Despite the winter weather conditions raging outside on Friday, inside the Saginaw State Valley University Fieldhouse, performances at the SVSU Classic continued, with many former Blue Water Area high school athletes competing collegiately for a variety of colleges and universities around the state.
Port Huron Northern grad Jayde Ullenbruch, now a freshman at Concordia University, finished sixth in the long jump (16’ 6”/5.02 meters), which earned her an NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) national meet qualifying mark and a new school record. Ullenbruch finished 24th in the 60-meter dash with a personal best of 8.41 seconds and also competed in the 4x400-meter relay and 60-meter hurdles. Maya Freeman, another PHN grad and Concordia freshman earned a personal best in the weight throw with a distance of 12.18 meters.
University of Detroit Mercy’s freshman Gabriela Gashaj (Marine City Cardinal Mooney) also finished in the long jump top-ten, placing ninth with a distance of 4.82 meters (15’ 10”), an indoor personal best for her. She had personal bests by placing 19th in the 60-meter hurdles (10.22), 12th in the 300, (43.19), and was part of the 4 x 400-meter relay, placing second in 4:12.27.
St. Clair County Community College freshmen Grace Wessel (MACH grad) and Jessica Denver (Imlay City grad) both competed unattached in the meet as SC4 does not have a track team. Wessel finished third in the 800 (2:27.6) and sixth in the mile (5:30), while Denver was fourth in the 800 (2:33.1) and 11th in the mile (5:43).
Almont graduate (and 100/200 D3 state champ) Devin Johnston, now running for Eastern Illinois, competed on her home track at the Lantz Indoor Fieldhouse as they hosted the annual John Craft Invite on Saturday. She finished sixth in the 60-meter dash finals (8.08) and second in the 300-meter dash finals (43.84). Her 4 x 400 relay is currently ranked third in their division with a time of 4:04.27 at the EIU Early Bird Meet earlier this season.
In the men’s events at Saginaw Valley, many former BWA distance athletes could be seen competing. The 3000-meter run had Armada grads Noah Verlinde (senior at SVSU) and Camden Khon (freshman at Spring Arbor University), Yale grad Lukas Kriesh (SVSU freshman), and former SC4 and St. Clair High School runner Lucas Danko (freshman at Rochester College). Verlinde was third in 8:33, Khon 17th in 8:56, Kriesch 26th in 9:25, and Danko 31st in 9:33. In the mile, Khon was third in 4:17.14.
U of D’s Michael Ferguson, a Yale grad, was 21st in the 200-meter dash at 23.8, an indoor personal best for the freshman. He was also 10th in the 300 in 37.8 - another best - and helped his 4 x 400 meter relay claim second place in 3:25.45.
*Due to the weather-related cancellation of all high school indoor meets on Saturday, there is no HS indoor wrap-up article.