Brimley's Brady Leblanc, center left, and L'Anse’s Connor Kemppainen, center right, reach the last hurdle in the 100-meter hurdles in Division 3 boys high school track and field at the MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals on Saturday in Kingsford. Leblanc won the event with Kemppainen runner-up. (Cara Kamps photo courtesy MHSAA.com)

KINGSFORD — They say there’s a first time for everything.

Lake Linden-Hubbell proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt, earning its first MHSAA Upper Peninsula Finals championship in Division 3 boys track and field in Kingsford on Saturday.

The Lakes scored 64 points to runner-up Rapid River’s 55. St. Ignace was third with 46, Stephenson had 44, Cedarville 42 and Brimley 40.

In this crowded field where 29 schools were eligible at regionals and 21 scored in the finals, Superior Central was seventh with 35 points. Then came Newberry with 34, L’Anse and Mid Peninsula with 33 apiece, Baraga 20, Bessemer 19, Dollar Bay and Forest Park with 14 each, and Engadine 12.

Ishpeming was 16th with 11 points, while Ontonagon and Ojibwe Charter followed with 4 apiece, and Chassell, North Dickinson and Hannahville scored 1 each.

“We’ve been waiting for this for four months,” LL-H coach Brett Gervais said. “Back in March we started asking a lot of the boys.

“I couldn’t be happier for the kids. I’m super happy for the boys. Having coach (Gary Guisfredi) here really helps. He has coached the girls team for many years. I’ve watched the way they did things and learned a lot from that.”

The Lakes won just two individual events, but had enough depth to carry them through, adding in a pair of runner-up finishes in both sprint relays.

Junior Lukas Axford won the 400-meter dash in a personal-best 53.48 seconds, while sophomore Tobin Baril took the pole vault after clearing 11 feet on this sunny and warm day at Flivver Field.

“I was almost in disbelief with all the work the boys had done,” Gervais said. “The weather sometimes made it tough to prepare.

“There’s roughly 30 teams in our division. They’re working just as hard as we are. There’s a high level of competition in our region, which helps us so much. Dollar Bay and Baraga pushed us all year.

“It’s such a great feeling to be part of this.”

Baraga senior Matt Rinkinen won the 100 in 11.66 seconds, just two-hundredths of a second ahead of LL-H junior Josh Daavettila.

Superior Central junior Will Spranger took the 200 in 23.31, followed by Rinkinen in 23.71 and Dollar Bay junior Baron Colbert in 23.96.

“I thought my start was a little weak, but I was able to accelerate,” Spranger said. “I need to work on my blocks in the offseason. Our 4-by-2 (800 relay) went well. Our handoffs were good.”

Cedarville-DeTour junior Ethan Snyder set the meet record in the 1,600 in 4:25.8, shaving 0.11 of a second off the previous best by Dollar Bay’s Nik Thomas from four years ago, then added firsts in the 800 in 2:02.18 and 3,200 in 10:24.21.

St. Ignace senior Kollin Bird captured both throws with a personal-best heave of 45 feet, 6 inches in the shot put and a toss of 138-11 in the discus. L’Anse junior Taven Lewis placed second in both, getting 41-9 in the shot and 137-9 in the discus.

In the hurdles, Brimley junior Brady Leblanc won the 110 event in 16.43 and the 300 in 41.66, both with personal-best times. Connor Kemppainen, a junior from L’Anse, was runner-up in both at 16.54 and a personal-best 42.68, respectively.

Also winning individual events were Mid Peninsula sophomore Lewis Holmes with a personal-best leap of 6-3 in the high jump and Bessemer junior Henry Jenkins taking the long jump in 19-2, also a personal best.

Newberry picked up a runner-up finish in the 1,600 relay in 3:42.22 with Luke Luebkert, Colter Kitzman, Garrett Lewicki and Grant Lewicki.

Garrett Lewicki was also third in the 400 in 53.93 and third in the 800 in 2:06.25, with Grant Lewicki fifth in the latter.

Teammate Logan Thiele was third in the high jump at 5-10, while the Indians’ 400 relay was fourth.

And Newberry’s Howard Bliss was sixth in the pole vault and Matthew Luebkert the same in the long jump.

From Superior Central, Spranger added a pair of third places to his victory, going bronze in the 100 in 11.70, just four-hundredths of a second out of first place, and in the 300 hurdles in 43.49. He was also part of the Cougars’ fourth-place 800 relay.

Teammate Connor Blomgren was third in the shot put with a heave of 41-1 1/2 and took fifth in the discus.

Ishpeming’s Kemper Gearhart was fourth in the 3,200 and sixth in the 800, while teammate Mateusz Wozniak was fourth in the pole vault, only losing a tiebreaker for third after clearing 10-0.

The Hematites’ 3,200 relay, which included Gearhart, was fifth.

Baraga’s Jacob Smith added a fifth in the shot put, while L’Anse’s Reese Laitala was sixth in the high jump.

John Vrancic is a sports writer affiliated with the Daily Press of Escanaba who was reporting for the Michigan High School Athletic Association website, mhsaa.com.