UNDATED (WTVB) – Seventeen student-athletes from Branch County, along with 4 relay teams, qualified for the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Track & Field Finals on May 30th following Regional action this past weekend.
At Friday’s Division 2 Mason Regional, Coldwater’s boys team finished 2nd out of 15 teams, while the girls were 15th. The Cardinal boys will have a county-high 10 entries at the Division 2 Finals hosted by Zeeland. The top two finishers in each event, along with those that meet the state qualifying standard. Logan Targgart won the discus with a new school record throw of 180 feet 1 inch, while Connor Covert qualified with his 3rd place finish. Targgart was also 2nd in the shot put, while Zach DeMeester finished 3rd and Covert 4th with qualifying distances. Jaden Coney was 2nd in the long jump, Shuaib Aljabaly and Spencer Leist qualified for the 3200m run with their 5th and 7th place finishes, respectively, and Matt AcMoody won the 1600m run and was part of the 2nd place 4x800m relay team. Full results from the Mason Regional are available here.
Quincy hosted a Division 3 Regional on Saturday, with Bronson among the teams in action. The Oriole boys finished 11th out of 14 teams, and the Vikings were 13th; Quincy’s girls finished 6th and Bronson 16th. Moving on to the Division 3 Finals at Comstock Park from Bronson are Jordan Alger, who was 2nd in the high jump, and Eric Toledo, who qualified in the discus with his 3rd place finish. Quincy will be represented by Haley Bean, who placed 2nd in the 3200m run, and Kayti Hawkins, who won the discus and finished 2nd in the high jump. Full results from the Quincy Regional are available here.
Over at the Division 4 Centreville Regional Saturday, Union City’s boys placed 4th out of 14 teams, while the girls were 7th out of 13 teams. For the Charger boys, Aaron Watson won the 100m dash, while Watson and Jalen Boes finished 1-2 in the 200m dash. Thomas Anderson finished 5th in the long jump with a qualifying distance; Anderson and Boes were part of the 4×100, 4×200, and 4×400 relay teams that each finished 2nd. On the girls side, Rachel Wing was a double winner in the shot put and discus, and April Inman had a 5th place qualifying height in the pole vault. Full results from the Centreville Regional are available here. The Division 4 Finals will be at Baldwin Middle School in Hudsonville.
In baseball, Coldwater hosted the Stout & Sons Invitational at Lowe Field and at Bronson, and the host Cardinals defeated Bronson in the 3rd place game 6-4. Sean Printke was the winner on the mound for the Cardinals, while Tyler Roussey took the loss for the Vikings. Printke helped his own cause with a 2-run double, while Randall Linton was 2-for-3 hitting. Bronson’s Noah Roberts had a 3-run double. Coldwater went 1-1 in pool playing losing to Portage Northern 4-2 before beating Eastside, Indiana 8-0. Bronson likewise went 1-1 in pool play with a 6-1 loss to Carleton Airport and a 5-1 win against Royal Oak Shrine. The Cardinals are currently 24-7, while the Vikings are 11-18. Carleton Airport went on to win the tournament with a 10-4 win against Portage Northern.
Coldwater jv baseball lost 5-3 finals of the Hastings Invitational tournament Saturday. Austin Butler took the loss. Eric Bach had 2 hits. Earlier in day Coldwater beat Alllegan 15 -0. Bach was the winning pitcher, while Collin Torrey and Dillion Horn had 2 hits apiece. The JV cards are 25 -4 and finish their season this week at Harper Creek Wednesday and a home game with Lakeview Thursday.
Union City split a doubleheader against visiting Constantine, losing Game 1 9-4 in 8 innings before beating the Falcons in Game 2 5-4. Kenyon Stuchell gave up 5 unearned runs in the 8th inning of the opener, while Colin Kreger had a single, a double, and an RBI. In the nightcap, Cody Link had two singles, including the walkoff hit in the bottom of the 7th. Blade Gordon picked up the win on the mound with 2 innings of scoreless, 1-hit ball in relief of starter Darren Austin. The Chargers are now 15-14 on the season.
In softball, Bronson won the varsity side of the Coldwater Varsity-JV Invitational with a pair of 3-0 wins, against Gull Lake in the opener and Quincy in the championship game. Skyler Sobeski was the winning pitcher in both games, tossing a no-hitter against the Orioles, with a total of 22 strikeouts and 3 walks between both games. Sobeski and Allie Sikorski each hit doubles against Gull Lake, while against Quincy, Sobeski had an RBI triple and Kinslea Blouin went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles as the Vikings improve to 26-7. The host Cardinals lost to Quincy 9-5 before bouncing back to beat Gull Lake 6-4 in the consolation game. Darlene Horn gave up 11 Oriole hits in the loss with 1 walk and 6 strikeouts, while she was one of 5 Cardinals with a single apiece. In the win against Gull Lake, Stacy Guzy gave up 10 hits and 2 walks while striking out 3, and Kendall Galloway had 3 hits. Coldwater’s record stands at 20-7. The Coldwater JV softball team won their portion of the tournament by beating Quincy 15-0 in the opener and Loy Norrix 14-2 in the championship game to improve to 23-3.
In girls soccer, Quincy was shut out at Sturgis 4-0. The Orioles drop to 7-8-2.
The girls tennis season concluded this past week for Coldwater. Last Tuesday, they finished up competition at the Interstate 8 Tournament at Parma Western with a fifth place finish; they also finished fifth overall in the league. Earning points at the MHSAA Division 3 Paw Paw Regional on Friday were Emma Grife at #1 singles, Karissa Harrell at #3 singles, Samantha Youse at #4 singles, Allie Vanstone and Gabriel Boston at #1 doubles, and Aubrey Hodson and Alyssa Bowen at #2 doubles.
On today’s relatively light schedule: In girls soccer, Coldwater hosts Charlotte to open up play in the Silver Division of the Interstate 8 Tournament, while Quincy hosts Hanover-Horton. And in boys golf, Coldwater has a dual match against Sturgis at Island Hills, while Bronson travels to Cedar Creek for a dual match against Climax-Scotts.
Today on the Coaches Corner, we’ll check in with Coldwater baseball head coach Randy Spangler.
In middle school tennis Friday, the Legg Middle School “B” team was an 8-0 winner against Marshall.
