Gramzow Sets Discus School Record; Battani, Deshetsky, and Dykstra Hit EQs
- 21 hours ago
- 11 min read
Track and Field action took off in full force across the area all week, with the first league matchups in the BWAC and large weekend invitationals. Several athletes met state early qualifying standards and even broke school records: here’s a recap of the last seven days of competition in the Blue Water Area by event.
100 meters
Gerry Hanson of Anchor Bay blasted to the top of the boys’ Blue Water Area top-ten performance list with a PR of 11.19 in the 100-meter dash on April 15 at the MAC Red duel versus Romeo, inching ever-closer to the sub-10 mark.
Avery Cody of St. Clair ran his PR of 11.82 on April 14 in the Saints’ duel meet versus Marysville.
Brett Lestage of Imlay City ran his season-best of 11.66 at the Lapeer Lightning Invitational on Thursday, April 17. Port Huron Northern’s Isaiah Lopez had a season-best of 11.76.
Port Huron High’s Dirvante Reid - a freshman - ran an 11.54 PR on April 14 to win the 100 at the MAC GOLD meet versus Warren Woods Tower.
Jack Justin ran his PR of 11.64 for Marysville on April 16 at the Port Huron/Marysville duel.
Memphis Sophomore Kai Fisher is close to the D4 EQ of 11.35, running 11.52 on April 17 at the Marlette Invitational.
Malencia Price of PHH tops the girls’ list with a blazing PR of 12.86 run at the PH/Marysville duel: teammate Mila Wheeler ran a PR of 13.81 to make the event 1-2 for the Red Hawks.
Keira Miller (13.44 PR/Croswell-Lex) and Brooklyn Shadley (13.48 PR/Anchor Bay) also had PRs at their respective league duel meets.
200 meters
Avery Cody (St. Clair) ran 23.74 to hold the area’s second-fastest time for boys.
Karsen Thomas of Anchor Bay ran a 23.84 PR on April 15 at the MAC RED vs. Romeo.
Malencia Price also tops the girls’ list here (27.28) for PHH.
Cros-Lex’s Ava Oleski (27.94) and Armada’s Allison Mansfield (28.11 PR) moved onto the list after this week’s BWAC meets.
400 meters
Brandon Ziehmer (53.21/Anchor Bay), Anthony Alvarez (53.68 PR/Armada), Jackson Kohler (53.71 PR/Yale), and Mikey Cowhy (53.78 PR/Yale) all move up the boys’ performance list, with three out of the four setting personal bests.
Other new 400 PRs were Vasilios Kirchhoff (54.17 PR/Macomb Lutheran North), Ethan Jackson (54.24 PR/Croswell-Lexington), and Will Haskins (54.24 PR/MLN)
Luke Bowman of Anchor Bay tops the list in the 100, 200, and 400 adaptive events (pictured: photo courtesy of Rick Leslie).
For the girls, fast freshmen top the performance list: number one is Algonac’s Jenna Dobbs (1:02.34 PR) and number two is Morgan Pillon (1:03.22 PR) from Port Huron Northern. Dobbs ran her top time at the BWAC league opener against Yale and Cros-Lex, while Pillon ran hers at the Lapeer Lightning Invitational.
Armada’s Allison Mansfield (1:03.50 PR) and Anchor Bay’s Iyanna Brown (1:03.52) are closely matched after this week’s races, putting them at spots three and four on the list.
800 meters
Vasilios Kirchhoff ran into the top 800 spot in our area with a seven-second PR of 2:01 at the Oakland University Elaine Leigh Invitational. Teammates Xavier Roman (2:06 PR) and Samuel Kochensparger (2:11 PR) dropped time at their home meet against Cranbrook/LHNW/Austin Catholic.
St. Clair’s Korbyn Thornton (2:06.5 PR) and Jerry Westrick (2:09) are now fourth and seventh in the Blue Water Area after their MAC opener against Lake Shore.
Samantha Whitlam came very close to her previous season PR of 2:21, running 2:22.76 at Oakland and creeping ever closer to the D2 EQ of 2:19. She has the area’s fastest girls’ time by close to five seconds and is currently ranked in the top ten in the state for D2.
Eva Thompson of Cros-Lex was challenged by Saige Cole of Yale, with the two battling it out at the first BWAC league tri-meet to run 2:27.0 and 2:27.3, respectively.
Port Huron Northern’s Miley Caughel (2:37.53 PR) and Cassie Gibson (2:37.90 PR) were third and fourth at the Lapeer Lightning Invitational on Thursday, with both setting personal bests.
1600 meters
Joshua Macri moved ahead of Macomb Lutheran North teammate Xavier Roman to the top of the boys’ 1600 performance list with a 4:31 PR April 18 at the Oakland University Elaine Leigh Invitational.
On April 16 at the MAC Gold meet against Lake Shore High School, Brayden Prieskorn of St. Clair debuted on the list with a 4:53 PR.
Dropping under the five-minute mark in the 1600 this week were Samuel Kochensparger (4:56 PR) and Grant Davis of PHN (4:59.41 PR).
Freshman Alannah Wessel of Macomb Athletic Club for Homeschoolers (MACH) ran an outdoor PR of 5:12 at the 2025 Oakland University Elaine Leigh HS Invitational to take ninth and move to the top spot on our girls’ 1600-meter area performance list. Her sister Faith (sophomore) ran 5:49.
Cros-Lex’s Eva Thompson ran her season-best yet of 5:28 at Frankenmuth’s Marco Marcet Invitational.
Samantha Langolf of Port Huron Northern ran a PR at the Lapeer Lightning Invitational (5:35), and freshmen Riley Owen (5:53 PR) and Cassie Gibson (5:53 PR) did the same to move onto the performance list for the Huskies.
3200 meters
This week’s PRs for boys included Maxwell Durham of New Haven (10:26 PR), Samuel Kochensparger (MLN/10:34 PR), and Brendan Koza (Marysville/11:00 PR).
Other additions to the performance list in this event are Brayden Prieskorn (St. Clair/10:54) and Ted Rutkofske (Yale/10:56), who both ran the 3200 in duel meets.
Freshman Cassidy Bowers of Austin Catholic dropped her time from 13:19 to 12:30 in a week, which is a PR by almost a minute; she now sits at the number two spot on the girls’ area performance list.
Dryden freshman Claire Wright (12:58 PR) and junior Cara Prusakiewicz (13:04) both ran top-ten area times on April 17 at the Marlette Invitational.
110-meter hurdles (boys)
Senior Jonah Konarz blazed to a sub-15-second PR (14.89) and the top of the area performance list by a second to win the MAC RED meet versus Romeo. Teammate Kacy Agyeman sits in second with a 15.67 PR.
Colin Boullard of St. Clair (15.84) and Brenden Peter (17.03 PR) of Dryden make their first appearances on the performance list, with many other PRs moving returning names around.
100-meter hurdles (girls)
The entirety of this list changed over in the last week, so check out the new times and names there. Sadie Dykstra, last year’s D2 state runner-up, leads all local athletes in this event by two seconds with a 15.44.
Autumn Pratt set a PR of 17.56 for Macomb Lutheran North on April 16 at home.
300-meter hurdles
Konarz reigns supreme here again, holding a three-second lead over the next fastest area boys’ hurdler with a best this season of 40.24. Agyeman is third on the list with 43.51, but Port Huron Northern’s Cameron Cronce ran his PR of 43.25 at the Lapeer Lightning Invitational to put himself into the second-place area performance and break up the dominant duo from Anchor Bay.
For the girls, Brooklyn Khon of Armada missed an EQ (47.4) by half a second in her second-ever attempt at the event, winning the Lapeer Lightning Invitational in 47.9 and topping the list of current area performances.
Sadie Dykstra of Yale is the defending state champ in the 300 hurdles and easily won her first BWAC league tri-meet in 48.7.
PHH’s Mariah Turner (51.62) and Dryden’s Caila Fitchett (52.51) moved into third and fourth in the area’s top ten.
4x100-meter relay
No real shake-ups in the boys’ list, but Marysville and St. Clair both join the top-ten area 4x100 relay performances at numbers seven and eight.
At Frankenmuth on Thursday, Cros-Lex’s team dethroned North Branch from the girls’ top spot in the 4x100 meter relay, with Melody Persig, Ashton Temple, Peyton Saylor, and Keira Miller running 54.33.
4x200-meter relay
Anchor Bay’s Lucas Hardoin, Karsen Thomas, Caleb Sommers, and Eddie Lamb ran 1:34.84 in their MAC Red duel win over Dakota and solidified their spot as the second-fastest area relay this week.
Kamdyn Smith, Trey Cummins, Owen Krantz, and Jack Justin ran 1:35.07 for Marysville to put them in the third-fastest area spot.
Port Huron Northern (1:35.44) and Imlay City (1:35.78) both dropped their boys’ relay times at the Lapeer Lightning Invitational.
The Lapeer meet was where the current top three area times were set for the ladies: PHN ran 1:52.7, Armada 1:53.25, and North Branch 1:54.05.
4x400-meter relay
Jonah Konarz, Brandon Ziehmer, Kacy Agyeman, and Caleb Sommers currently hold the fastest Blue Water Area time of 3:35.73.
Armada’s Todd Seiler, Jak Klee, Jackson Malburg, and Anthony Alvarez were second at the Lapeer Lightning Invitational in 3:36.27 and also are the second-fastest in the area.
Lapeer again produced a battle between Blue Water Area teams in the girls’ 4x400, with Armada and Port Huron Northern running down to the wire on the anchor leg. Armada eventually came out ahead in 4:21.99 (Allison Mansfield, Claire Sniesak, Valeria Ricossa, Brooklyn Khon) to PHN’s 4:23.38 (Olivia Hill, Haley Sharp, Isabella Nestle, Morgan Pillon).
Yale’s 4x400 of Lena Janssen, Julia Ferguson, Madeline Sepsey, and Sadie Dykstra put themselves on the board Tuesday at Algonac with an area-wide fourth place in 4:38 at the BWAC tri-meet.
4x800-meter relay
Macomb Lutheran North lowered their own time from 8:27 to 8:19 at the Oakland Invitational to sit at both the number one and two spots on the relay performance list, based on interchanging different athletes in the relay legs.
Greg Vogt, Trevor Zoli, Brandon Ziehmer, and Aaron Osterman ran 8:41 for Anchor Bay to hold the area’s third-place performance for boys.
Lena Janssen, Ceclia Ford, Lillian Bender, and Saige Cole of Yale took the girls’ top area spot in 10:36 on April 15 at the BWAC opener at Algonac. Photo courtesy of Yale T&F.
Brynn Hurley, Hailey Morrison, Madelyn Barkley, and Eva Thompson (Croswell-Lexington) dropped their time to 10:53 at the Frankenmuth Marco Marcet Invitational.
Shot Put
Luke Bowman of Anchor Bay threw his PR of 21’-10” in the adaptive wheelchair event at the MAC RED duel against Dakota HS.
Eli Bickel of North Branch won the Lapeer Lightning Invitational with a toss of 50’-03, a best for the junior, continuing to top the shot put performance list in our area.
Cameron Gramzow of Anchor Bay threw his PR of 49’-6” (also at the MAC RED duel) and won the meet.
Aubree Deshetsky of North Branch threw over the girls’ D2 EQ of 38’ by one inch, taking first place at the Lapeer Lightning Invitational.
Freshmen Bree Rule (33'-10" PR) and Adrianna Rule (32'-0.75" PR) of Cros-Lex both threw PRs this week: Bree at the Algonac BWAC tri meet vs Cros-Lex and Yale, and Adrianna at the Frankenmuth Marco Marcet Invitational. Teammate Katelyn Welter threw her personal best of 32'-4.5" for the Pioneers, as well.
Senior Korin Hutton of Anchor Bay sits at number three on the area performance list with a throw of 33'-6".
Discus
Gramzow (pictured) threw 163’-1” in the boys’ discus, and currently tops the Blue Water Area performance list. He also set a new school record, breaking a 47-year-old mark held by Scott Gostovich at 156’-6” from 1977, and technically met the EQ mark, but since it was at a duel meet and not an EQ-approved invitational, he’ll have to throw the distance again. This shouldn’t be a problem: Gramzow has been throwing a PR almost every meet since the start of the season. You can listen to Cameron talk about his season on S.2 Ep.10 of the Blue Water Running Podcast.
Bickel already has a boys’ discus EQ and launched another throw over it with a win at the Lapeer Lightning Invitational in 160’-1”.
Deshetsky still sits atop the girls’ area performance list in 131’-5”, but added another win in 117’-02” at the Lightning Lapeer Invitational.
Korin Hutton (102'-6” PR/Anchor Bay) and Jaeda Tilton (100'-10" PR/Anchor Bay) both had personal bests this week at MAC RED duel meets.
High Jump
Isaiah Lopez (pictured) of Port Huron Northern equaled his PR of six feet at the Lapeer Lightning Invitational, winning the event and topping the boys’ area performance list.
Valentino Castaneda and Liam McIntyre of North Branch, and Kenneth Morgan of Port Huron all jumped 5’-10” this week, which were PRs for Castaneda and Morgan.
Yale’s Sadie Dykstra met the EQ of 5’-2” easily at the 13th Annual Tri-County Track & Field Invitational at Ortonville-Brandon. She jumped 5’-4” earlier this season and tops our girls’ list.
Valeria Ricossa (Armada) and Alysia Goudelock (Anchor Bay) both jumped five feet this week and are two-three on the performance list.
Pole Vault
Chase Battani (pictured) went 13'-3" for Almont on April 17 at the Marlette Invitational, meeting the EQ for D3.
Marysville’s Mason Delor moved into third on the Blue Water Area performance list with a vault of 10'-3" at their dual meet vs St Clair.
Long Jump
For the boys, everyone but the top two jumpers on our area list set PRs this week:
Hunter Phillips 19'-9.25" PR Algonac
Clayton Harmon 19-9 "PR Yale
Jak Klee 19'-3.75" PR Armada
Trey Cummins 19'-1.5" PR Marysville
Donny Shaw 19'-0" PR St. Clair
Greg Glaser 18'-8.25"PR Macomb Lutheran North
Isaac Miller 18'-6" Macomb Lutheran North
Hunter Likins 18'-2.75" PR Marysville
GIRLS: Ella Swoish of North Branch jumped a huge PR of almost a foot to win the BWAC opener against Richmond (16'-3.5").
Sadie Dykstra leads all girls’ area long jumpers and is one of only two current D2 girls to have met the EQ this season so far with a jump of 17’-4” and a season-best of 18’-2”. Dykstra also competed in her first heptathlon at Hillsdale High School on April 16-17, finishing second with 4488 points. The event consists of 100 hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter dash, long jump, javelin, and the 800-meter run. Dykstra won the long jump and high jump and was second or third in the majority of the other events, an incredible achievement for a high school athlete competing against collegiate heptathletes. Dykstra also qualified for Nike Outdoor Nationals and is currently ranked sixth in the nation.
COLLEGIATE RESULTS
ARTICLE COURTESY OF MCC
ROCHESTER – Macomb Men's Track & Field closed out a strong weekend at Oakland University's Elaine Leigh Invitational on Saturday (April 19) with stellar performances by several Monarchs, notably that of Brandon Penberthy in the steeplechase and Dylan Penberthy in the 800m.
Here's a look at the results from a great weekend in Rochester for the Monarchs.
FRIDAY
5000m
A total of seven Monarchs competed in the 5K event Friday evening, led by Dylan Penberthy who clocked in at 15:44.28 in a field full of NCAA Division I and Division II athletes. The time was good for 27th place and set the tone for a strong weekend for the standout freshman. Brandon Penberthy was next in 48th at 16:29.77, while Jack DeWaele and Carson Gilbertson finished in 55th and 56th, respectively, with times of 16:38.22 and 16:55.75. Lucas Shemansky was 61st overall, Mathieu Fortier was 66th, and Preston Corneillie was 67th.
SATURDAY
3000m Steeplechase
Brandon Penberthy impressed in his steeplechase debut, finishing seventh overall with a time of 10:47.55. Mathieu Fortier checked in 11th overall at 11:22.73.
800m
Lucas Shemansky, the lone veteran in the event, led a cast of five Monarchs in the 800m with a 2:07.05 to finish in 25th place. Dylan Penberthy was next in 29th at 2:08.81, winning his heat by six seconds, while Jack DeWaele was 39th at 2:14.64. Carson Gilbertson finished 41st in the competitive event at 2:16.95, and Preston Corneillie was 44th at 2:25.80.
Macomb Women's Track & Field wrapped up a successful two-day stretch at Oakland University's Elaine Leigh Invitational on Saturday (April 19) with a pair of strong debut performances. Emma Dell ran a 13:00.70 in her steeplechase debut to finish fourth of 13 competitors, while Erin Rowan debuted in the 800m and went on to win her heat by an impressive 13 seconds.
Here's a look at the results from a great weekend in Rochester for the Lady Monarchs:
FRIDAY
1500m
Emma Dell placed 23rd in a loaded field with NCAA Division I and II runners after crossing the finish line at 5:10.12. Kelsey Ettel was next for Macomb in 43rd place, Lisaleen Ung was 49th and Vanessa Sayers was 50th.
5000m
Ava LaMilza paced the action for the Monarchs in the 5K with a 15th-place performance after recording a time of 18:51.27. The time was good for second among all NJCAA runners in the event. Erin Rowan checked in 25th after recording a 20:12.87 to round out a strong event for the Monarchs.
SATURDAY
3000m Steeplechase
Emma Dell placed fourth in an incredible steeplechase debut, only trailing two NCAA Division I runners and one from the NCAA Division II ranks. Dell crossed the finish line at 13:00.70 to clear fifth place by seven seconds.
1800m
Erin Rowan won her heat going away after finishing 13 seconds ahead of the next competitor. With a time of 2:35.66, Rowan finished 26th overall in the five-heat event. Emma Dell was next at 2:49.23 in 36th place.
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