TRAVERSE CITY — A couple of top-five teams battled it out at the Division 4 varsity girls tennis regional at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Middle School on Friday.
Third-ranked Traverse City St. Francis won the regional championship, collecting 30 points, as No. 5 Elk Rapids stayed close and took second to qualify for the state championships with 24 points.
“It’s great to have the rivalry with Elk Rapids. They really make us a better team,” St. Francis head coach Dane Fosgard said. “It’s great to have that level of competition so close. We’re used to having to travel downstate to play tough teams, but we’ve got a great team right down the road. Our players have become friends, and the coaches are friends. It’s just a great rivalry.”
In singles action, Elk Rapids’ Ayva Johnstone remained undefeated this season and won the one-singles regional title, defeating St. Francis’ Mary-Kate Ansley in the final 6-3, 7-5.
The two-singles regional crown went to St. Francis’ Elliana McClellan, cruising through the quarters and semis by dropping just one point before besting Elk Rapids’ Anneka Croftchik in the finals.
Top-seeded Abby Corpus won the three-singles championship for St. Francis, taking out Elk Rapids’ Morgan Bergquist in the title match by a 6-1, 6-0 final.
The four-singles finals also pitted a Gladiator against an Elk with St. Francis’ Ava Pomaranski besting Elk Rapids’ Kelly Minidis 6-2, 6-0.
In doubles play, No. 1 seed Caroline Best and Chloe Taylor won the one-doubles regional title for Elk Rapids, knocking off St. Francis’s Maggie Puetz and Lily Lurvey in the finals 6-2, 6-0.
St. Francis’ Caroline Knox and Elly March had to battle from behind in the championship match to win the two-doubles title over top-seeded Harbor Springs. Knox and March lost the first set to Harbor Springs’s Gabby Cesario and Sloan Hayes 2-6 before coming back to win the final two sets 7-5, 6-2.
The Gladiators’ three- and four-doubles teams also dropped the first set to their competition before making the championship comeback.
Grace Mason and Katrina Lee lost to Elk Rapids’ Gabby Morton and Josie Lorenz 1-6 in three-doubles and then won 6-3, 6-1 to take the title.
Lizzie Frederick and Anna Cate Maday dropped the first set to Harbor Springs Katey Buchanan and Stella Chumbler 3-6 in the four-doubles title match before winning 6-4, 6-2.
Fosgard said he was impressed with how many of his players stayed calm and did not give in.
“We’ve been working on that throughout the season, to continue fighting when we’re down in a match,” he said. “I was really proud of those three-set victories. It was awesome that they could hang tough and pull those out.”
Fosgard said the goal for the state championships is to finish in the top three and hopefully take home some individual hardware as well.
The state finals take place May 31 and June 1 at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Greenhills High School and the Chippewa Racquet Club.
TRACK & FIELD REGIONALS
Titan boys, girls win regional titles
FLINT — Grace Moeggenborg helped pace the third-ranked Traverse City West Titans at the Division 1 regional track meet with a pair of personal bests at Flint Carman-Ainsworth High School on Friday as both the girls and boys teams claimed titles.
The West girls dominated with 132 points to second-place Midland Dow’s 75 and third-place Traverse City Central’s 69. The Titan boys won with 106 points over runner-up Saginaw Heritage (95) and third-place TC Central (80).
Moeggenborg won both the pole vault and long jump, earning two regional championships. She cleared a personal-record height of 10 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault and set a PR to win the long jump at 18 feet.
Reese Smith ran a season-best time of 2 minutes, 15.27 seconds in the 800-meter run to take home regional gold.
Fellow Titan Avery Lahti finished second in the long jump and qualified for the state finals with a leap of 17-1. She did the same in the shot put with a throw of 38-10.
Madeline Bildeaux will also represent West at the state finals, qualifying in the high jump with a second-place finish after clearing 5-4.
The Titans’ 4x800m relay squad made up of three sophomores and a junior earned a regional title. Sophomores Abby Veit, Bailey Wenzlick and Reese Smith along with junior Alyssa Fouchey ran a 9:30.49 for the win.
West’s sophomore trio of Kiera Murphy, Wenzlick and Smith and Fouchey won the 4x400m relay regional championship as well, finishing in 4:05.54.
Ava King finished runner-up in the 1600m, just qualifying for state by just .39 seconds with a 5:09.61.
Traverse City Central freshman phenom Lorelai Zielinski can now call herself a regional champion after crushing the competition in the discus.
Zielinski won with a launch of 136-11, nearly 18 feet better than the runner-up. She also won the shot put, setting a PR in the process with a toss of 44-9.
Zielinski’s teammate, Annika Powis, left Flint as a regional champion as well. The sophomore set a PR in the 100m hurdles at 15.58 seconds for the win.
In the boys division, West’s Wallace Tupper II set a season-best time in the 110m hurdles to claim regional gold at 14.56 seconds. Central’s Matthew Gordon finished second and qualified for states with a 14.84.
Tupper II also won a regional title in the 300m hurdles, running a 40.13.
Drew Esper added to the Titans’ regional championship haul, taking first in the long jump with a PR leap of 21-2.5. Central’s Teontre Tre Morgan finished third with a PR jump of 21-2 to make states as well.
Central’s Caleb Keller claimed a regional crown as the sophomore won the 3200m in 9:51.07. Teammate Jace Rowell won the pole vault regional championship, clearing 14 feet; and Asher Paul cleared the state-qualifying height of 13-3 to make states and take second place.
Both the Trojans’ and Titans’s 4x800m relay teams made the cut for states, just getting under the 8:06 qualifying standard.
Shiloh Gersenson, Lukas Reimers, Luke Byland and Caleb Keller ran an 8:04.06 to take third place for Central. Willem DeGood, Joseph Sturtevant, Liam Wierzba and Sam King finished in 8:05.55 to take fourth for West.
The Titans’ 4x200m relay squad just made it states by 0.52 seconds. Aaryn Stallworth, Ben Habers, Same Schutte and Aiden Orth finished in 1:30.18 for fourth place.
The Trojans’ 4x100m relay team also just made it by the skin of their collective teeth. Elijah Trombley, Seamus Dye, Carter Gle and Scott Goodwin ran a 43.21 to finish third and just .29 seconds faster than the state qualifying standard.
Senior Titan Kyler Brunan set a PR in the shot put, throwing 48-9 to finish fourth and qualify for states by five inches.
Fellow Titan Roman Leask will head to states in the discus, making the cut by a foot after throwing 146-0.
The Division 1 state championships are set to take place at East Kentwood High School on June 1.
Inland Lakes girls win regional title
PELLSTON — Inland Lakes and Harbor Springs went one-two in the girls division at the Division 4 regional meet at Pellston High School on Friday.
The Bulldogs won with 104 points to Harbor Springs’ 95. Johannesburg-Lewiston finished third with 79.
Area athletes earning regional titles in the girls division were Harbor’s Paige Keiser (400m, 1:04.14) Alexis Groves, Reagan Kelso, Penny Boyle and McKenzie Bowman (4x100m, 54.29) and Groves, Kelso, Keiser and Bowman (4x200m, 1:52.79); Joburg’s Allie Nowak (800m, 2:24.12) and Harlie Fox, Danielle Agren, Madalyn Agren and Nowak (4x800m, 10:15.43); and Petoskey St. Michael’s Jane Manthei (1600m, 5:18.91; 3200m, 11:46.13) and Veronica Paga, Manthei, Charlotte Yanchulis and Marley Kern (4x400m, 4:26.35).
Area boys regional champions were Inland Lakes’ Jack Wilson (shot put, 40-10.25); Harbor Springs’ Logan Kihnke, Adam Ferguson, Trevor Clarke and Teddy Kreiger (4x800m, 8:39.8) and Everett Baetens, Anthony Atkinson, Henry Kruzel and Kihnke (4x400m, 3:38.11); Petoskey St. Michael’s Cody Bradley (1600m, 4:39.57; 3200m, 10:04.39); and Joburg’s Blake Fox (800m, 2:02.4).
Area girls state qualifiers: Inland’s’ Kaylee Taglauer (100m), Frankie Wabanimkee (pole vault); St. Michael’s Paga and Yanchulis (400m), Kern, Paga, Yanchulis and Addi Beatty (4x200m); Joburg’s M. Agren (3200m), Jaeden Briley (100m hurdles), Yolando Gascho, M. Agren, Fox and Nowak (4x400m); and Gaylord St. Mary’s Miriam Murrell (3200m).
Area boys state qualifiers: Harbor’s Atkinson (400m), Ferguson (3200m), Charlie Ranney (300m hurdles); St Michael’s Russell Vandermus (800m); Inland’s Sam Schoonmaker (discus); Joburg’s Nathan Hummel (pole vault); and St. Mary’s Rylan Matelski (long jump).
The Division 4 state finals are slated for June 1 at Baldwin Middle School.