By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
PLAINWELL—The track teams from Otsego and Plainwell met for a Wolverine Conference dual on Tuesday, April 30, with the result being a split decision.
The Plainwell boys won by an 81-56 margin, while the Otsego girls prevailed by a 77-60 final score.
On the boys side, the Trojans won 10 of the 17 events.
“I thought the boys team ran really well,” Plainwell coach Scott Evans said. “It seemed like all of the kids were focused, and performed the best they could. We had a lot of close finishes that seemed to go our way.
“We moved a couple people around in some different races and were able to win a couple of those races, which helped secure the win.”
Ryan McDaniel was part of three event wins for the Trojans. In addition to winning the 100-meter dash (11.38) and the 200 dash (23.71), he was also part of the triumphant 4×200 relay team (1:33.34).
Carter Monette, Ronaldo Nunez and Trent Hanson joined McDaniel on the 4×200 team.
Plainwell also won the 4×400 (3:44.78 by Kaden Frank, Issac Veen, Monette and Hansen) and the 4×800 (8:34.31 by Hiro Nguyen, Donovan Ryan, Henry Cox and Veen) relays.
Other individual-event winners for the Trojans were: Hansen in the 400 (53.87); Veen in the 800 (2:04.46); Cox in the 3,200 (10:08.28); William Allen in the 110 hurdles (18.77); and Drew Nelson in the long jump (19-2).
“Our sprinters stepped up in the 100, the 200 and 4×200,” Evans said. “The distance crew also had a great night. Otsego’s distance program is always strong, so we needed to run will against them to get as many points as possible.”
The Otsego boys had their best performances in the field events, winning four of five. That included Alex Robbins in the shot put (45-9), Zach Spence in the discus (116-3), Dylan Towne in the high jump (5-8) and Cole Kortokrax in the pole vault (10-0).
Other events wins for the Bulldogs came from Caleb Wesseldyk in the 1,600 (4:30.27), Michael Spitzner in the 300 hurdles (45.16) and the 4×100 relay team of Towne, Ethan Simpson, Gabe Cavazos and Vonte Boyce (46.91).
In the girls race, Emma Hoffman led the charge for Otsego. She won both the 1,600 (5:14.86) and the 3,200 (11:14.34) in addition to teaming with Megan Germain, Maddie Goodwin and Logan Brazee to win the 4×800 relay (10:53.74).
Brooklyn Carroll was a double winner for the Bulldogs, winning the 300 hurdles (51.26) and the high jump (4-6).
Otsego’s other wins came in the 800 by Brazee (2:31.23), the shot put by Hannah Fitzpatrick (37-8), long jump by Kendall Rockenstein (14-5) and the all-freshmen 4×100 relay team of Abigail Christman, Jordan McKague, Madden Fitzpatrick and Jazmyn Adams (55.37).
Jadyn Erdody led Plainwell with victories in the 300 hurdles (51.74) and the discus (104-7).
The Trojans’ other wins were: Delainey Poel in the 100 (13.83); Alayna Ranney in the 200 (27.88); Alexis Poel in the 400 (1:04.22); Ava Collier in pole vault (10-0); the 4×200 team of Collier, Alexis Poel, Raya Mergen-Henry and Ranney (1:51.85); and the 4×400 team of Ranney, Mergen-Henry, Hanna Erlandson and Alexis Poel (4:32.63).
