Results for Jackson area teams in a variety of sports from the weekend.
Lacrosse
Jackson Lacrosse-Great battle back again in the 4th but couldn’t get there! 5-9 loss to a very good Tecumseh team. Our goalie had 21 saves…. Incredible effort Hikaru Matzen Nakashima. Next game is home against Dexter on Monday. Face off is at LC 5:30.
The boys are learning. Their sticks just need to mature a little more, and I think we will start to surprise some people.
Tennis
On Saturday, the Western Girls Varsity Tennis Team traveled to Holland to play in a quad and placed 2nd behind #9 in the state Ada Forest Hills Eastern losing to them by a score of 2-7. However, the Panthers beat the # 10 team in the state Holland Christian 5-3 and regional foe Vicksburg 7-2. Highlights for the day were #2 doubles of Gabi Davis and Leslie Kinder and #5 doubles of Bertha Quiroga and Addie Zeller who both went undefeated. Everyone played great throughout the day and fought hard against some top tier opponents. Next up for the Panthers is an away tri match at Allegan on Monday vs Petoskey and Allegan beginning at 3 pm.
Track
Grass Lake
Yesterday the Men’s and Women’ Track & Field teams competed at the Grass Lake Warrior Invite. Both teams performed well. The men’s team finish in 2nd place behind Hillsdale, and the women’s team finished 7th. On the men’s side, event winners included the 4×800 (Dave Fowler, Caleb Blonde, Zach Childress and Gavin Van Kampen), Caleb Blonde in the 1600 and Gavin Van Kampen in the 800. Runner’s up included the 4×200 (Ryan Marcavage, Nick Fowler, Makinlee Packer and Carter Rounds), the 4×400 (Caleb Blonde, Dave Fowler, Nick Fowler, Gavin Van Kampen), Makinlee Packer in the Pole Vault and Scott Aube in the Shot Put. Other medalists on the day included Reece Rundquist in the 110 Hurdles (3rd), the 4×100 (Jaren Trujillo, Carter Rounds, Ryan Marcavage, Makinlee Packer – 3rd), Nick Fowler in the 400 (4th) and Cooper Stevens in the Shot Put (4th).
On the women’s side, Brooke Sharp was the lone champion of the day in the 400. Brooke was also a medallist in the 4×400 along with her teammates Zoey Udzik, Joeleane Gulledge and Payton Nichelson (3rd).
Western competes at Lakeview Invitational, finishes third
On Friday morning it was clear to the organizers of this year’s Joe Pedalty Olivet Lions Relays that the wind and rain was going to make their facilities unusable, so when they cancelled the meet they reached out to the folks at the Lakeview Invitational to see if they could make room. In a matter of a couple hours the Lakeview Invitational grew from eight teams to 12.
“It turned out to be a good meet for us,” Western coach Lucas Sponsler said. “It helped that the weather Saturday was pleasant, but despite the fact that some of our guys couldn’t be there, we performed well against solid competition.”
The Panthers showed their speed in the relays, winning the 4x800m and the 4x100m. The 4x800m team of Cooper Singleton, Edison Lopeman, Seth Good, and Ryan Good finished in 8:18.35. After finishing first in the 4x200m relay, the Panthers were informed they’d run long in one of the exchange zones and were disqualified. In response, the Panther sprint crew of Mitchell Williams, Jackson Jones, Jackson Barnes, and Caleb Rudd-Jones handily won the 4x100m relay with a time of 44.34 seconds.
The times for both relays are already faster than the State Finals additional qualifying standards, which need to be met at the Regional Finals in May. (2024 AQ chart attached)
In the field events, Braden Vancalbergh won the pole vault with a new personal best of 13′-0″. Brennan Faber and Noah Shaw went one-two in the shot put with new outdoor PRs of 54′-6″ and 51′-4″. In the high jump Josh Veneziano secured first place and chose to call it a day after clearing 6′-2″.
The Panthers next competition is Friday, April 19, when they host the Ralph Rice Invitational.
Due to the weather conditions on Friday, our team switched to head over to Lakewood for their invite on Saturday. Although the number of our girls competing was small, the results were huge. Our girls came out ready to compete and their results reflected that.
Chloe Sterrett, Danielle Losey, and Chelsie Scutt started the meet for us in both the shot put and discus. The girls were consistent in each of their throws and performed well. Danielle Losey had a BEAUTIFUL PR in the discus. Next up were Lydia Coleman, AnnaKay Marshall, and Suzanne St. John in the 100. AnnaKay secured a PR and a 3rd place finish with Lydia Coleman placing 5th. Suzanne was also able to come home with a PR in the 100. We mixed up our Sprinters and Middistance girls for a 4×100 and they did not disappoint. Lydia Coleman, Natalie Coleman, Lillian Coppernoll, and AnnaKay Marshall ran a PR and placed 2nd thanks to AnnaKay clipping off Olivet in the home stretch. To keep on trend, AnnaKay dominated the 200 placing 3rd, and earned herself ANOTHER PR. Lillian Coppernoll also had a great race and was able to PR! Suzanne St. John and Melania Magnusson had their shot at the 400 and both earned PRs! In the 800, Natalie Kuhl, Luna Canziani, and Melania Magnusson showed up and ran well. Natalie came out with a PR. In the 1600, Natalie Kuhl ran a PR that placed her 8th, and Luna Canziani ran a solid race giving her a season record.
The ladies will train this week and prepare for the Ralph Rice invite on Friday at home!