Sturgis track teams earn impressive wins at Otsego

OTSEGO — The Sturgis track and field teams won an important dual matchup at Otsego on Tuesday evening.

The boys claimed an 80-52 win while the girls won running away, 92-40. It's believed to be the first time the girls have beaten Otsego in a dual matchup since joining the Wolverine Conference.

"Tonight was a demonstration of how balanced our team is," Sturgis girls coach Lesley Starkey said. "There were several areas where we could have scored more points, but with our team, we were able to exceed expectations in other events, balancing out the points."

Sturgis set the tone early by winning the two-mile relay, a race it wasn't expected to win. There, the team of Sydney Bir, Tessa Hatt, Emma Garbine and Berkley Holtz claimed a time of 10:04.85. Otsego's team recorded a time of 10:15.04.

"We are such a well balanced team so watching each event demonstrated how much they wanted this win tonight," Starkey said. "We still have work to do, but this team is so focused on our common goal that it makes me excited for the remainder of the season."

The Sturgis girls won 12 events on the evening.

Garbine won the long jump at 15-4 feet. Kenzy Triezenberg claimed first in the pole vault at 8-6 feet, Kaylee Draper was second at 7-6 feet. Keyanna O'Tey leaped to the high jump win at 4-10 feet.

Sturgis also won the 400 relay as Tenley Banaszak, Angela Cary, Garbine and O'Tey paced the field at 52.41 seconds. The Trojan team of Jacqueline Flores Fortanel, Riley Eicher, Adison Nettleman and Garbine won the 800 relay at 1:51.85.

The Trojans claimed victory in the hurdle events. Kylie Brooks ran a time of 18.07 seconds to win the 100 while Kenzie Eicher posted a time of 51.87 seconds to win the 300 hurdles.

The 800 saw Sturgis finish in the top two spots as Holtz ran a time of 2:24.50 and Bir posted a time of 2:26.83 for second.

O'Tey won the 100 dash (12.85) and 400 run (1:01.73). Riley Eicher was second in the 400 (1:05.32), Nettleman was second in the 200 (29.26) and Banaszak ran to second in the 100 (13.69).

For the boys, Rasean O'Tey won the sprints, posting a time of 11.33 seconds to win the 100 and 23.70 seconds to win the 200. Brenden Myers was second in both at 11.62 for the 100 and 23.94 for the 200.

"I am really proud of our team today, especially how kids stepped up in the field events," Sturgis boys coach J.B. Starkey said. "We were confident we could win going into the meet, but with a good team like Otsego you never know."

Brock Fergison claimed the 400 run at 54.39, Ruben Medina ran to first in the 800 at 2:07.73.

Winning both hurdle events was Nathan Kinder. He posted times of 16.89 in the 110 and 45.44 in the 300.

O'Tey, Brandin Kelley, Kaicee Kyle and Myers posted a time of 44.34 seconds to win the 400 relay. The 800 relay was won by Sturgis as well with O'Tey, Dalton Tisdel, Kyle and Myers finished with a time of 1:34.51.

"If our boys want to come away with a conference championship we need to win all our dual meets," Starkey said. "Tonight moved us to 6-0 against Wolverine Conference opponents."

Matt Wickey won the discus at 136-8 1/2 feet. Fergison claimed victory in the high jump at 6-4 feet.

Fergison also leaped 20-5 feet to win the long jump. Wyatt Miller's pole vault was 11-3 feet, good for first place.

On Saturday, the Trojans competed at the April Showers Invitational in Dexter. There were more than 20 Division 1 schools competing at that meet.

The Trojans had a pretty solid day. Sturgis finished with first place in three relays.

The 400 relays were each won by Sturgis. The boys ran a time of 44.17 seconds with Rasean O'Tey, Kelley, Kyle and Myers teaming up. The girls won at 50.85 seconds with Banaszak, Cary, Garbine and Keyanna O'Tey running.

The mile relay was won by Sturgis as Green, Medina, Tanner Hickey and Fergison posted a time of 3:35.50. The SHS girls were second in the 800 with Flores Fortanel, Riley Eicher, Nettleman and O'Tey posting 1:48.88.

Keyanna O'Tey ran to second in the 100 dash at 12.37 seconds. Rasean O'Tey was third in the 200 at 23.01 seconds.

Bir claimed third in the 400 at 1:04.83. Zach Green's time of 51.43 seconds was good for third in the 400.

Eleena Kelley was second in the discus at 107-1 feet.

Contact Sports Editor Brandon Watson at watson@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as twitter, @BwatsonSJ.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Trojans pile up first-place finishes in wins