Negaunee's Camila Tierrablanca races in the girls 800-meter run at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 1 regional track meet Friday afternoon, May 19, 2017, at Westwood High School. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley)

ISHPEMING — Despite a weather delay, six high school track and field teams battled through the cold Friday evening at Westwood High School in the Division I regionals with the Negaunee girls and Houghton boys coming out victorious in overall points.

The Negaunee girls’ first place finish totaled 49 points, edging out second place Houghton who scored 46.5 points for a second place finish.

Kingsford followed with 33.5 points, Iron Mountain finished fourth with 24 points, Calumet landed fifth with 13 points and Westwood came in sixth with 10 points.

Houghton’s boys finished first with 51 points, while Iron Mountain came in second with 43 points and Kingsford finished third with 36 points.

Negaunee boys came in fourth with 34 points, Calumet finished fifth with 13 points and Westwood came in eighth with eight points.

There were high stakes as only the top four finishers for each event qualified for the U.P. Finals in Kingsford next month, but Negaunee came through in the clutch with nine girls qualifying.

Negaunee girls head coach Vickie Paupore said it was a sign of her team’s hard effort all season.

“We definitely wanted to make the top two, and we’re very excited with how everyone performed,” Paupore said. “It’s tough to give it your all at every meet when we compete so frequently, but our girls always do. We have a lot of great chemistry, and it’s fun to watch every meet.”

Clara Johnson finished with three individual qualifiers, finishing first in the 1600 run, 800 run and the 3200 meter runs.

Emily Paupore also earned three individual qualifiers, finishing second in the 1600 run, 800 run and 3200 run.

Chloe Norman also earned a first place finish in the 300 hurdles to qualify.

Ielee Shiroda qualified with with a second place finish in the long jump and a third place finish in the 400 dash, while Maci Aho qualified with a fourth place finish in the 400 dash, Megan Syrjala qualified with a third place finish in the 300 hurdles and Chloe Krause’s third place finish in the high jump also earned a qualify.

Emily Nelson qualified in the pole vault with a third place finish, and Lynsee Dempsey finished fourth in the shot put for a qualification.

Negaunee also qualified in three relays, taking first in the 3200 and fourth in both the 800 and 400. The Miners finished second in the 1600.

Westwood’s Lily Delongchamp qualified with a third place finish in the 100 hurdles, while Tessa Leece also qualified in the 3200 run with a fourth place finish.

The Patriots also came in third in the 3200 relay.

The Negaunee boys had five Miners qualify Friday evening, led by Colton Yesney with first place finishes in the 800 run and the 1600 run, with also a second place finish in the 3200 run.

Michael Pizziola also earned a first place finish for Negaunee in the shot put to qualify, while Alex Dushane qualified finishing second in the 100 meter dash.

Jacob Sikora earned a qualification finishing third in the 200 dash, while Thomas Ziegler earned one as well with a fourth place finish in the 1600 run and a third place finish in the 3200 run.

The Miners also finished second in the 3200 meter relay, third in the 1600 relay, fourth in the 800 relay and fourth in the 400 relay.

Westwood’s Ethan Burke led the Patriots with a third place finish in the 100 dash, while Nathan Beckman also qualified in the 100 dash in fourth place and Elliot LeMire also finished fourth in the pole vault.

The Patriots also finished third in the 800 relay and the 400 relay.

Westwood’s Andrew Dieterle said the meet’s one day delay, after rain and showers Thursday, presented a new challenge for his team.

“It was a little harder considering we had to time everything a day later,” Dieterle said.

“Mentally, we were ready yesterday, but we got out of that zone and had to restart and try it all again today, but that’s something you have to expect in the U.P.”

Ray Bressette can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 251. His email address is rbressette@miningjournal.net.