There were plenty of outstanding individual and relay performances by Hopkins and Wayland girls’ and boys’ track team members Thursday in the Division 2 regional meet at Fremont.
Both the Hopkins girls’ and Wayland boys’ teams finished third in the meet. The Lady Vikings came up with 86 points to finish behind Hudsonville Unity Christian and Holland Christian. The Wayland guys scored 81.5 points, bested only by Whitehall and Hamilton. There were 14 teams in both groups.
The Wayland girls, finally operating at full strength, finished seventh with 37.5 points and Hopkins was 11th with 16 points in the boys’ competition.
Junior thrower Adam Huff broke his own school record in the discus with an effort of 180 feet, four inches. He settled for second in the shot put at 54-9.
Austin Graham had a huge day, taking the regional championship in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.87 seconds, the only hurdler to check in under 15 minutes. He nailed the 300 hurdles with his personal best time of 38.88 seconds, the only participant to break the tape in less than 40 seconds.
Graham also hooked up with Huff, Henry Maass and Geno Wierckz to take second in the 400-meter relay. He joined Jake Reeder, Wierckz and Aiden Reeder to finish third in the 800-meter relay in 1:31.2, three-tenths of a second away from runner-up.
Hopkins’ Landen Klinge pulled off a second in the pole vault at 13-6, only losing to a Holland lad who had fewer misses. Warren Smith of Wayland was fifth.
The Hopkins 400-meter relay quartet, record setting regional champions.
Hopkins’ sophomore sprinting sensation Riley Homrich also had a big day, winning the regional title in the 100-meter dash in a school record 12.66 seconds, taking third in the 200, anchoring the regional champion 400-meter relay in 49.92 seconds with Kambria Moored, Ellarie Baugh and Sierra Emaus, setting the school and O-K Silver Conference record. Kennedy Jasinski, Taylor Wolf, Ana Teunissen and Laney Wolf finished sixth for Wayland.
The Vikings’ 800-meter relay quartet was second with Peyton Roxbury, Navaya Ingle, Emaus and Homrich in 1:49.33, their collective best.
Not to be overlooked was Hopkins’ Kambria Moored in the 100-meter high hurdles, who crossed the finish line her quickest ever at 16.18 seconds. She doubled her regional title output with a thrilling 47.06 second winning performance in the 300 hurdles, barely edging Macy Subka of Spring Lake.
But perhaps the biggest news for Wayland was the return of sophomore Evie Mathis, the school record holder in the pole vault at 12-3, but hobbled by injuries this spring, who captured her second straight regional crown by clearing 10-6. Teammate Kennedy Jasinkski cleared 10-0 to finish third.
The Wildcats 1600-meter relay unit turned in an impressive effort at 4:12.98, good for second place. The group included Megan Brogger, Taylor Wolf, Elliot Antel and Laney Wolf. Moored, Andrea Brewer, Ingle and Jaeden Harshberger took sixth for Hopkins.
Harshberger finished third in the high jump, though she matched the first and second place finishers at 5-1.
Vanessa Barry was a pleasant surprise in taking third in the long jump for Hopkins at 16-4.