the upcoming Big 8 conference championship meet to be held Wednesday in Concord. Following that those who earned the right to represent their respective schools in the MHSAA Division Three State Finals to be held at Kent City High School will do so on Saturday, June 3.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Division Three Track Regional results