Miners unearth big WIN victories: Negaunee sweeps boys, girls track titles at annual meet

Negaunee’s Derek McEachern crosses the finish line to win for his Miners by a wide margin in the boys 800-meter relay at the WIN Meet held in Negaunee on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
NEGAUNEE — Host Negaunee rolled up a pair of impressive victories at the annual WIN high school track and field meet held at
- Negaunee’s Derek McEachern crosses the finish line to win for his Miners by a wide margin in the boys 800-meter relay at the WIN Meet held in Negaunee on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
- The Negaunee High School boys track and field team stands on the track and near one of the Miners Stadium fan entrances in Negaunee after winning the title at the WIN meet over Westwood and Ishpeming on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy Vickie Paupore)
- Negaunee’s Adelyn Chapman, right, hands off the baton to teammate Aleana Park in the girls 3,200-meter relay at the WIN Meet held in Negaunee on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
The three Marquette County west-end schools hold a “WIN” meet — the first initials of Westwood, Ishpeming and Negaunee — in numerous sports during the school year.
Despite what NHS girls head coach Vickie Paupore described as cold conditions, both Negaunee teams totaled up big point production in the WIN track version.
The Miners boys won with 107 points as Westwood had 36 and Ishpeming 32.
The Negaunee girls were even more dominant, tallying up 140 points to 18 for the Hematites and 17 for the Patriots.

The Negaunee High School boys track and field team stands on the track and near one of the Miners Stadium fan entrances in Negaunee after winning the title at the WIN meet over Westwood and Ishpeming on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy Vickie Paupore)
The Miners host the Lions Invitational meet at 3 p.m. Friday that will also include Westwood, Gwinn, Marquette and Manistique, while the Marquette County Meet is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Monday at Marquette with each of the WIN schools along with the Sentinels, Gwinn and possibly Republic-Michigamme.
Here are details from the WIN meet:
Boys meet
Derek McEachern was a four-time winner to lead Negaunee as he swept the sprints and ran the anchor leg of a Miners’ sprint relay, too.
He won the 100-meter dash in 11.92 seconds, adding a victory in the 200 in 24.16 and 400 in 54.43. Then he joined teammates Blayne LaCosse, Marshall Peters and Evan Asikainen to win the 800 relay in 1:40.56.

Negaunee’s Adelyn Chapman, right, hands off the baton to teammate Aleana Park in the girls 3,200-meter relay at the WIN Meet held in Negaunee on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)
Asikainen and Peters, joining Broc Bonovetz and Max Frustaglio, also won the 400 relay in 48.51 seconds.
Negaunee’s Cole Prusi swept the jumps, triumphing in the long jump with a leap of 10 feet, 8.5 inches, and the high jump by clearing 5-6.
Teammate Henry Plummer ran long distance for his victories, taking the 1,600 in 5:01.27 and 3,200 in 10:58.94, the latter less than a second ahead of teammate Simon Jaklin.
The balance of the Miners’ dozen event wins were claimed by Nash Barabe in the discus with a throw of 124-3, Ethan Gauthier in the shot put with 39-10, and Cole Pekrul in the 110 hurdles in 16.93 seconds.
Westwood’s Louis Salmi won the pole vault after clearing 11-feet even, while also running with one of the two Patriots’ winning relays. Salmi joined Caleb Christensen, Jared Waterman and Ellis King for the 1,600 relay victory in 3:55.88.
Waterman was also on Westwood’s victorious 3,200 relay in 9:35.68, joining William Niemi, Johnny Jestila and Breckin Jensen.
Ishpeming’s two victories were by Derek Meyer in the 300 hurdles in 43.65 seconds and by Kemper Gearhart in the 800 in 2:12.79.
Girls meet
Negaunee did even better in the girls meet, winning 14 of the 17 events, including a sweep of all four relays.
The Miners had four double winners in individual events, with Sadie Rogers a quadruple victor when adding in relays.
She won the 100 hurdles in 16.85 seconds, the 300 hurdles in 47.88, then ran with the winning 400 relay in 52.08 and 1,600 relay in 4:25.26.
The 400 relay also included Izzy Francisco, Elvera Coyne and Keira Waterman, while the 1,600 relay also had Riley Conklin, Josie Mechling and Nori Korsman.
Waterman also won the 200 in 27.55 and 400 in 1:01.38, while Korsman took the long jump with a leap of 16-2 and pole vault by clearing 9-feet even.
Negaunee’s Priya Morey won the shot put with a heave of 29-9 while adding a victory in the discus with a throw of 92-10.
Coyne also won the 100 in 13.58, while teammate Adelyn Chapman took the 3,200 in 13:41.55.
The Miners’ two other relay wins were in the 800 in 1:57.32, with Francisco, Brynn Wieciech, Lilia Mason and Ayla Reichel, and the 3,200 in 11:31.03, with Chapman, Clare O’Donnell, Aleana Park and Liliana Saunders.
Ishpeming picked up two event victories, Nora Jo Anderson in the high jump by clearing 4-8 and Sophie Mahoski in the 1,600 in 6:14.14.
Westwood’s one win was turned in by Ava Gobert in the 800 in 2:55.58.
Story contents based on email received from Negaunee girls track coach Vickie Paupore and an examination of the Superior Timing website, superiortiming.com. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.






