GLADSTONE — The Marquette boys won their MHSAA Upper Peninsula Division 1 regional track and field meet on Wednesday, while the Sentinels girls and another area team placed third in regionals, too.

The Marquette girls placed third in their half of the regional held in Gladstone that was attended by a total of six of the largest schools in the U.P.

And in a Division 3 regional held in Rapid River, the Republic-Michigamme boys had the highest place of any area team there, third place, with seven schools competing.

While the team placement gave a good indication of how well each school did at these regionals, the real purpose of them was to qualify athletes for the U.P. Finals to be held in Kingsford on the Saturday after Memorial Day, June 1.

The top four athletes in each individual event at both regionals qualify for the finals. In relays, the top four Division 1 teams but only the top two Division 3 quartets advance to Kingsford.

That’s because more than half of the U.P.’s schools are in Division 3, and because of that there were twice as many D-3 regionals than D-1 and D-2 — four in Division 3 compared to two each in Divisions 1 and 2.

To keep all relays in one heat at the finals that are held at Kingsford’s eight-lane track, only two relays are allowed to qualify out of each D-3 regional.

Here are details from each Wednesday regional:

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Marquette boys win D-1

At Gladstone, Marquette scored 82 points in the boys meet, nearly twice that posted by runner-up Sault Ste. Marie with 44.5. Gladstone was third with 25.5 while Manistique and Menominee tied for fourth with 15. Escanaba brought up the rear with 5 points.

The Marquette boys won four events with Kyler Sager having a hand in two of them.

He won the long jump and ran the anchor leg of the Sentinels’ winning 400-meter relay as he was joined by Tucker Welch, Adam DuVall and Ford Richardson.

Teammate Dasan Smith won the discus, while James Kraeg took the 800.

The MSHS boys had all four of their relays qualify for the finals, while multiple team members had runner-up finishes, including David Williams in both the high jump and long jump, Seamus Waite in the 110 hurdles, Evan Balko in the 1,600, Jacob MacPhee in the 400, Ford Richardson in the 300 hurdles, Beepsee Teeple in the 800, James Barch in the 3,200, Talon Smith in the discus, and Michael Cattoor in the pole vault.

Manistique produced one winner in the boys meet, its 1,600 relay with Carsyn Hinkson, Austin Hinkson, Brendan Mead and Wyatt Demers. The 3,200 relay also qualified for the finals.

Individually, Demers was second in the 200 among several other finals qualifiers.

The Soo won a closer meet for the girls, scoring 56 points to 43 for runner-up Gladstone. Marquette was third with 30, followed by Manistique with 27, Escanaba 21 and Menominee 10.

The Sentinels had a trio of winners in individual events in addition to three of its relays qualifying for the finals.

Marquette’s Ella Fure won the 1,600, Monet Argeropoulos the 3,200 and Taylen Todd the long jump.

Interestingly, while the Sentinels didn’t have a second-place individual finisher, Argeropoulos in the 1,600 and Fure in the 3,200 each finished third, as did teammate Chloe Jackson in the 300 hurdles.

For Manistique, Danielle Lund pulled off the field events double with wins in the discus and shot put.

The Emeralds qualified for the finals with its three longest relays, the 800, 1,600 and 3,200, while they also had a runner-up finish, too, by Maya Carlson in the 3,200.

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Hawks boys 3rd at RR

At Rapid River, R-M was a solid third in the boys regional, scoring 23 points as runner-up Escanaba Holy Name had 30.

But Rapid River was the big boys winner with 77, while Engadine and Mid Peninsula each had 19 points, Superior Central was sixth with 16 and Big Bay de Noc had 1.

The Hawks boys had three wins — Ethan Lawrence carted off both the 800 and 3,200, while John Wheeler won the 1,600. Wheeler was also second in the long jump.

Superior Central placed second in the 400, 800 and 3,200 relays.

In the girls meet, the host Rockets scored 43 points to edge out Big Bay de Noc’s 37 for the team title. Engadine was third with 31, followed by Holy Name with 25, Mid Pen 24, SC 12 and R-M 5.

The Hawks’ Olivia Mattila qualified for the finals in the 100, 100 hurdles and long jump, while teammate Alina Zoch made it in the 800.

For SC, Marlene Johnson made it in the 100, Bree Swajanen in the 1,600, Mali Hillier in the 300 hurdles and Meredith Kempker in the 200.

The Cougars were also second in the 800 relay.

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