By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
STURGIS—Going into the final event of the night, the Otsego found itself looking up at Three Rivers in the team standings at the Division 2 boys regional track meet at Sturgis on Friday, May 15.
A few minutes later, the Bulldogs were regional champions.
Otsego closed the meet with a victory in the 4×400 relay to surge past Three Rivers and capture the regional title with 84.83 points. Three Rivers was second with 79, while Edwardsburg placed third at 75.5.
Otsego entered the 4×400 relay trailing Three Rivers, but the quartet of Ezekiel Andrina, Kaleb Koestner, Ty Oaks and Jack Cook crossed the line first in 3:26.90 to seal the regional championship.
Even more impressive was the fact that the Bulldogs posted the top overall time despite competing in the first heat of the event.
Plainwell tied for 10th with 25 points, while Allegan finished 14th with six.
Cook helped pace Otsego’s championship effort by winning the 200 dash in a personal-best time of 21.54, while Oaks captured the regional title in the 400 dash in 49.89.
Alex Robbins added another regional championship for the Bulldogs by winning the discus with a throw of 162-4. Robbins also qualified for the Division 2 State Finals in the shot put with a third-place throw of 53-8.
Otsego qualified in several other events as well.
Kenny Sheffer earned a state finals berth in the 3,200 run by finishing runner-up in 9:54.42, while Carson Brooks qualified in the pole vault after clearing a personal-best 13-2 to place third.
Ethan Simpson also punched his ticket to the state finals with a personal-best leap of 21-4 in the long jump, good for third place.
The Bulldogs’ 4×100 relay team of Andrina, Roman Mitchell, Sam Cook and Jack Cook qualified with a time of 44.20, while the 4×200 relay team of Andrina, Mitchell, Sam Cook and Jack Cook placed second in 1:30.20 to advance.
Otsego also received strong performances from Ryan Long, George Whitaker, Gunnar Djerf and Kingston Lennan, who teamed up to place third in the 4×800 relay in 8:30.90.
Plainwell was led by Sawyer Lilly, who qualified for the state finals in both throwing events.
Lilly placed fourth in the shot put with a toss of 50-2 and added a fifth-place finish in the discus at 138-0.
The Trojans also saw Loehn Luckett qualify in the pole vault after clearing a personal-best 12-8 to place fifth.
Allegan’s top performance came from Kellen Chalupa, who qualified for the state finals in the 800 run with a personal-best time of 1:59.91 to place third.
