Three Hillsdale athletes took first at weekend track and field invitationals
HILLSDALE COUNTY — It was a split weekend for the Hillsdale varsity track team, which traveled to both the Blissfield Royals Invitational and the Jefferson Invitational. Three individual athletes took home first place at their respective events.
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Hillsdale's pole vaulters would head to Blissfield for the Royal Invitational, where the boys and girls won their pole vault events. Senior Declan Flannery won the boys pole vault with a height of 9-feet, six inches. Teammate Josh Herring took fifth with a height of 8-feet, 6 inches.
Senior Kelah Hodge won the girls pole vault with a height of 8-feet.
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Over at the Jefferson Invitational, senior Hunter Wilson once-again found himself out in front of the competition in the 100-meter dash. Wilson took first with a time of 11.28 seconds. Cam Arnold took ninth with a new PR time of 12.22. Teammate Miles Brown took ninth in the 200 with a time of 24.85.
Junior Dominick Coke had a chance at the 400-meter first place medal but would take second with a time of 52.33, a new PR. Senior Nolan Grant took third in the 800 with a time of 2:07.56. Freshman teammate Logan Youngman earned a PR time of 10:28.93 in the 3200.
Over in the hurdles, senior Brice Van Zant had a third place (17.02) finish in the 110 and an eighth place (44.52) finish in the 300-meter race.
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The 4x100 team of Stephen Petersen, Hunter Wilson, Brayden Taylor and Dawson Adams took second with a 44.20. The 4x200 team of Adams, Jace Lennox, Taylor and Coke took third with a 1:35.05. The 4x400 team took seventh with a time of 3:47.02. The 4x800 team took fifth with a time of 8:57.89.
In shot put, senior Ethan Amburgey took seventh with a throw of 39-feet, 6 inches. Discus saw junior John Petersen take 10th with a throw of 104-feet, 7 inches. In high jump, Ashton Thornsbury took fourth with a jump of 6-feet. Robert Garcia took ninth with a jump of 5-feet, 6 inches.
For the girls track team, junior Natalia Galindo Gabande took seventh in the 100 with a time of 14.39. Junior Megan Kast took ninth (29.38) over in the 200-meter dash. Gabande finish just outside the top 10 with an 11th finish (29.82).
Distance runner Chloe Stalhood took fifth in the 1600 (5:31.98) with a new PR time and took fourth in the 3200 with a time of 12:25.73.
In the hurdles, Susan Petersen took 10th with a PR time of 58.78. Hurdlers Meredith Bowles and Petersen both earned PR top 15 finishes in the 100-meter race.
The Hornets ran in the 4x400, with the team of Kiely Kroa, Amelia Dietz, Meredith Bowles and Cailey VanZant taking sixth with a time of 4:38.84.
In throwing events, senior Emma Collison had the best finish for the Hornets, taking 12th in discus with a throw of 73-feet, 9 inches. High jumper Kiely Kroa took third with a 4-feet, 10 inches PR height. Teammate Megan Kast took eighth with a jump of 4-feet, 6 inches. Petersen had a top 15 finish with a new PR jump height of 4-feet, 4 inches.
Natalia Galindo Gabande took fourth in long jump with a distance of 14-feet, 10 1/2 inches.
The Hornet boys team took sixth overall in team scores with 62. The girls team took 11th with a score of 25.5. Hillsdale will be back on the track at home this Wednesday to battle Hudson and Ida.
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This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Three athletes took first during this weekend's track and field invitationals for Hillsdale
