All 16 schools in the newly-expanded Grand River Conference converged on Putnam County Stadium in Unionville on Tuesday, for the GRC track and field championships, hosted by Putnam County High School, one of six new schools in the GRC.
The team titles went to the Trenton Bulldogs, with 145 points in a dominant performance from the boys squad from the GRC’s biggest school, and, in a superb performance from one of the GRC’s smallest schools, the Lady Tigers of Worth County outscored runner-up Trenton by 10 points (120-110) to take the girls team championship.
The host Lady Midgets of Putnam County finished third place, five points behind Trenton with 105. Stanberry was fourth (88) and King City fifth (63). Behind the Trenton boys winning total of 145 points, the Milan Wildcats were second with 92 points, followed by Princeton and Worth County (both at 54), and Putnam County (53.5 points).
Worth County’s girls team title was led by a flurry of individual GRC titles from freshman Anna Gladstone, who won the high jump (5 feet), 110 hurdles (15.32 seconds), and 300 hurdles (49.38 seconds). Other first-place wins for the Lady Tigers came from Merrideth Spiers in the discus (112 feet, 9 inches) and shot put (35 feet, 8 1/2 inches), and Payton Adwell in the javelin (108 feet, 7 inches).
Other first place finishes in the girls GRC meet came from Putnam County junior Jaylee Knowles in the pole vault (9 feet, 6 inches), Putnam County freshman Madison Simmons in the long jump (15 feet, 7 inches), Trenton senior Shayla Woodside in the triple jump (31 feet, 6 1/4 inches), Stanberry in the 4 by 800 relay, Putnam County in the 4 by 100 and 4 by 200 relays, and the Trenton Lady Bulldogs in the 4 by 400 relay (4:26.98), Anna Carter of St. Joseph Christian in the 1600 meters (5 minutes, 52.45 seconds) and 3200 meters (12 minutes, 57.53 seconds), St. Joseph Christian freshman Audrey Maggart in the 800 meters (2 minutes, 35.69 seconds), while King City junior Grace Schottel dominated the sprints, winning in the 100 meter dash (12.98 seconds), 200 meter dash (26.93 seconds), and 400 meter dash (1 minute, 2.53 seconds).
Other highlights from the GRC girls championships included a runner-up finish for Trenton senior Whitley Richman in the high jump, 100 meter hurdles, and javelin toss, second for Mason Hooyman in the pole vault, Shayla Woodside of THS finishing third in the long jump, Samantha Bradshaw of Putnam County runner-up in the discus, South Harrison’s Keagan Madison runner-up in the shot put, third place for Trenton in the 4 by 800 relay, second place for Princeton sophomore Jaelyn Thomas in the 100 meter dash, a runner-up finish for the Trenton girls in the 4 by 200 relay, second place for South Harrison in the 4 by 100 relay, Braymer’s Jasmine Taylor second in the 400 meters, Madison Simmons of Putnam County second in the 300 hurdles, and runner-up for Maysville’s Breauna Blanton in the 200.
First-place finishes for the GRC champion Trenton Bulldogs came from the 4 by 800 relay team (8:46.82) with Princeton second at 8:59.97; Zane Rottman in the 1600 meters, with a winning time of 4:52.50 (Princeton’s Logan Dunkin was 0.58 seconds behind in second); sophomore Brian Ewing in the 200 meter dash in 23.34 seconds; and the 4 by 100 relay team, in a winning time of 46.16 seconds, clipping runner-up South Harrison’s effort of 46.29.
Milan’s Mauricio Curiel won the high jump competition (6’2), with Pattonsburg’s Brett Curtis second, with Gallatin High School senior Tanner Johnson routing the competition in the pole vault, going 12 feet, 6 inches. Trenton’s Isaac Harris was second at 10 feet even. The Braymer Bobcat senior Jordan Miller won the long jump, at 20 feet, 9 inches, with Trenton’s Austin Burkeybile (19′ 7.5″) second. St. Joseph Christian’s boys picked up 10 points in the triple jump, with junior Elias Manners jumping 42 feet, 6 1/4 inches. Braymer’s Miller was second. Miller got back into the win column in the javelin, with a throw of 155 feet and 5 inches.
A spirited duel was found in the boys throwing events between senior Ryan Valentine of the host Putnam County Midgets, and sophomore Jadan Whitney of the Trenton Bulldogs. Valentine got the better of Whitney, and earned the GRC title, in both discus and shot put, throwing the discus 144 feet and 11 inches to beat Whitney 135 feet, 1 inch, while the duel in the shot put was much tighter, with Valentine’s best throw of 49 feet, 9 3/4 inches just 1/2 inch better than Whitney’s effort of 49 feet, 9 1/4 inch.
The Worth County sophomore Bryant McCord ran 17.05 seconds to win the 110 meter hurdles, with Trenton’s Matthew Sibbit second, just 0.05 seconds away at 17.1. The South Harrison Bulldogs picked up 10 points from senior Stanton Blake, winning the 100 meter dash in 11.36 seconds. Milan senior Jesus Lopez was 0.1 seconds behind, taking the runner-up position, with Trenton senior Austin Burkeybile (11.55) third.
The Milan Wildcats took the 4 by 200 relay title (1:34.81), followed by South Harrison (1:36.74) and Trenton (1:36.75). Princeton junior Harrison Smith won the GRC 400 meter championship, running 52.52 seconds. Milan’s Curiel was second (52.87). Milan added another title in the 300 hurdles, with junior Colten Fordyce putting up a time of 42.95, 1.6 seconds better than the runner-up from Trenton, Carson Radcliff, who ran 44.55 seconds. Trenton’s Matthew Sibbit, at 45.13 seconds, was third. Milan junior Daniel Anaya continued the Wildcats surge with victory in the 800 meters, in a time of 2:07.51. Trenton’s Zane Rottman ran 2:10.55 to finish second.
The longest individual race, the boys 3200 meters, was won by Princeton sophomore Logan Dunkin, in 10 minutes, 42.94 seconds. The Milan Wildcats clipped the Trenton Bulldogs by 5.4 seconds to take the 4 by 400 relay, with the ‘Cats time at 3:34.28, and the Bulldogs finishing at 3:39.68.
With the GRC meet in their rear-view mirror, the Trenton Bulldogs, a Class 3 track school, will start the process of building up their competition level heading toward districts, traveling to the St. Joseph Lafayette Relays on Thursday in the next meet for THS.
