Ishpeming’s Grady Kerst races in the boys 800-meter run at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 2 regional track meet Friday afternoon, May 19, 2017, at Ishpeming High School. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley)

By Journal Sports Staff

ISHPEMING — Winning the meet was only secondary to Ishpeming track and field coach P.J. Pruett, but the dominance the Hematites showed at its MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 2 regional left him beaming.

“I’m very proud of the effort our kids gave today,” he said after Ishpeming more than doubled the point total of runner-up West Iron County in the boys meet and just missed doubling second-place Hancock for the girls.

Points were scored by every athlete or relay team that placed in the top four, the threshold needed to qualify for the U.P. Finals in two weeks in Kingsford.

A key for the Hematites was winning three of the four relays in each meet.

Led by four-time winner Grady Kerst, the Ishpeming boys scored 67 points. L’Anse was seventh with 5.

Kerst won the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs and ran a leg of IHS’ winning 3,200 relay.

Three-time winner Khora Swanson paced the Hematite girls to a 70-point total.

Swanson took the 800 and ran legs with Ishpeming’s 1,600 and 3,200 relay winners.

Hematite Marissa Maino set a school record in the discus, actually beating every other thrower in the meet — including all boys. Her 123-foot, 7 1/2-inch effort was the only one by a girl to exceed 100 feet.

The top boys’ throw was 116-9 by WIC’s Bryant Schram.

Pruett said Maino, who also won the shot put Friday, is preparing to attend Bay de Noc Community College in Escanaba and play basketball there.

“She had a lot of (NCAA) Division 1 schools look at her for track, but she wanted to play basketball,” Pruett said. “Marissa’s been improving the last couple of meets. She’s a very hard worker.”

The Ishpeming girls had several double winners. Katie Loman won the 100 and 300 hurdles, while Ava Asgaard and Emma Poirier were double relay winners.

In the boys meet, Ishpeming also had individual event winning performances turned in by Matthew Trawick in the 100 and Hart Holmgren in the high jump. Trawick added two relay wins in the 400 and 800 relays, and he was joined by Isaac Olson, Hunter Smith and Cooper Harris in each of those winning relays.

For L’Anse, Taylor Brown accounted for all her girls team’s points, winning the high jump, taking third in the long jump and coming in fourth in the 400.

The Purple Hornets boys were led by Ryan Delene, who took fourth in both the discus and shot put and the 3,200 relay team also taking fourth.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.