The 800-meter run underway Monday, May 16, 2022, during the Copper Country Invitational at Houghton High School in Houghton, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/The Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON – For the second time in less than five days, the area high school track and field teams gathered at Houghton High School for a track and field meet.

On Friday it was the Houghton County Invitational – Monday was the Copper Country Invitational. Despite it being 25 degrees cooler, the results were very much the same.

Houghton boys and girls both swept on Monday as they did on Friday. Calumet also repeated with girls and boys second-place finishes.

For the boys, Houghton won with a score of 154. Calumet scored 88 at second and Dollar Bay followed with a third-place finish at 67. L’Anse came in fourth with 47 and West Iron County rounded out the top five with a tally of 40.

On the girls’ side, Houghton won with a score of 152. Calumet followed with a second-place finish of 96. Placing third was West Iron County at 66 points. Ontonagon finished fourth with a score of 51, and Baraga and Lake-Linden Hubbell tied for fifth with totals of 49.

This year’s meet also saw three sanctioned wheelchair races for the first time. Houghton senior, Maria Valet, recorded official MHSSA times in the 100, 200 and 400-meter girls’ wheelchair runs. While she was the only participant in these three runs, her times were recorded as official and will allow her to compete at regional and state meets.

In late March, the MHSSA announced that regional and final track and field meets will include four wheelchair events – the three races and shot put.

This was a welcomed news for Valet and her parents who personally lobbied for this over the past year as Michigan was one of only a few states that did not recognize wheelchair track and field events.

Also very pleased to be on the infield was Ontonagon’s Brian Amos. He has been the head coach of the Gladiators track and field program for 25 years, and said was excited as always with his team’s effort. He said he has around 12 girls and 11 boys ready to run, throw and jump.

“When you have a practice on a Saturday morning at 9 a.m. and a crowd full of smiling faces ready to run, that is impressive,” Amos said. “I love these kids. They are hard workers.”

He added that he had several senior boys on the team who had never ran track before but have shown to be quite successful at it this season. On Monday, two of those runners. Reece LaBine and Rowan Potter, led the Gladiators to a third-place finish in the 100 relay and a second-place finish in the 200 relay.

“They are doing a really nice job,” Amos said.

Equally doing a nice job on the track this season have be the Nelson brothers from Calumet. On Friday, at the Houghton County Invitational, Dryden Nelson, a senior, set meet records for the 100 and 200-meter dashes. On Tuesday, he teamed up with his younger brother, Braydon, and they set a record in the 100-meter relay.

“Good handoffs are the key,” said Braydon in regard to his team’s winning relay success.

His coach Don Hill only had accolades for Braydon’s work ethic.

“Braydon is fast and working a lot harder this year, and it’s paid off,” said Hill. “He finished third in the 100, and he is just a junior.”

All of this has added up to a great track and field season, Hill said. His only complaint is that they do not have the number of athletes competing like Houghton does.

“We are always in their shadow,” he said. “But the kids we have have broken many meet records and one school records. We have some good senior leadership with Richie Probst and Dryden who are taking three or four first-place finishes almost every meet, and the young kids kind of ride off that.”

Houghton head coach Erik Johnson said his team of 43 boys and 30 something girls is also being led by some good senior leadership.

“We have a good group of kids who push each other at practice,” he said. “That’s made a difference.”

He said the strong legs of Cade Holombo. The senior won both the 200 and 400-meter dash on Monday.

“Things are shaping up well for us,” Johnson said.

Cade’s twin brother, Conner, was twisting and turning and preparing to have another successful day of throwing the discus.

On Friday , he set a personal best at 113-feet-3 inches, and that earned him a second-place finish.

“Its all about having good form and being fast when you are throwing,” he said.

Monday’s invitational was the last regular-season meet. The MHSAA U.P. regionals begin Wednesday.