Manistee girls, Onekama boys win divisions at Kenn Bell Invite

TRAVERSE CITY — The Manistee girls and Onekama boys track and field teams both took first place in their division at the Ken Bell Invitational hosted by Traverse City Central on Friday.

The Chippewa girls took first among Division 3 schools and third overall in the 14-school meet with 72 points, finishing behind only Division 1 schools East Kentwood (171) and TC Central (134).

“To place third overall with that competition is amazing,” said Manistee girls coach Sam Joseph, “to win the division is amazing and it’s been a while since we beat the Benzie girls team; they’re a powerhouse.”

The Onekama boys tied with Manistee for 10th overall with 14 points to take first among Division 4 schools.

“They did well,” said Onekama boys coach Tony Shrum. “We had PRs almost across the board. The increase in competition yielded some good results.”

The Onekama girls finished 11th with 12.5 points.

“I said the main thing to strive for, like Tony said, is to go for PRs,” said Onekama girls coach Nathan Bradford. “A lot of people PRd.”

Medals were awarded to the top-five finishers in each event while points were scored down to eight places.

Leading the way for Manistee was sophomore Annie Fuller, who took first in the 800-meter run (2:11.15) and 1,600 (5:01.70) and was part of the second-place 1,600 relay team (4.10.91), along with Jessica Gustad, Presley Petzak and Sarah Chandler. Fuller is defending Division 3 state champion in the 800 and, according to athletic.net, has the fastest time in the event in Michigan and seventh-best in the United States. “She’s looking stronger than ever and training really hard,” Joseph said.

Gustad, also a sophomore, won the 300 hurdles (49.29) and took second in the 100 (12.75) and 200 (26.49). Chandler placed third in the 400 (1:02.08) and tied with freshman teammate Emma Burns for sixth in the high jump (4-foot-7). Freshman Ashley Lindeman placed fourth in the 3,200 (11:24.97) and was fifth in the 1,600 (5:17.25).

“Everybody did really good,” Joseph said. “It was all-around a really exciting day.”

Nick Streeter was the lone individual medalist for the Onekama boys by taking fifth in the 200 (23.99) and was a part of two relay medalists. Streeter, Jordan Coe, Justin Solis and Jonas LaMont took fifth in the 400 relay (45.83) while Streeter, Solis, Coe and Reilly Merrill took fifth in the 800 relay (1:36.25). The 3,200 relay team of Shane Peterson, Jordan Anderson, John Schoedel and John Girven finished seventh (8:56.28).

The Manistee boys didn’t win any medals but placed in six events.

“Our guys didn’t score many points, but I thought they were very competitive,” said Manistee boys coach Craig Fuller. “It was a good meet, up and down, all the way around.”

Evan Slawinski placed sixth in the 100 (11.67), Andrew Solberg was sixth in the 400 (53.20) and Jarret Deisch was sixth in the 800 (2:08.99) and eighth in the 1,600 (4:40.83). Slawinski, Nick Williams, Haydon Codden and David Engstrom took seventh in the 400 relay (46.92) and Engstrom, Solberg, Williams and Carter Eckhardt were seventh in the 1,600 relay (3:43.29).

Nisha Collins paced the Onekama girls by finishing third in the long jump to tie a school record (16-9). Collins, Meredith Hengy, Alycia Peterson and Alyson Fink took fifth in the 400 relay (54.19) and sixth in the 800 relay (1:55.89).