Union City boys, Coldwater girls excel at Branch County Track Invitational
COLDWATER - For decades the track and field stars of Branch County capped off their regular season with a trip to the prestigious Area Best Meet, with only the best of the best qualifying for the event in order to determine who the best of Branch County really was.
In recent years however the event has seen participation and interest dwindle, mostly due to its timing as it annually took place after the regional tournament and before the state finals, leading to those who did not qualify for state reluctant to continue their season and those that did qualify for state reluctant to compete and risk injury.
To bring the event back to prominence, area coaches met and agreed to change the timing of the event, changing it from the final event of the season to the first event of the season for many of the schools. In addition to the changing of the timing, no longer does an athlete need to be invited to compete at the event, now the Branch County Invitational is an open event, meaning teams can enter whomever they choose. This drew a record number of participants from the four local teams, as athletes from Bronson, Quincy, and Union City traveled to Coldwater’s Cardinal Stadium for this year’s Branch County Invitational.
Stars of the Event
Stars of the event include athletes with multiple wins across the 17 different events.
For Union City it was sophomore long distance ace Ben Gautsche bringing home a pair of wins, taking the gold in the 800-meter run in a time of 2 minutes, 8.75 seconds, and the 1600-meter run in a time of 4 minutes, 54.69 seconds.
For the Quincy Orioles it was Clayton Benson leading the way on the boy's side of the tournament, winning the 110 hurdles in a time of 16.15 seconds to go along with a gold medal in the high jump with a jump of 5 feet, 10 inches.
On the girl's side of the tournament, it was Quincy’s Brookelyn Parker who swept the hurdle events, winning the 100 hurdles in a time of 17.21 seconds and the 300 hurdles in a time of 51.79 seconds.
Pacing the Coldwater effort was junior Elli Foley who swept the throwing events, winning the shot put with a throw of 38 feet, 9 inches and the discus with a throw of 107 feet, 6 inches.
Coldwater senior Jaelah Sloan also claimed a pair of wins, winning the 100 in a time of 13.51 seconds and the high jump with a jump of 4 feet, 8 inches.
Branch County’s Best
Medals were awarded to the top three finishers in each event, while team scores were not kept. In the boys meet it was Union City seeing the most success, winning 10 of the 17 events, including three of the four relays.
Here are the top three finishers in each event of the boy's side of the tournament.
100-meter dash- 1. Riley Laird, Union City, 11.99 seconds 2. Naseem Taha, Coldwater, 12.01 3. Cameron Barry, Quincy, 12.16
200-meter dash- 1.Hunter Sinke, Union City, 24.23 seconds; 2. Naseem Taha, Coldwater, 24.97; 3. Landon Dirschell, Coldwater, 25.37
400-meter dash- 1. Boston Bucklin, Bronson, 54.07 seconds; 2. Noah Pearson, Quincy, 55.92; 3. Mason Sabaitis, Coldwater, 56.06
800-meter run- 1. Ben Gautsche, Union City, 2:08.75; 2. Drew Vanderpuyl, Coldwater, 2:09.49; 3. Cohen Burdick, Union City, 2:11.94
1600-meter run- 1. Ben Gautsche, Union City, 4:54.69; 2. Cohen Burdick, Union City, 5:10.48; 3. Luke Aerts, Coldwater, 5:13.88
3200-meter run- 1. Jason Shoop, Union City, 11:26.77; 2. Noah June, Union City, 12:38.49; 3. Malachi Payne, Union City, 12:43.33
110-meter hurdles- 1. Clayton Benson, Quincy, 16.15 seconds; 2. Kendall Austin, Coldwater, 16.23 ; 3. Bennett McDonald, Coldwater, 17.34
300-meter hurdles- 1. Nathaniel Maurer, Union City, 42.97 seconds; 2. Stevie Wilson, Bronson, 44.73; 3. Clayton Benson, 45.09
4x100 meter relay- 1. Coldwater (Kegler, Lewis, Lindblom, Taha), 46.54 seconds; 2. Quincy (Turner, Handy, Wasikowski, Barry), 48.47; 3. Union City (Kincaid, Robbins, Austin, Laird), 48.64
4x200 meter relay- 1. Union City (Maurer, Robbins, Laird, Sinke), 1:38.23; 2. Coldwater (Dirschell, Lewis, Sabaitis, Taha), 1:38.86; 3. Quincy (Barry, Groves, Handy, Pearson), 1:43.83
4x400 meter relay- 1. Union City (Maurer, Gautsche, Burdick, Austin), 3:42.96; 2. Bronson (Bucklin, Wilson, Brackett, Wilber), 3:47.81; 3. Coldwater (Vanderpuyl, Sabaitis, Barnett, Wischmeyer), 3:48.82
4x3200 meter relay- 1. Union City (Gautsche, Shoop, Payne, Burdick), 8:53.07; 2. Coldwater (Doll, Aerts, Vanderpuyl, Wischmeyer), 9:04.37; 3. Quincy (Wood, Gray, Miller, Jensen), 10:44.51
Shot Put- 1. Jackson Reilly, Coldwater, 49’5.5”; 2. Logan Cole, Union City, 47’4.5”; 3. Garrett McVicker, Coldwater, 43’9.5”
Discus- 1. Logan Cole, Union City, 149’0”; 2. Jackson Reilly, Coldwater, 126’9”; 3. Lennon Swick, Coldwater, 118’5”
High Jump- 1. Clayton Benson, Quincy, 5’10”; 2. Kam Brackett, Bronson, 5’9”; 3. Noah Rufenacht, Quincy, 5’6”
Pole Vault- 1. Corey Turner, Quincy, 13’6”; 2. Kaleb Handy, Quincy, 11’6”; 3. Brycen Fincham, Bronson, 9’6”
Long Jump- 1. Kendall Austin, Coldwater, 19’1.5”; 2. Hunter Sinke, Union City, 17’10.5”; 3. Kam Brackett, Bronson, 17’9”
In the girl's portion of the invitational, it was Coldwater leading the way, winning 10 of the 17 events competed in.
Here are the top three finishers in each event on the girl's side of the invitational.
100-meter dash- 1. Jaelah Sloan, Coldwater, 13.51 seconds; 2. Nevada Gillons, Union City, 13.52; 3. Jaiden Hayes, Bronson, 13.59
200-meter dash- 1. Ella Thompson, Coldwater, 28.60 seconds; 2. Miyah Moore, Coldwater, 28.73; 3. Itzel Albarran, Bronson, 29.85
400-meter dash- 1. Parker Williams, Union City, 1:04.76; 2. Ella Grabowski, Coldwater, 1:06.39; 3. Elizabeth Craig, Quincy, 1:07.29
800-meter run- 1. Grace Huff, Coldwater, 2:34.86; 2. Kendyl Musielewicz, Quincy, 2:48.82; 3. Katharina Parchke, Quincy, 2:56.87
1600-meter run- 1. Katharina Parchke, Quincy, 6:28.09; 2. Alissa Skirka, Union City, 6:36.24; 3. Olivia Golematis, Coldwater, 7:00.68
3200-meter run- 1. Allison Gautsche, Union City, 13:27.75; 2. Elizabeth Arlt, Union City, 16:00.18; 3. Libby Butchart, Quincy, 16:56.90
100-meter hurdles- 1. Brookelyn Parker, Quincy, 17.21 seconds; 2. Madilynn Persails, Coldwater, 18.69 ; 3. Kylie Creech, Union City, 18.87
300-meter hurdles- 1. Brookelyn Parker, Quincy, 51.79 seconds; 2. Jaiden Hayes, Bronson, 53.45; 3. Kylie Creech, Union City, 56.55
4x100 meter Relay- 1. Coldwater (Sloan, Thompson, Moore, Graham), 53.82 seconds; 2. Bronson (Albarran, Calloway, Herrera, Gallegos), 56.61; 3. Quincy (Marske, McVicker, Tinervia, Kugler), 57.21
4x200 meter relay- 1. Coldwater (Grabowski, Moore, Thompson, Huff), 1:53.20; 2. Union City (Austin, Labar, Williams, Schwark), 2:03.15; 3. Quincy (Kugler, Tinervia, Marske, Fulton), 2:05.40
4x400 meter relay- 1. Coldwater (Grabowski, Thompson, Moore, Huff), 4:30.80; 2. Quincy (Muselewicz, Parker, Marske, Craig), 4:37.41
4x800 meter relay; 1. Union City, (Arlt, Skirka, Williams, Gautsche), 11:41.95; 2. Quincy (Parchke, Butchart, Fulton, Musielewicz), 12;14.65; 3. Coldwater (Baker, Hernadez, Dancer, Golematis), 12:22.82
Shot Put- 1. Elli Foley, Coldwater, 38’9”; 2. Marie Powers, Coldwater, 30’8.5”; 3. Hallie Jones, Quincy, 30’1.5”
Discus; 1. Elli Foley, Coldwater, 107’6”; 2. Skylar Smith, Bronson, 89’0.25”; 3. Felina Couch, Union City, 82’11”
High Jump; 1. Jaleah Sloan, Coldwater, 4’8”; 2. Skylar Smith, Bronson, 4’6”; 3. Naomi Schwark, Union City, 4’6”
Pole Vault- 1. Lita Fulton, Quincy, 8’6”; 2. Brooke McVicker, Quincy, 7’6”; 3. Piper Craig, Quincy, 7’0”
Long Jump- 1. Ella Grabowski, Coldwater, 15’9.25”; 2. Jaelah Sloan, Coldwater, 15’4.75”; 3. Jaiden Hayes, Bronson, 14’3”
All results were taken from the website www.athletic.net.
Follow sports editor Troy Tennyson via X, formerly known as Twitter at @ttennysonTDR. To contact Troy, send an email to ttennyson@thedailyreporter.com.
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Revamped Branch County Track Invitational brings together counties best
