MENDON — The top track and field athletes in St. Joseph County gathered in Mendon Tuesday to take part in the traditional UAW St. Joseph County All-Star Meet.
No team scores were posted, however multiple teams shined in both the boys’ and girls’ meets. Qualifiers for the events were determined by how well each athlete or team did throughout the spring season between all events.
On the boys’ side, Three Rivers’ boys’ team finished first in seven events, while Constantine’s boys’ squad took home five first-place finishes to lead the way. White Pigeon finished first in three events, and Sturgis and Centreville had one first-place finish each.
Meanwhile on the girls’ side, Sturgis cleaned up with 11 county titles, plus a strong finish by Vivian Massey in the wheelchair shot put with a throw of 13 feet, 4.5 inches. Mendon had three first-place finishes, Constantine had two, and Three Rivers had one.
In the 100 meters, it was Three Rivers’ Lamonta Stone taking home the title on the boys’ side with a time of 11.32 seconds, with Centreville’s Deandre Stout finishing second (11.47) and Sturgis’ Todd Guijosa finishing third (11.79). On the girls’ side, defending state champ Keyanna O’Tey took home first place in the 100 meters with a time of 12.55, with teammates Tenley Banaszak (13.32) and Aaliyah Rubio (13.65) finishing in second and third respectively. Sturgis had six of the top seven finishers in the girls’ 100 meters.
O’Tey would take home another title in the 200 meters on the girls’ side, finishing with a time of 25.67 seconds, with teammates Hannah Garbine (27.57) and Rubio (27.99) finishing second and third respectively. In the boys’ 200, Three Rivers’ Blake Stewart took first with a time of 23.34, followed by Stout in second (23.43) and Sturgis’ Carson Eicher (23.85) in third.
In the 400 meters, White Pigeon’s Mekhi Singleton took first place with a time of 52.29, with Constantine’s Brody Jones (52.46) taking second and Guijosa (52.75) taking third. On the girls’ side, Sturgis’ Sydney Bir (59.02) took home the crown, followed by Constantine’s Kaitlyn Jones (1:01.27) and Sturgis’ Kinder Smith (1:01.50).
The 800-meter race on the boys’ side was won by Sturgis’ Benjamin Morales with a time of 2:04.16, followed by Constantine’s Bear Geibe (2:04.66) and Centreville’s Will Hulin (2:07.29). Sturgis’ Tessa Hatt (2:23.08) won the race on the girls’ side, with Constantine’s Kailee Jones (2:26.82) and Centreville’s Berkley Shingledecker (2:33.02) finishing second and third.
For the 1,600 meters, Sullivan Zietlow took home first place in the boys’ race with a time of 4:31.64, with Hulin (4:33.39) in second and Constantine’s Alessandro Avila (4:40.46) in third. Presley Allen of Mendon won the girls’ 1,600 meters with a time of 5:49.31, with Centreville’s Ellie Reed (5:59.89) finishing second and Three Rivers’ Gabrielle Kilbourn (6:10.81) finishing third.
Avila won the 3,200 meters for Constantine with a time of 10:20.07, followed by White Pigeon’s Jesse Fielis (10:24.93) in second and Hulin (10:27.58) in third. Allen won the 3,200 meters for Mendon, finishing with a time of 12:37.77, which was nearly a minute ahead of Three Rivers’ Lillie Kerr (13:32.98) and Brynn Copenhaver (13:51.22), who finished second and third.
In the 110-meter hurdles, White Pigeon’s Jordan Pisco took home the county title with a time of 15.37, just 5 hundredths of a second ahead of second-place Carter Rice of Three Rivers (15.42), with Constantine’s Justin Hendrix (15.77) finishing third. In the girls’ 100-meter hurdles, Constantine’s Jaedyn Herlein got the win with a time of 16.38, with Kylie Brooks (17.07) finishing second and Constantine’s Abigail Flores (17.56) finishing third.
Herlein swept the hurdle events by winning the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 47.51 in the girls’ race, followed by Sturgis’ Kylie Brooks (48.37) and Kenzie Eicher (53.41) in second and third. In the boys’ race, Rice got the win for Three Rivers with a time of 41.52, finishing ahead of second-place Tanner Hickey of Sturgis (43.24) and Hendrix (43.50).
Sturgis’ girls’ team would sweep the relay events. Banaszak, Angela Cary, Garbine and O’Tey took home first in the 4×100 with a time of 49.97; Addison Eicher, Garbine, Bir and O’Tey won the 4×200 with a time of 1:44.56; Smith, Olivia Green, Garbine and Bir won the 4×400 with a time of 4:06.22; and Hatt, Emma Garbine, Smith and Bir got first place in the 4×800 with a time of 10:45.70.
In the boys’ relays, Three Rivers won three out of the four. Stone, Stewart, Elijah Craig, and Jeremiah Marzett won the 4×100 with a time of 43.41 and the 4×200 with a time of 1:30.71, both of which set a new county meet record; Zietlow, Brayden Carpenter, Rice, and Kyler Copenhaver took home the 4×400 title with a time of 3:28.44. Constantine’s Avila, Robbie King, Aaron Hofmeister, and Geibe took the 4×800 title with a time of 8:20.83.
Moving to the field events, Centreville’s Matthew Bates just barely took home first place in the shot put with a throw of 49 feet, 9 inches, with Three Rivers’ Zander Barth (49 feet, 7 inches) and Maxwell Burg (45 feet, 2 inches) finishing second and third. Mendon’s Brianna Heitkamp (36 feet, 1 inch) won the event on the girls’ side, with Sturgis’ Eleena Kelley (33 feet, 10.25 inches) and White Pigeon’s Sadie McDaniel (32 feet, 8 inches) finishing second and third.
In the discus, Constantine’s Canon Manley won first place in the boys’ event with a toss of 142 feet, 7 inches, with Colon’s Jabari Falls (139 feet, 10 inches) and Centreville’s Bates (139 feet) taking second and third. Kelley won on the girls’ side for Sturgis with a throw of 133 feet, 5 inches, well ahead of second place Ava Sowards-Haack of White Pigeon (96 feet, 8 inches) and third-place Emma Martin of Three Rivers (92 feet, 10 inches).
Pisco won the boys’ high jump by just two inches for White Pigeon, finishing with a leap of 6 feet, 4 inches, just ahead of Three Rivers’ Craig (6 feet, 2 inches) and Three Rivers’ David Wills (6 feet). For the girls, Sturgis’ Cary got first place with a leap of 5 feet, 3 inches, a few inches ahead of both Three Rivers’ Braylee Burg and Centreville’s Leah Roberts (4 feet, 11 inches each).
In the pole vault, Three Rivers’ Olivia Wenzel set a new school record in the girls’ event by winning the county meet by nearly one and a half feet, with a vault of 9 feet, 10 inches; Sturgis’ Kenzy Triezenberg (8 feet, 6 inches) and Kaylee Draper (8 feet) finished second and third. On the boys’ side, Brody Jones of Constantine took home first with a vault of 12 feet, 6 inches, with Tre Rohrer of Three Rivers and Aaron Hochstetler of Constantine finishing second and third with a vault of 12 feet each.
Finally, in the long jump, it was Constantine’s Hendrix taking first on the boys’ side with a jump of 20 feet, 10.5 inches, with Pisco of White Pigeon (20 feet, 4 inches) and Three Rivers’ Stewart (20 feet, 3 inches) finishing second and third. Cary won the girls’ long jump for Sturgis with a leap of 16 feet, 10 inches, well ahead of second-place Kenzie Eicher (15 feet, 9 inches) and third place Lily Preston of Colon (15 feet, 8 inches).
Sunday, June 22, 2025
