It was a huge day for Hart at Saturday's Division 3 regional meet
in Manton, as the Pirate boys won six events, narrowly missing a
regional title, and the Hart girls finished sixth with two more regional
champs.
The biggest day came from Pirate senior Chase Lorenz,
who was spectacular in winning all three sprint races. He lowered his
own school record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.67 seconds,
won the 200-meter dash in a time of 21.83 seconds, and took the 400 in a
time of 51.43 seconds.
Lorenz will be in the running for the
state title in all three events. He enters Saturday's state meet at Kent
City as the top seed in the 100 and 200 and the No. 3 seed in the 400.
Lorenz
also anchored the 1,600-meter relay team to the regional title, running
the fastest of the four legs at 50.2 seconds. He and teammates Jaxson
Oomen, Jack Slotman and Luke VanderWilk finished in a time of 3:33.8.
Also
for the boys, Silas Ackley won the 3,200-meter run in a time of
10:22.5. The Hart boys also won both distance relays. In addition to the
1,600 team win, the 3,200 team was victorious with Mason Opalewski,
Slotman, Grant Ackley and Trevor Vander Kodde (8:24.0).
Pirate senior Caleb Ackley earned himself one more meet for his career
as well, eclipsing the state qualifying standard in shot put to reach
the finals with a personal best throw of 46-7.5, good for fifth in the
regionals.
Not to be outdone, the Pirate girls also won two
titles, both in field events. Shelbie Choponis won the regionals in
discus with a throw of 124-7, and Joselyn Flores won the high jump with a
leap of 4-11. The Pirate girls also punched state tickets in four other
events. Addison Hain qualified twice on time, taking fourth in the 200
meters (a personal best 26.71) and seventh in the 100 (12.68). Two
relays also qualified on time; the 400 team of Flores, Hain, Ellie Gross
and Natalie Rosema finished third (51.94) and the 3,200 team of Alaina
Schaner, Emma Miller, Martina Saenz and Rosema was fourth (10:13.6).
The
Pirates reeled in many other medals besides their qualifiers. On the
boys' side, Carson Ackley took fourth in the 3,200 (10:40.5), with
Julian Lopez in eighth (10:52.7); Opalewski was fifth in the 1,600
(4:47.1); Vander Kodde was fifth in the 800 (2:08.3) and sixth in the
high jump (5-8); Grant Ackley tied for seventh with teammate Jagger
Lenon in the pole vault (10-6) and was eighth in the 800 (2:10.1); Abdel
Lopez threw a personal best to take fifth in discus (131-10); Oomen
took sixth in the 400 (54.38); and Luke VanderWilk was seventh in the
110 hurdles with a personal best time (16.15).
Hart's boys
also medaled in the 800 relay, with the team of Elon Babbin, Bryce
Vander Kodde, Oomen and Pablo-Ortega Rubio finishing sixth (1:39.1).
Girls
medalists also included Rosema, third in the 800 (2:27.8); Lauren
Hopkins, sixth in the pole vault (8-9); Gross, eighth in the 300 hurdles
(52.49); and Choponis, eighth in the shot put (31-10.75). The 1,600
relay team of Hain, Flores, Gross and Rosema also medaled, placing
fourth (4:24.8).
Shelby's very young teams also competed at
regionals to cap their season. The Tiger girls medaled twice; Haylie
Smith finished third in the high jump (4-8), and the 3,200 relay team of
Kathryn Beyer, April Luna, Noel Parker and Grace Hasenbank finished
eighth (11:19.3).
The Tiger boys' highest finishes came in two
relays, where they placed ninth. The 400 team of Isaac Garcia, Brody
Fessenden, Elijah Dashiell and Jaylin Henderson (45.84) and the 3,200
team of Chace Oakes, Brycen Brown, Jaciel Moreno and Parker Weirich
(9:36.6) each hit that mark. Dashiell topped individual boys Tigers with
a 10th-place finish in the 400 (55.06).
