This quintet of Marquette runners includes Evan Balko, second from left wearing No. 224, at the Division 1 boys race of the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals in cross country held at Pictured Rocks Golf Club in Munising on Oct. 19. Teammates pictured with him, from left, are James Barch, Rorik Holmquist, Peter Argeropoulos and Chase Thomsen. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — A star on the dominant Marquette Senior High School cross country and track and field teams is among the recruits joining those same sports at Michigan Tech University this fall.

Evan Balko is among 15 student-athletes in the signing class for both Huskies’ sports and on both the men’s and women’s teams.

Balko graduated this spring after medaling seven times at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals in track and field. That included his part in the Sentinels’ school-record 1,600- and 3,200-meter boys relays.

In cross country, he medaled at the U.P. Finals twice, which included joining the U.P. Dream Team in 2023.

Balko has personal track bests are 1 minute, 58.69 seconds in the 800 run, 4:24.03 in the 1,600 and 9:56.17 in the 3,200, along with 16:09 on a five-kilometer (3.1-mile) course in cross country.

He is the son of Lori and Scott Balko, and at MTU, he plans to major in mechanical engineering.

His fellow men’s teams’ recruits include Kalvin Kytta, a star at Chassell. The balance of the men’s class are Caden Karcher of Rockford High School, Jackson Lillywhite of Flint Kearsley, Dominic Lowrie of Battle Creek Harper Creek, Dylan Lydic of Haslett, Matthias Morse of Muskegon West Michigan Christian, Brayden Mullins of Highland-Milford, Landon Pestrue of St. Louis, Michigan, Eddie Snider of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Matthew Verellen of White Lake Lakeland.

The girls recruits are Hannah Dupuis of Caledonia, Brooke Marquardt of Savage, Minnesota, Bella Reimers of Traverse City Central and Alena Tiernan of Commerce.

The Huskies are coached by Robert Young.

Story contents based on Michigan Tech University Sports Information press release reviewing the news. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.