DONE DEAL: Sturgis track teams claim Wolverine Conference titles

STURGIS - The Sturgis track and field teams knew this was the year to sweep the conference championships.

On Friday, the Trojans went out and accomplished just that. Both the boys and girls ran away with Wolverine Conference titles at home. There were records set and plenty of first-place finishes on the day. The victory brought home the first conference championship in the Wolverine for Sturgis.

Rasean O'Tey and Keyanna O'Tey were each voted as outstanding athlete of the meet by conference coaches. Lesley and J.B. Starkey were each voted as coach of the year for their respective efforts as well.

KEEPING UP WITH THE OTEYS: (Good luck) Keeping up with the O'Teys, Sturgis' sprinting duo

The Sturgis boys piled up 139.5 total points for first. Plainwell was second (103) and Edwardsburg finished third (101). Three Rivers came in fourth. The Sturgis girls posted 163.5 team points for first, finishing ahead of Otsego (108) and Paw Paw (94.5).

"I am just so proud of our boys tonight, the stories I could tell about the trials and tribulations these kids went through in their personal lives makes this story seem impossible," J.B. Starkey said. "We are graduating over 14 seniors, these kids contribute all levels of points as far as wins go but their effect on the team culture is evident.  We cannot win a conference championship unless every one of these Seniors show up and play their role"

"There were so many great performances today that it is hard to know where to start. Leading into the conference meet, we knew that PRs were not expected in order for us to earn a conference championship, but many were earned today nonetheless," Lesley Starkey said. "Our day started off strong with the field events; triple scoring in the high jump and long jump showed what great competitors we have on this team."

LADY DAWGS: Centreville girls win SW10 team title

Both the boys and girls won six conference championship events on Friday for a total of 12. The O'Teys were in on four of those each.

Rasean O'Tey ran to first place in both sprint races. He posted a time of 10.95 seconds in the 100 and 22.36 in the 200. He was also a part of the 400 relay and 800 relay which finished first. In the 400, he matched up with Brandin Kelley, Kaicee Kyle and Brenden Myers for a time of 44.14 seconds. The 800 relay saw O'Tey, Dalton Tisdel, Zach Green and Myers post a time of 1:31.81.

Brock Fergison also won a pair of events. He leaped to first in the high jump at 6-5 feet and won the long jump at 20-4 feet.

Keyanna O'Tey also won the sprint races, posting a time of 12.23 in the 100 and 25.15 in the 200. Sturgis won the 400 relay with a school-record time of 49.81 with Tenley Banaszak, Angela Cary, Hannah Garbine and O'Tey running. In the 800, Banaszak, Garbine, Adison Nettleman and O'Tey clocked a time of 1:45.69. All four races set new conference records.

"Watching our team throughout a meet is impressive because we are such a balanced team. After the field events we knew that we had the potential to  do something special," Lesley Starkey said. "This is the first time that the Sturgis girls track team has won the Wolverine Conference title and I am so proud of all that these girls have accomplished."

Sturgis also ran to first place in the mile relay as Kylie Brooks, Riley Eicher, Jacqueline Flores Fortanel and Berkley Holtz posted a time of 4:22.93.

Eleena Kelley also won the discus at 114-5 feet.

CHIEFS WIN: White Pigeon boys secure conference crown

Sturgis' two mile relay team finished second, but posted a new school record. The team of Bir, Tessa Hatt, Emma Garbine and Holtz came in at 9:43.44, finishing just behind Otsego's time of 9:42.88, which was also a school record.

And while Sturgis piled up many first-place finishes, several flights ended in top three finishes as well to help them score points for the team wins.

"So many kids stepped up today to get the points we needed — junior Carson Eicher in the high jump, senior captain Matt Wickey in the discus and of course junior Brock Fergison came away with jumping victories in both the high jump and long jump," J.B. Starkey said. "HUGE for the team score."

Sturgis will compete in the Division 1 regionals in Grand Ledge on Friday.

Contact Sports Editor Brandon Watson at bwatson@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @BwatsonSJ.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Sturgis hosted, and won, the conference titles on Friday