Saugatuck girls win SAC track title

By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
GOBLES—We Are the Champions.
Saugatuck girls track coach Angelina Bauer just might want to consider making that the theme song for her team.
Four days after claiming a Division 4 regional championship, the Trailblazers added a SAC title to their list of accomplishments as they racked up 96 points at the SAC Championship Meet on Tuesday, May 21.
Gobles was second at 77 points, followed by Hackett in third with 68 points.
On the boys side, Saugatuck amassed 21 points to tie Fennville for 10th place.
Brook Simpson played a starring role for the Saugatuck girls, as she had a hand in three first-place efforts.
In addition to winning the 100-meter dash (12.88) and the 400 (59.24), Simpson was part of the winning 4×100 relay team (1:56.9) that also included Novella DeGraaf, Vivian Vallarsa and Mazie Robison.
Simpson took third in the 200 at 26.23.
DeGraaf, meanwhile, showed off the diversity of her talents by winning pole vault (10-0), taking second in long jump (16-0.25) and placing third in the 100 (13.05).
Other top performances for Saugatuck included Robison in the 100 hurdles (second at 15.84); Niki McNeil in the discus (third at 102-7) and the shot put (fifth at 32-1); and Kamryn Sixberry in the 1,600 (fourth at 5:42.71).
A fourth-place finish in the 400 by William Doucette (51.89) marked the best individual showing by the Saugatuck boys. The Trailblazers’ 4×800 team of Brennan Nor, Marcus Silva, Grant Rehkopf and Sammy Gamboa (9:17.12) also placed fourth.
Luke Barde was fifth in the discus for Saugatuck at 118-9.
On Saturday, May 25, the Saugatuck girls traveled to Mt. Pleasant to take part in the MITCA Team State meet, with the Trailblazers finishing fifth with 1,107.5 points.
Highlights for Saugatuck included Simpson winning the 400 at 58.29, Robison winning the 100 hurdles at 15.79 and DeGraaf winning the pole vault at 9-6.
Saugatuck’s 4×200 team of DeGraaf, Vallarsa, Robison and Simpson finished runner-up at 1:47.65. DeGraaf was fourth in the long jump (9-3), while McNeil placed fourth in the shot put (29-2) and fifth in the discus (92-11).