Union City boys track takes title at Quincy Invite, Orioles finish second

QUINCY, MI. - Friday night Quincy High School welcomed nine other teams to town for the annual Quincy Track and Field Invitational. The track and field invite has, in years past, been a part of Quincy’s All Sports Day, a day that has traditionally seen track and field joined by baseball, softball and soccer for a full day of invitational action. The Quincy All Sports Day was cancelled this season; however, Quincy High School did host the track and field invite on Friday with the soccer tournament taking place on Saturday. Quincy has indicated that the All Sports Day format will return next year.

On the boys’ side of the meet, it was Union City running away with the crown, winning with a score of 178 points. Quincy took the runner-up finish, earning second place with a score of 122 points. Leslie finished in third place with 99.5 points, followed by Comstock, Athens, Pittsford, Jackson Prep, Waldron, Sturgis, and Maple Valley.

Union City’s championship win was paced by eight gold medal wins, including two multi-event winners and one who did so in record breaking fashion.

Junior throwing machine Logan Cole had an absolutely monstrous night down in the pits with a pair of wins. In claiming the gold in the discus, Cole shattered his own school record, breaking the previous mark of 157 feet, 3.5 inches set earlier this season with a new distance of 161 feet, 6 inches. Cole also won the shot put, taking the gold medal with a winning throw of 48 feet, 4 inches, a new personal best throw.

Senior Alex Hull also brought home a pair of individual gold medals, winning the 200 meter dash in a time of 23.77 seconds while also taking the top spot in the pole vault with a new personal best vault of 12 feet, 9 inches.

Also bringing home gold medals for the champion Chargers was Hunter Sinke with a first place finish in the 400 meter dash in blistering time of 52.67 seconds; Ben Gautsche with a win in the 1600 meter run in a time of 4 minutes, 53.95 seconds; the 800 relay team of Hull, Caden Hughes, Sinke and Rick Austin, first place in a time of 1 minute, 34.40 seconds; and the 1600 relay team of Nathaniel Maurer, Cohen Burdick, Sinke and Hull, first place in a time of 3 minutes, 39.74 seconds.

Rounding out the Union City champonship win with a top six finish in their respective event was Riley Laird, fourth place in the 100 and sixth place in the 200; Andrew Tundevold, fifth place in the 400; Ben Gautsche, second place in the 800; Cohen Burdick, second place in the 1600 and fourth place in the 800; Jason Shoop, second place in the 3200; Nathaniel Maurer, second place in the 110 hurdles and second place in the 300 hurdles; Dylon MacDonald, fourth place in the 110 hurdles and fifth place in the 300 hurdles; the 400 relay team of Maurer, Caden Hughes, Rick Austin and Riley Laird, second place; the 800 freshman relay team of Jordan Payne, Kent Robbins, Kelub Miller and Finn Parnell, third place; the 3200 relay team of Cohen Burdick, Jason Shoop, Zach Bishop and Ben Gautsche, second place; Rick Austin, third place in the long jump; and Hunter Sinke, sixth place in the long jump.

Quincy battled their way to second place on the day, a runner-up finish that was paced by senior Ethan Hollister who finished in first place in the long jump with a jump of 20 feet, 3.75 inches, third place in the 100 in a time of 12.13 seconds, and fourth place in the 200 in a time of 24.14 seconds.

Quincy had one other gold medal finish on the night as the freshman 800 relay team of Micah Groves, Clayton Benson, Ethan Pearson, and Wesley Wasikowski finished in first place in a time of 1 minute, 43.13 seconds.

Rounding out the Oriole effort with a top six finish in their respective event was Rhett Reif, second place in the 400 and second place in the high jump; Clayton Benson, third place in the 110 hurdles and fifth place in the high jump; the 400 relay team of Corey Turner, Ethan Hollister, Bryce Bellamy and Michael Daniels, third place; the 800 relay team of Jonas Beltran, Cameron Barry, Wesley Wasikowski and Bryce Bellamy, fifth place; the 1600 relay team of Barry, Groves, Reif and Turner, third place; Ashtyn Morris, second place in the shot put and third place in the discus; Tre’Von Bodley, third place in the shot put; Caleb Kelley, fourth place in the shot put; Carter McClellan, fifth place in the discus; Corey Turner, second place in the pole vault; and Kaleb Handy, fourth place in the pole vault.

The Quincy Orioles will return to action Wednesday when they look to finish out their Big 8 conference schedule on a high note with a trip to Concord to take on the Yellow Jackets as well as the Jonesville Comets.

Union City meanwhile will close out their Big 8 conference schedule Wednesday with a trip to Reading to face off with the Rangers.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Union City boys track takes title at Quincy Invite, Orioles finish second