Trojans set new school record in relay event

JACKSON — The Sturgis track and field teams competed against some tough competition on Friday in Jackson. The Trojans took part in the Charlie Janke Invitational, which had several of the top schools in Division 1.

The boys finished fourth with 67 points. The girls were fifth with 59. East Kentwood won both, posting 138 points for the boys and 184 for the girls. Saline was second in both, Detroit Catholic Central came in third for the boys while Zeeland East was third for the girls.

A new school record was broken by the Trojans in the 800 relay. The team of Rasean O'Tey, Dalton Tisdel, Zach Green and Brenden Myers blazed to a time of 1:30.18. That was the ninth best time in the state for Division 1 this year. It was also good for second place on Friday.

O'Tey ran to first place in the 100 dash at 10.82 seconds. Brock Fergison won the high jump, clearing 6-4 feet. Fergison was also second in the long jump at 20-10 feet. Green ran a lifetime best in the 400 at 50.72 seconds, good enough for third.

Ruben Medina clocked a time of 2:04.67, good for a lifetime best run, in the 800 meters. This was good for fourth place. Wyatt Miller was tied for third in the pole vault at 11-0 feet. Matt Wickey finished fifth in the discus at 128-1 feet.

Keyanna O'Tey paced the field in the 100 dash. She ran a state-leading time of 12.02 seconds to win. Berkley Holtz finished second in the mile run (5:22.60) and Eleena Kelley finished third overall in the discus at 117-9 feet.

The 400 relay team posted a time of 51.07 seconds. That featured Tenley Banaszak, Angela Cary, Hannah Garbine and O'Tey. In the 800 relay, the team of Banaszak, Garbine, Adison Nettleman and O'Tey was third at 1:46.18.

"To see good competition, it is essential that we travel to quality teams prior to the championship portion of the season. Our goal was to improve on our season best times in events, which many of our girls did tonight," Sturgis coach Lesley Starkey said. "The conditions were not ideal tonight, but our girls were prepared. Overall, this was an amazing week of races, as we are looking forward to the Wolverine Conference meet in two weeks."

Don Luken Invitational

Three Rivers and Constantine competed at the Don Luken Invitational held on Friday.

The Constantine girls finished 10th with 20 points, Three Rivers was 16th with six points. The Constantine boys finished seventh (32 points) and Three Rivers was ninth (20).

Kailee Jones set a new school record for Constantine in the mile run, breaking a record that had lasted for better than 30 years. Her time on Friday was 5:40.13 in the mile, better than four seconds faster than Chris Tulley's school-record time of 5:44.64.

Coach Chad Thelen said the run by Jones was impressive considering the competition. She finished seventh overall in that race. She also ran to seventh in the 800 (2:33.00).

Jaedyn Herlein won the 300 hurdles with a time of 49.55 seconds. She placed third in the 100 hurdles at 17.47. Herlein was also a part of the mile relay with Abigail Flores, Jones and Kaitlyn Jones which placed fourth at 4:28.43.

Bennett VandenBerg won the discus event at 155-04 feet.

Michael Featherstone was third overall in the 300 hurdles for the Falcon boys at 42.95. Rushawn James came in fourth at 43.71.

The two-mile relay team of Robbie King, Brody Jones, Isaac Moore and James came in second overall at 3:35.76.

The Three Rivers mile relay team was third. Kyler Copenhaver, Brayden Carpenter, Charlie Brauer and Sulley Zietlow ran a time of 3:36.42. The Three Rivers two-mile relay team was also third. The team of Reece Howes, Brauer, Troyer Serna and Zietlow posted a time of 8:43.56 in that one.

Allie McGlothlen came in third for the Cats in the high jump. She cleared 4-10 feet.

Contact Sports Editor Brandon Watson at bwatson@gannett.com . Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @BwatsonSJ.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Trojans set new school record in relay event