Korpi had a hand in winning all four events she participated in while breaking the 1,600-meter run record by more than six seconds Wednesday on the Hematites track at the Ishpeming Playgrounds.

Ishpeming needed all the points she provided as the Hematites only won the Division 2 girls regional title by a half-dozen points over runner-up West Iron County.

IHS scored 62 points to 56 for the Wykons as third-place Hancock had 36 and Ironwood 33.

The Hematite boys didn’t need a one-person wrecking crew like Korpi to clinch their regional title, considering they scored almost twice as many points as the other four teams combined.

The Ishpeming High School girls track team celebrates with its MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 2 regional trophy after winning at the Hematies' home track on Wednesday. (Photos courtesy Ishpening High School)

Ishpeming’s boys put together a 111-point total to 32 for runner-up Ironwood as Jeffers had 15, Hancock 12 and WIC 9. That’s only 68 points total among the other four combatants.

Like all MHSAA Upper Peninsula regionals, though, winning the meet was actually secondary to another goal — qualifying athletes for the upcoming U.P. Finals to be held in Kingsford on June 3.

The top four finishers — where there were that many — in both individual and relay events get to advance to the finals. That’s true in both Divisions 1 and 2, where there are fewer teams competing, whereas in Division 3, with close to three times as many teams in the running, only the top two relay teams join the top four individual-event finishers at the U.P. Finals.

Here’s a synopsis of the two meets in Ishpeming:

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Korpi dominates girls meet

Korpi didn’t have to worry about any of the bookkeeping about who qualifies for what as she blew the field away in each event she was in, including that record 5 minutes, 25.79 seconds in the 1,600.

That far exceeded the old Hematites record of 5:32.10 that was set by Michelle Lexmond in 1980, according to an email from IHS athletic director Bruce Matson.

Korpi beat out a trio of Hancock runners who finished 2-3-4, led by Ella Keranen as runner-up in 6:11.04, or about a 45-second victory.

She also won a close race in the 800 in 2:37.82, not quite three seconds ahead of Hancock’s Brielle Kero (2:40.71) as the next three runners were also within 10 seconds of Korpi.

Ishpeming's Lola Korpi leads the field before eventually winning the Division 2 girls' 1,600-meter run at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals in track and field on June 4, 2022. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

Then this autumn cross country expert re-established her dominance in the closest thing track has to cross country, the 3,200 run, in 12:48.12.

That was just barely short of a minute ahead of runner-up Liana Berg of Hancock, who clocked 13:47.85.

Korpi’s fourth victory came in the 3,200 relay as the Hematites’ quartet — which also included Tiana Bosworth, Brittanie Piotrowski and Kadie Kaukola — finished in 11:14.33 for a more than 37-second victory over second-place Ironwood, which came in at 11:51.79.

Ishpeming won five other events, including a near sweep of the field events as the Hematites won four of the five.

Mya Hemmer posted an interesting double victory, taking the shot put and long jump.

Like Korpi, she was dominant in getting those victories. In the shot put, Hemmer heaved the shot 35 feet, 4 inches, more than 5 1/2 feet ahead of runner-up Emma Wardon of Ironwood. The next seven finishers after Wardon were all closer than 5 1/2 feet to Wardon’s toss.

In the long jump, Hemmer leapt 14-feet-9, 7 1/2 inches ahead of teammate and runner-up Peyton Kakkuri.

The Hematites’ other field event winners were Jadyn Negilski in the discus and Payton Manninen in the pole vault.

And Ishpeming’s other win was posted in the 800 relay, where Korpi’s sister Layne Korpi was joined by Bosworth, Piotrowski and Sydney Hurley.

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Ishpeming boys

run roughshod

The Hematites won 14 of the 17 events to blow away the field. And they picked up three or even all four U.P. Finals qualifying spots in multiple individual events.

For example, in the 300 low hurdles, Ishpeming’s Tramon Gauthier won in 43.34, while teammate Ethan Corp was second, teammate Alec Arvon third and teammate Connor Gauthier fourth.

Tramon Gauthier won four events, taking not only the 300 hurdles, but also the 110 hurdles, 100 dash and long jump. And not surprisingly, the runner-up in each of those events was an Ishpeming teammate.

Ishpeming’s Preston Gauthier won the 400, while the Hematites swept the field events.

In addition to Tramon Gauthier winning the long jump, teammate Hunter Smith took the long jump, Alec Arvon the pole vault, Brayden Martin the shot put and Aidan Rajala the discus.

Smith also won the 200, while Arvon was part of the Hematites winning three of the four relays as he ran with the 800 relay winners.

Grady Gauthier ran with all three winners, the 400, 800 and 1,600 relays, while Ryan Maki ran with the 800 and 1,600 and Seth Gaboury with the 400 and 800.

Single relay winners included Connor Gauthier and Christopher Steele in the 400 and Caden Luoma and Ethan Corp in the 1,600.

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

Ishpeming's Lola Korpi leads the field before eventually winning the Division 2 girls' 1,600-meter run at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals in track and field on June 4, 2022. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

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