Coldwater track wins 6 regional titles; Cardinals rack up 11 trips to MHSAA state finals

GULL LAKE — The Coldwater track and field program traveled to Gull Lake High School on Saturday looking for postseason success as the Cardinals competed in the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) Region 14, Division 2 event.

While Coldwater did not qualify on either the boys or the girls' side in the team standings, several Cardinals did punch their ticket to the MHSAA State Finals to be held June 1.

Coldwater girls finish fourth thanks to six regional titles, Cardinals rack up eight trips to MHSAA State Finals

The Coldwater girls track team finished in fourth place at the regional competition on Saturday, finishing with a total of 70 points. Stevensville Lakeshore won the regional title with 92.5 points, while Otsego finished in second place with 83 points. Berrien Springs took third place with 78 points, followed by Coldwater.

The Cardinals had a big day on the track and in the field, booking a total of eight trips to the MHSAA Individual State Finals, six of which came via a regional title.

Earning a pair of regional gold medals was throwing ace Eli Foley, who swept the throws at the regional competition, winning the discus with a throw of 109 feet, 3 inches and winning the shot put with a new school record throw of 40 feet, 6.5 inches, breaking her own school record in the process.

Junior Grace Huff will be returning to the state finals after dominating the 800-meter run, winning the regional title with a time of 2 minutes, 17.24 seconds, winning her second straight regional title in the race.

Huff will also head to the state finals as part of the regional championship 800-meter relay team. Huff secured the gold along with teammates Jaelah Sloan, Ella Thompson, and Miyah Moore who won the championship in a time of 1:46.18.

Also bringing home a pair of gold medals was junior Bri Barle, who won a pair of adaptive sprints, winning the 100-meter adaptive sprint in 34.90 seconds and the 200-meter adaptive sprint in 1:19.04. Barle, who competes in a wheelchair, will get the chance to represent Coldwater in both events at the state finals.

Coldwater’s final two state qualifiers came in the long jump, where teammates Ella Grabowski and Jaleah Sloan pushed each other to the state finals. Grabowski finished in fourth place overall with a jump of 16 feet, 8 inches, while Sloan took fifth place with a state qualifying jump of 16 feet, 4.25 inches, a personal best.

Also pacing Coldwater’s fourth place team finish with a top eight finish in their respective event was Miyah Moore, sixth place in the 200; Ella Grabowski, eighth place in the 400; the 400 relay team of Ella Thompson, Ava Longstreet, Abigail Robison, and Moore, sixth place; the 1,600 relay team of Sloan, Moore, Grabowski, and Huff, third place; the 3,200 relay team of Mackenzie Scheid, Adriana Hernandez, Annika Johnson, and Olivia Golematis, sixth place; Marie Powers, sixth place in the shot put; and Ava Longstreet, seventh place in the pole vault.

Coldwater boys finish sixth, earn three state finalist bids

The Cardinal boys finished sixth place overall on the day with 52.5 points. Berrien Springs won the regional title with a score of 116.5 points, followed by Stevensville Lakeshore in second place with a score of 92 points.

Coldwater earned three bids to the state finals, and all three came down in the throwing pits.

Sophomore Jackson Reilly booked two of those trips, taking second place in the shot put with a personal best throw of 51 feet, 5.5 inches, while also earning a spot in the discus with another personal best throw of 144 feet, 9 inches, which was good enough for fifth place.

Joining Reilly at the state finals will be fellow thrower Garrett McVicker, who finished in sixth place in the shot put with a state qualifying throw of 49 feet, 2.5 inches.

Just missing a handful of trips to the state finals was junior Kendall Austin, who finished just out of the qualification in the long jump where he took third place with a jump of 20 feet, 5.5 inches; the high jump where he took fourth place with a jump of 5 feet, 10 inches; the 110 meter hurdles where he took fourth in a time of 15.95 seconds; and in the 300 hurdles where he finished fifth in a personal best time of 42.33 seconds.

Click below to see who from Branch County punched their ticket to the Division Three State finals after regional at Hillsdale.

More: Branch County sends 11 individuals, four relay teams to Division 3 boys state track finals

More: Four individuals and one relay team to represent county at D3 girls state track finals

Rounding out the Coldwater effort with a top-eight finish in their respective events this year are Naseem Taha, eighth place in the 200; Drew Vanderpuyl, eighth place in the 1,600; the 400 relay team of Dayne Knap, Jayden Kegler, Phanom Dompierre, and Taha, sixth place; the 800 relay team of Knap, Mason Sabaitis, Dompierre, and Taha, fourth place; the 1,600 relay team of Vanderpuyl, Sabaitis, Landon Dirschell, and Claudel Wischmeyer, seventh place; the 3,200 relay team of Vanderpuyl, Luke Aerts, Austin Accardi, and Wischmeyer, fourth place; and Cooper Otto, seventh place in the pole vault.

Coldwater will send seven individuals and a relay team to the MHSAA Division Two State Finals on June 1 at Hamilton High School.

Before that, Coldwater will look to finish out its Interstate 8 conference schedule on Tuesday with a trip to Albion College for the Interstate 8 Conference Championship.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Coldwater track wins 6 regional titles; Cardinals rack up 11 trips to MHSAA state finals