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One foot in front of the other

Several local athletes qualify for UP Finals

NEGAUNEE — The MSHAA track and field regionals are arguably the most important meet of the year as they determine who will be competing in the various events at the Upper Peninsula Finals in June and many local athletes moved one step closer Thursday toward achieving their ultimate goal of being a U.P. champion.

The Negaunee girls (71 points) and Houghton boys (57 points) officially won the Division 1 meet, but unlike other meets, the focus on this one is more on individual performances than the final team standings as only the top four athletes in each event move on to the UP Finals.

It was a big day for the Miners girls team as it qualified in 16 out of the 17 events, only missing out in the 100-meter dash. Negaunee distance runner Emily Paupore won all three of her individual events she competed in (800, 1,600 and 3,200 runs) and she was on the winning 4X800 relay. Paupore also broke her own school record in the 800 with a time of 2:22.43.

“It was a great day,” Miners head coach Vickie Paupore said. “Emily setting another record was really cool and Chloe (Norman) had a great day too. Megan (Syrjala) moved up a place in the 100 hurdles, which is exciting because this is her first year doing them as a senior. She’s a quick learner and that’s just awesome for her. Our 3,200 relay team also looked outstanding. They won by quite a bit and looked like they still had more to give.”

Norman won multiple events for the Miners as she took home titles in the 300 hurdles and the high jump and was also on the 4X800 relay with Emily Paupore. Emily Nelson and Kalli Mattson both tied for first in the pole vault for Negaunee.

“UP Finals is going to be exciting,” Vickie Paupore said. “We’ve had some good meets against some really good competition, so I think it’s going to be a battle between a lot of different teams, which will be exciting.”

Houghton, who finished second overall, had four winners, three of which came in the field events. Lillian Williston took first in the discus throw, while Anabel Needham won the long jump and Kendra Monette finished on top in both the shot put and the 100 dash.

Kingsford won three of the four relays (4X100, 4X200 and 4X400) and Olivia Allen won both the 200 and 400 dashes.

Mackenzie Peters won Calumet’s lone title in the 100 hurdles.

The Westwood girls didn’t have any individual champions, but did a few UP qualifiers including three out of the four relays (4X100, 4X400, 4X800) and Alyssea Smith in the 100 hurdles, who was a pleasant surprise for Patriots head coach Eric Hill.

“We’ve only run her (Smith) in a couple of races,” Hill said. “She got a job and realized she wasn’t starting until after school got over so she came to track two weeks ago and now we’ve gotten her qualified. We could see the potential that she had, but we just didn’t know if we would have enough time to get her there. She ran fourth-best, so we’re super excited for her.”

Over on the boys side, Houghton’s Clayton Sayen had a solid afternoon as he won the 100, 200 and 400 dashes to help lead the Gremlins to the team title. Dante Cyrus (110 and 300 hurdles) and Sam Rosemurgy (high jump) also won titles for the Gremlins with Rosemurgy tying with Negaunee’s Jason Waterman. Houghton also won the 4X800 relay.

Miners distance runner Colton Yesney also had a strong day overall as he took home victories in the 1,600 and 3,200 runs. Negaunee head coach Kevin Bell praised Yesney and felt his team looked good on its home track.

“We had a good day,” he said. “Colton did the big four running events and we counted on him to do well. He had a busy day, but he’s been training very hard and he’s prepared. Our high jumpers qualified (Waterman and Tyler Hintsala), so we got off to a great start and their performances really got us going. Our relay teams and our hurdlers both looked good. Our 2-mile relay team has a lot of young kids and they got fourth today so I was really pleased with that. They were a fifth-seed going in so they ended up gaining a point, so that was really nice.”

Westwood had two individual champions, both in field events with Rocco Carlson winning the pole vault and Ethan Burke winning the long jump, while also having several qualifiers.

Kingsford won the other three relay events and Calumet’s Cooper Twardzik earned two titles in the discus throw and the shot put.

For the complete list of UP Finals qualifiers, check out the Scorecard on Page 2B.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.

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