Soaring to State

Onekama, Brethren athletes qualify for state competition

By DYLAN SAVELA Manistee News Advocate Sports Writer

FRANKFORT — A season that seems like it just began was extended for a handful of athletes from Onekama and Brethren Saturday at the Division 4 regional competition in Frankfort.

Five individual Portagers (Jaylee Brown, Parker Johnson, Tyler Fogarty, Jaron Llewellyn, and Cody Graf) and one Onekama relay team (Graf, Llewellyn, Ryan Pienta, and Tyler Groenwald) qualified for the state competition, while the Bobcats will be sending junior Rebecca Priest to compete at state.

Priest took third in the final heat of the 300-meter hurdles in the qualifying time of 50.19. “Rebecca making state was a very nice thing,” Brethren coach Rob Isble said. “I was very happy for her. She worked very hard for three years, and she missed (qualifying) her freshman and sophomore years by a hair. She really went at it hard, and ran her best race of the year.

“Everybody is excited for her and she’s a very ecstatic girl right now.”

Isble has coached many athletes to the state competition and will be there with Priest to share veteran advice.

“First of all, we have a little bit more training to do,” he said. “She hasn’t competed in state, but she’s been to the meet before so she’s aware of what the atmosphere is like.

“I’ll be there to help her get through the day,” Isble added, “because it’s a long day. There will be a lot of downtime, depending on when your event is, so you want to do things like stay out of the sun, and eat appropriately and all that kind of stuff.”

For the Onekama boys, Johnson and Fogarty qualified in the pole vault — Johnson placing second with 12-9 and Fogarty placing sixth with 11-6. The second place finish was the only time this season Johnson hasn’t finished in the top spot.

“Parker has had just an outstanding season,” Portagers’ boys coach Mickey Story said. “He’s been really focused his senior year. He’s done an awesome job.”

(From left to right) Kailyn Ware (BHS), Jaylee Brown (OHS), Rebecca Priest (BHS), and Yumi Babinec (OHS) compete in the 100-meter hurdles. Brown qualified for state in the event and in pole vault. Priest qualified in the 300-meter hurdles. (Dylan Savela/Manistee News Advocate)

Also for the boys, Llewellyn qualified in the 800-meter run in 2:02.25, and Graf qualified with an Onekama freshman record in the 3200-meter run in 10:16.10. The two were also part of the state-qualifying 3200-meter relay team with Pienta and Groenwald, finishing first in a time of 8:31.59.

“Overall I was really pleased with how the team did,” Story said. “That’s about the best that I could hope for. The next two weeks will be a pretty intense workout. Our goal is to have them do better than they did in regionals.”

For the girls, Brown qualified in two individual events -- the 100-meter hurdles (16.51) and the pole vault (9-0).

“We had some terrific performances,” Portagers’ coach Bonnie Brown said. “All four relays placed and clocked their fastest times of the season, as well as many athletes in the individual events. I couldn’t have asked for anything more from my girls. They ran their best.”

In overall team scoring the Onekama boys finished fourth with 68 total points while the girls finished ninth with 40.

The Brethren boys took 11th with five points while the girls took 13th with 12
  • 100-meter hurdles — 3, Jaylee Brown, OHS, 16.51; 6, Kailyn Ware, BHS, 17.26.
  • 300-meter hurdles — 3, Rebecca Priest, BHS, 50.19; 9, Brown, OHS, 51.81; 17, Ware, BHS, 55.71.
  • 400-meter dash — 14, Kailani Buckner, OHS, 1:10.30; 18, Amber Sullivan, OHS, 1:20.39.
  • 400-meter relay — 4, OHS, Brown, Yumi Babinec, Danielle Ward, Taylor Hagen, 54.57; 7, BHS, Karen Lewis, Ashleigh Maier, Priest, Ware, 56.74.

Girls Results

  • 800-meter relay — 4, OHS, Ward, Ashley Rupert, Nicole Slater, Hagen, 1:55.56; 8, BHS, Lewis, Priest, Ware, Maier, 2:00.13.
  • 1600-meter run — 9, Elizabeth Schoedel, OHS, 6:13.72.
  • 1600-meter relay — 5, OHS, Anna Veverica, Hagen, Babinec, Tobi Schoedel, 4:27.02.
  • 3200-meter relay — 3, OHS, Veverica, Schoedel, Shelby Sidor, Tobi Schoedel, 10:42.10.
  • Pole vault — 2, Brown, OHS, 9.
  • Long jump — 11, Slater, OHS, 12-11 1/4; 15, Buckner, OHS, 10-5 1/2.
  • High jump — 3, Rupert, OHS, 4-10.1.
  • Shot put — 13, Megan Paskell, BHS, 23-7 3/4.
  • Discus — 16, Paskell, BHS, 62-11.
  • 110-meter hurdles — 7, Danny Brown, OHS, 17.75; 8, Patrick Spalding, OHS, 17.96.
  • 300-meter hurdles — 10, Brown, OHS, 46.12; 16, Dustin McConnon, BHS, 49.39.
  • 400-meter dash — 14, Ian Smith, OHS, 1:00.22; 16, Aaron Hillsamer, BHS, 1:03.56.
  • 400-meter relay — 5, OHS, Parker Johnson, John Evans, Joerdan Daldos, Troy Rau, 48.31; 7, BHS, Hillsamer, Wayne Slone, McConnon, Nathan Hobart, 50.56

Boys Results

  • 800-meter relay — 6, OHS, Daldos, Johnson, Evans, Rau, 1:39.92; 8, BHS, McConnon, Sam Sacksteder, Hillsamer, Slone, 1:51.44.
  • 1600-meter run — 7, Hobart, BHS, 5:05.93.
  • 1600-meter relay — 5, OHS, Llewellyn, Michael Bobian, Johnson, Pienta, 3:46.15.
  • 3200-meter run — 1, Cody Graf, OHS, 10:16.10; 10, Alex Ringel, OHS, 11:20.62; 15, Hobart, BHS, 13:34.21.
  • 800-meter run — 2, Jaron Llewellyn, OHS, 2:02.25; 5, Ryan Pienta, OHS, 2:09.54; 7, Tyler Groenwald, OHS, 2:11.19; 12, Hobart, BHS, 2:17.79; 20, Slone, BHS, 2:25.01.
  • 3200-meter relay — 1, OHS, Graf, Llewellyn, Pienta, Groenwald, 8:31.59.
  • Pole vault — 2, Johnson, OHS, 12-9; 6, Tyler Fogarty, OHS, 11-6.
  • High jump — 5, Spalding, OHS, 5-7.
  • Shot put — 18, Sacksteder, BHS, 28-10 1/4.
  • Discus — 3, Chase Calloway, OHS, 126; 19, Joe Kosiboski, OHS, 89-4; 22, Sacksteder, BHS, 60-1.