×

Dollar Bay-TC boys, Ontonagon girls win D3 regional

Runners complete the 300 hurdles during the MHSAA UP Division 3 Regional meet Wednesday, May 18, 2022, in Lake Linden, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/The Daily Mining Gazette)

LAKE LINDEN — The Dollar Bay-Tamarack City boys and Ontonagon girls won the MHSAA Division 3 Region 47 track and field meet Wednesday at Lake Linden-Hubble High School.

The DB-TC Blue Bolts scored 51 for first place. Bessemer followed with 31 points as did Ontonagon. Lake Linden-Hubbell tallied 29 points for a fourth-place finish in the boys division.

The Ontonagon girls captured the win with 39.33 points. Baraga and DB-TC tied for second with 31.83 points, and LL-H came in third with 29 points.

The top two finishers in individual events and the top four places in team events in Wednesday’s regionals advance to the U.P. Finals set for June 4 in Kingsford. (Full results are in the scoreboard on page 6B.)

It was a big day for one DB-TC runner Nikolas Thomas. The distance runner won three events on the track. He placed first in the 800-, 1600- and 3200-meter runs. According to his coach Ben Tampas, Thomas is no stranger to success.

“I don’t think Nikolas has lost an event yet this year,” he said. “He has incredible energy and just keeps going. I know he will win at least three events at U.P. Finals.”

Equally impressive was A.J. Datto for the Blue Bolts. Datto finished first in the 110-meter hurdles and third in the 300-meter hurdles. The girls had top finishes in the 100-meter and 800-meter relays.

“I couldn’t be prouder,” said Tampas of his team. ” We are a small squad with people taking on heavy workloads and they are out there pushing themselves harder and harder each day.”

Another proud coach was Tammy Crittenden at Baraga. Now in her sixth year, her Viking girls saw success in several field events. Kylie Michaelson posted a personal best (29-02.00) and a second-place finish in the shot put. Her teammate Reese Holley won the finals in the discus and Emily DeLong was a third-place winner in the high jump.

Crittenden credits a winning attitude fostered in other sports at Baraga as a key to this team’s success.

“By the time these girls get to me in the Spring, they’ve played volleyball and basketball,” she said. “In particular, this year the girls went all the way to the state finals in basketball, and so they’ve tasted victory. They know what it is to win and compete at a high level, and they bring it to the track and field.”

In fact, the Vikings earned their first track and field meet victory earlier this season at the Lakes Invitational.

“That comes from that winning attitude,” said Crittenden.

Despite nearly last-place teams in both the boys’ and girls’ events on Wednesday, Chassell Panthers first-year head coach Kolton Kytta sees his team of less than 15 boys and girls combined as the little engine that could. The tiny-but-mighty Panthers will be sending two boys to U.P. Finals. Kalvin Kytta ( younger brother of coach Kolton) earned a fourth-place finish in the 1600 run. and Tucker Shannon did the same in the 400-meter run.

“Both these guys are freshmen,” said coach Kytta. “I am very proud of them. They put in the hard work, and it’s paid off.”

Kalvin is very excited about going to finals. He credited his older brother with his successful season.

“He has been very encouraging and a great mentor in my running the mile this season,” he said, “He’s always encouraged me to do my best.”

Someone who is also very excited about U.P. Finals is Ben Tampas at LL-H (son of DB-TC coach Ben Tampas). Tampas is a football player at heart but said he has come to enjoy track and field. He qualified for finals by placing fourth in the 100 and 200-meter dashes.

“I like the pure competition of track,” he said. “Unlike a team event, it is you versus the guy next to you versus the clock on the infield and finals is the best place to see what you are made of.”

Houghton sweeps 2nd

NEGAUNEE — The Houghton Gremlins boys and girls teams each took second place at the MHSAA Division 1 meet at Negaunee High School on Thursday.

The Gremlins girls scored 48.5 points to finish comfortably in second. Negaunee, with 78.5 points, comfortably won. Westwood (25), Calumet (22) and Kingsford (13) rounded out the top five.

Ingrid Seagren led Houghton with three individual wins in the 800 (2:30.43), 1600 (5:30.23) and 3200 (12:34.34).

Elli Wagner captured the 100 dash at 13.38. Paige Sleeman won the 400 dash at 1:06.92.

Maria Vela competed in the 100, 200, 400 wheelchair events as the only competitor. She also threw shot put 8 feet, 9 inches.

The Houghton boys team took second with 52 points behind Kingsford (67). Calumet (33) was third, followed by Negaunee (30) and Westwood (5).

Cade Holombo won the 400 dash for the Gremlins’ boys team with a time of 52.05. The Gremlins’ 3200 relay team composed of Luke Hill, Thomas Knewtson, Cyrus Hamlin and Eric Weiss won the event at 8:57.21. Calumet took third in the event.

Weiss won the 1600 run (4:41.73) and 3200 run (10:19.63).

Dryden Nelson captured both of Calumet’s only individual wins, including the 100 dash (11.31) and long jump (19-11.5).

Mikko Salmi was third in the 110 hurdles for Houghton.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today