Shore Leave: Kingsley takes twin Northwest titles in final year in league before heading to Northern Shores Conference

May 22—KINGSLEY — Kingsley went out with a bang.

The Stags, in their final year in the Northwest Conference, won both championships in the 62nd NWC championships Tuesday at Kingsley.

Kingsley is leaving the Northwest for the newly formed Northern Shores Conference, which consists of the entire Lake Michigan Conference — minus East Jordan and Traverse City St. Francis — plus Cheboygan and the Stags.

The Kingsley boys waited until the day's final event to cement its title, while the girls locked theirs up much earlier.

The Stags led the boys standings by only four points coming into the 1,600-meter relay. Kingsley's team of Grant Kolbusz, Gavin Lewis, Branden Stock and Nathan Peters made sure that lead wouldn't slip away by winning in 3:36.62, a week after a dropped handoff at regionals cost them a spot in the state finals.

"We knew we had some points, a little bit of a cushion," said Kolbusz, who was voted the male senior field athlete of the meet. "We had a mishap in our regional meet where we dropped the baton and screwed things over, so this was kind of a little bit of revenge so we can secure this win for our conference and for our seniors, most importantly."

Glen Lake's Tyler Bixby was chosen as the male senior track athlete of the meet, with Buckley's Aiden Harrand (track) and Frankfort's Grace Wolfe (field) taking the girls awards.

Kolbusz took second in the high jump, sixth in long jump, fourth in the 400 and led off the 1,600 relay team that clinched the Stags' first NWC title since a streak of three in a row from 2017-19. Kingsley had come close the last three years, finishing second to Benzie Central each time.

"This group of seniors, they haven't won (the league)," Kingsley boys head coach Ron Hessem said. "They've always had to deal with Hunter Jones. This is nice to just see what they can do and understand what they can do as a team, because it truly was a team effort. From field events to the relays to individual events, it was a true team victory."

The Stags claimed first in only four events, with junior Chase Bott taking both the discus and shot put (with a personal-best 49'10") and senior Braxton Zenner winning the pole vault (12'6"). The Stags fared very well in the field events overall, with three of the top four in the high jump behind Glen Lake's Jacob Plamondon (PR 6'2") and three of the top six in both pole vault and long jump (which Frankfort's Emerson Farmer won with a PR 21'1").

Frankfort won the girls sprint events with Gwyneth Dunaway taking the 100 (13.08), Sofia Alaimo-Schindler the 200 (27.06) and Addison Jarosz the 400 (PR 1:01.22). Glen Lake' senior Karisue Taghon was second in both the 100 and 400.

Kingsley held off Glen Lake by 12 points, with the Lakers taking third in the 1,600 relay for a four-point Stags gain as the top six placers in each event earned points for their team on a 10-8-6-4-2-1 basis. Kingsley won with 158, Glen Lake at 146, followed by Frankfort (95), Benzie Central (65), Leland (28), Onekama (19) and Buckley (four).

The Stags girls won more comfortably, racking up 160.5 points to runner-up Frankfort's 117, followed by Buckley (68.5), Benzie Central (61), Glen Lake (50), Leland (34) and Onekama (29).

"I'm really proud of the girls," Kingsley girls head coach Amanda Hessem said. "They really bought into the plan and really came together as a team. They rose up in our throw area, definitely had some good stuff there. The pole vaulters came through for the team. Our field events were just super strong. We had lots of PRs today."

Kingsley senior Kelsey Saxton won the pole vault at 10'6", with the Stags placing three in the top six.

Frankfort's Wolfe won both the high jump (4'10") and long jump (16'9"), but Kingsley had three in the long jump.

Benzie senior Flora Zickert won the shot put (43'1.25") and Glen Lake senior Eleanor Valkner took the discus (118'10") by more than 15 feet, but the Stags had five places in the top four of those events, including senior Avery Schichtel's fourth-place discus heave.

"There was really good competition out there today, and it was fun to compete with them," Schichtel said. "We were all really excited to have this home meet be our last meet, and especially the seniors. We were all super excited to just compete our hardest for our last year. It was really nice to win. It is a good ending."

One of Glen Lake's leading scorers was senior Dylan Cundiff, who placed second in the 200 with a PR 24.51 behind first-place teammate Benji Allen. He won the 400 with a personal-best 52.18 and ran legs on the winning 3,200 and 800 relays, joining Abraham Feeney, Colebrook Sutherland and Buxby on the 3,200 team and Boden Fisher, Allen and Bixby on the 800 squad. Fisher won the 100 to give the Lakers a sweep of the sprints, and he combined with Porter Martin, Allen and Bixby to win the 400 relay as well.

Cundiff had five top-four NWC finishes the previous two years, but posted his first conference championships Tuesday.

"I think just senior season and wanting to do the best is what pushed me the most," Cundiff said. "We just didn't have enough in field events. We have good field and throwers; we just have enough, and that's what cost us."

Buckley's Harrand closed out her Northwest Conference career with an even 10 championships, winning three more Tuesday. She went three-for-three in taking the 1,600 (5:01.64), 800 (2:16.25) and running the anchor leg of the winning 1,600 relay team along with Addisen Harrand, Kinsey Peer and Mikayla Kulawiak.

"That's super cool," Harrand said while holding her senior track athlete award. "I forgot they did it. But I'm excited. It's just kind of gearing towards (states), get some good smooth runs and just to see how I can compete in the weather mainly."

Frankfort took three of the four relays, with the quartet of Alice Luther, Alaimo-Schindler, Jarosz and Dunaway claiming the 400, Luther, Alaimo-Schindler, Wolfe and Dunaway in the 800, and Candela Pernil, Kate May, Willa Roth and Jarosz in the 3,200.

Kingsley junior Norah Galton won both the 100 and 300 hurdles, with senior teammate Brooke Westenbarger second in each. Westenbarger also took second in long jump and with the 400 relay team, helping the Kingsley girls clinch the team's sixth straight NWC title.

"It's super awesome," Westenbarger said. "I've been doing track since I was a freshman, so being able to win conference all four years in high school, it's been really incredible. I'm just glad I get to experience this with my team, and with some of my closest friends."

Benzie Central senior Mylie Kelly won the 3,200 by over a minute to claim her third career NWC crown.

Bixby won the 300 hurdles in 43.75 seconds, while Leland senior Jimmy Alpi took the 110 hurdles in 17.64, and Onekama junior Mason Sinke won the 800 (2:07.2). Benzie sophomore Jackson Schaub won the 3,200, extending his narrow lead over Leland runner-up Agustin Creamer to almost five seconds on the final lap, and Sutherland won the 1,600 in 4:33.32.