MARQUETTE — Three schools from Alger and Luce counties had athletes qualify for the upcoming MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals in high school track and field at three separate regionals held last week.

Munising competed in a Division 2 regional at Bark River-Harris on Friday, while Superior Central competed in Division 3 at Rapid River on Wednesday and Newberry was at St. Ignace in Division 3 on Friday.

Each was trying to advance athletes to the MHSAA U.P. Finals to be held in all divisions in Kingsford on Saturday, May 30.

The top four individuals at all these regionals advance to Kingsford, while the top four relays in Division 2 but only the top two relays in Division 3 also get a ticket to the finals.

The difference in relay qualifying is because there are about three times as many teams and twice the number of regionals held in Division 3 compared to Divisions 1 or 2.

Munising

The Mustangs girls scored 15 points to finish fourth in a six-team regional, while the Munising boys had 15 1/2 points to come in fifth in their part of the meet.

Rudyard won the girls regional title with 58 points, with Pickford runner-up with 46, then the host Broncos with 44. Norway was fifth with 13 and Iron Mountain had 10.

Among the boys, Pickford won the regional with 63 as Rudyard had 42, BR-H 35 1/2 and Norway 29. IM was sixth with 2.

The Mustangs’ Addie Bowerman won two girls events and qualified in three. In an interesting pairing of victories, she won the 100-meter hurdles in 17.57 seconds, a win by about 1 1/4 seconds, then added a victory in the shot put with a heave of 29 feet, 4 inches, a triumph of just 3 inches.

And she was also second in the 300 hurdles, while teammate Olivia Cotey was third in the 400.

The Mustangs boys had no victories, but spread their points around to numerous U.P. finals qualifiers instead.

Dylan Adkinson was runner-up in the 100, third in the 200 and fourth in 400 while also running with Munising’s fourth-place 1,600 relay, joining Keelan Hase, Levi Hauler and Ben Dryke.

Hase and Hauler also ran with their school’s fourth-place 800 relay, joining Keenan Nesberg and Jacob Coppock, while Dryke was also on the Mustangs’ runner-up 3,200 relay, along with Tysen Johns-Devries, Blake Lakosky and Dylan Krause.

The Munising boys also got a second place from Avery Murk in the shot put and a fourth from Lakosky in the 3,200 and from Orin Shalom in the high jump. Shalom actually tied for fourth as he was part of a three-way tie for third until a tiebreaker was applied.

Additionally, Munising just missed qualifying its fourth relay quartet for the finals by seven-hundredths of a second, the difference for its fifth-place 400 relay trailing the fourth and last qualifier.

Superior Central

The Cougars girls were a solid runner-up at the D-3 regional at Rapid River with 36 points, while the boys were third in their meet with 35.

The host Rockets won the girls regional title with 70 points, while Big Bay de Noc was third with 32, Mid Peninsula next with 20, then Escanaba Holy Name 12 and Engadine 9.

Among the boys, RR also won this title with 82 1/2, Mid Pen had 41 1/2, Engadine was fourth with 13 and Big Bay had 8.

SC’s girls copped three victories, each involving Elaina Karvinen as she won the long jump with 14-4 and ran on the Cougars’ triumphant 400 relay in 57.46 seconds and 800 relay in 2:00.33. The 400 relay won by almost two seconds and the 800 relay by more than 6 1/2 seconds.

Each of those relays also included Marlene Johnson, Meredith Kempker and Kiera McDonnald.

All four of those relay runners qualified in other events, too. Karvinen made it in fourth place in the high jump, Johnson finishing second in both the 200 and 400, Kempker second in the 100 and third in the 200, and McDonnald third in the 100.

Teammate Kendra Peterson was also third in the 3,200 and fourth in the 800, Addie Frusti third in the 1,600 and Emma Stoliecki third in the 100 hurdles.

Will Spranger starred for the Cougars boys, winning the 100 in 11.61 seconds, 200 in the 23.62 and 300 hurdles in 45.84.

Also, teammate Connor Blomgren won the shot put with a heave of 40-3, a win of exactly three feet, while taking second in the discus.

SC’s Cole Ozoga was third and Chris Kulik fourth in the 100, while each ran with the runner-up 400 relay, along with Jack Kasten and Juddson Rondeau.

Rondeau was also on the Cougars’ second-place 800 relay, joining Spranger, Ozoga and Cody Moore, while Carter Korpi was fourth in the 800.

Newberry

The Indians made runs at both girls and boys regional team titles, the girls a close runner-up, while the boys were third but only missed the top squad by four points.

Brimley won the girls championship with 62 points as Newberry had 56, St. Ignace 48, Cedarville 15 and Mackinac Island 2.

The host Saints were one-point winners for the boys with 49, while Brimley had 48, Newberry 45, Cedarville 35, Mackinac Island 5, Ojibwe Charter 3 and Paradise 1.

Samantha Taylor was a three-time winner for the Indians girls, taking the 1,600 in 5:18.58, the 3,200 in 11:45.51 and running a leg of the victorious 1,600 relay in 4:36.15 along with Bobbirae Lustila, Lili Balogh and Molly McNamara.

Teammate Abby Taylor won the 800 in 2:29.68, while Lustila annexed a victory in the 400 in 1:06.89.

Lustila had a couple close calls, finishing third in the 100 but only missing first place by nine-hundredths of a second, while taking second in the 200 and losing that race by just 0.24 of a second.

Newberry’s Natalie Whalen was second in the shot put and fourth in the discus, while McNamara was second and Balogh fourth in the 800, and Abby Taylor second and McNamara third in both the 1,600 and the 3,200.

Balogh was also fourth in the pole vault, while she and Delaney Bliss, Samantha Taylor and Abby Taylor were runners-up in the 3,200 relay.

The Newberry boys will be a force in the relays at the U.P. Finals, winning three regional titles.

One relay runner, Grant Lewicki, also won an individual event, the 400 in 55.29. He ran with Luke Luebkert, Colter Kitzman and Garrett Lewicki for a win in the 1,600 relay in 3:49.77.

Kitzman was also on the Indians’ victorious 400 relay in 48.62 and 800 relay in 1:39.42. Also on the 400 relay was Simon Whelan, Logan McIntyre and Matthew Luebkert, while on the 800 relay was Matthew Luebkert, McIntyre and Logan Thiele.

Garrett Lewicki was also second and Grant Lewicki third in the 800, while Thiele was second in the high jump and teammate Howard Bliss second in the pole vault.

There was also Newberry’s Craig Whelan coming in third in the shot put and fourth in the discus, while teammate Levi Maki was third in the discus.

Also, Kitzman was third in the 400, Thiele third in the 200, and Matthew Luebkert third and McIntyre fourth in the long jump.

And the Indians had a double close call in the 100, Thiele fifth by only seven-hundredths of a second out of a finals-qualifying fourth, and Matthew Luebkert sixth and only nine-hundredths of a second out of fourth.

Story contents based on an examination of the MHSAA website, www.mhsaa.com. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.