Boy's Track: Union City takes second at home invite, Quincy finishes fourth

ATHENS – Teams from around the area traveled to Athens High School on Friday for the annual Union City Invitational. Union City’s annual track and field event was forced to be moved to Athens due to ongoing construction delays in building the school’s new grandstands. Athens stepped up in a big way and hosted the event that included eight total teams.

On the boys’ side of the competition, it was Harper Creek making it a clean sweep, matching the girls team with a win thanks to a score of 186.6 points. Union City finished with runner-up honors, taking second place with a score of 115.6 points. Quincy finished in fourth place, just behind Reading, with a score of 52.6 points (Results from the girl’s recap will appear in another article).

Union City had two individual winners, including a double winner, along with three first place relay teams.

Leading the way individually for Union City was senior thrower Logan Cole who swept in the throwing pits, winning the discus with a throw of 145 feet, 4.5 inches while also taking a win in the shot put with a throw of 47 feet, 7.5 inches.

Taking individual gold in the running events was senior Hunter Sinke who won the 400 in a season best time of 52.18 seconds.

Also bringing home gold for the Chargers was the 800 relay team of Nathaniel Maurer, Rick Austin, Riley Laird, and Sinke, first place in a time of 1:33.10; the 1600 relay team of Maurer, Laird, Cohen Burdick and Sinke, first place in a time of 3:33.80; and the 3200 relay team of Burdick, Malachi Payne, Jason Shoop, and Ben Gautsche, first place in a time of 8:36.70.

Also bringing home a medal with a top five finish for Union City was Riley Laird, third place in the 200; Caden Hughes, second place in the 200; Ben Gautsche, second place in the 800 and second place in the 1600; Cohen Burdick, fourth place in the 800; Jason Shoop, fourth place in the 3200; Nathaniel Maurer, second place in the 110 hurdles and second place in the 300 hurdles; Kent Robbins fifth place in the high jump; and Rick Austin, fourth place in the long jump.

Quincy’s fourth place finish was paced by one gold medal on the day as freshman Noah Rufenacht brought home the win in the high jump with a jump of 5 feet, 11 inches.

Rounding out the Oriole effort with a top five finish was Clayton Benson, fifth place in the 300 hurdles; the 400 relay team of Cameron Barry, Corey Turner, Kaden Cutler, and Kaleb Handy, third place; the 800 freshman relay team of Cutler, Rufenacht, Blaik Pierce, and Austin Preston, fourth place; the 800 relay team of Cameron Barry, Micah Groves, Rufenacht, and Noah Pearson, third place; the 1600 relay team of Groves, Handy, Benson, and Pearson, fourth place; Benson, third place in the high jump; Alex Dunn, fifth place in the high jump and fifth place in the long jump; Corey Turner, second place in the pole vault; and Kaleb Handy, fourth place in the pole vault.

Bronson finishes in a tie for third at Schoolcraft Invite

SCHOOLCRAFT – The Bronson Vikings finished in an impressive third place Friday at the Schoolcraft Invitational, finishing the day with 98 points. Schoolcraft finished in first with 148.5 points, followed by Parchment in second with 115.5 points. Bronson finished in a tie for third with Bangor who also finished with 98 points.

Bronson’s third place effort was led by junior Boston Bucklin who won the high jump with a jump of 5 feet, 10 inches and third place in the 800.

More: Track Recap: Quincy girls take runner-up honors at Comstock

Rounding out the Bronson effort with a top five finish was Kam Brackett, third place in the 400, fourth place in the long jump and fourth place in the high jump; Jack Ganton, fourth place in the 3200; Stevie Wilson, fourth place in the 110 hurdles, fifth place in the long jump, and second place in the 300 hurdles; the 3200 relay team of Tyler Wilber, Ganton, Brackett, and Bucklin, second place; the SMR 800 relay team of Austin Becker, Lance Salek, Carsen Scare, and Brycen Fincham, fourth place; Salek, fifth place in the discus; and Brycen Fincham, second place in the pole vault.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Boy's Track: Union City takes second at home invite, Quincy finishes fourth