The Hopkins girls’ varsity track team took a huge step forward in its quest for another O-K Silver Conference championship with an 89-48 dual meet victory Tuesday over Grandville Calvin Christian.
The Lady Vikings’ greatest hurdles in their drive for the league title were Calvin Christian and newcomer Belding, both of which now have been vanquished in dual meets. Their only chance to stop Hopkins is to take the conference meet later this spring.
The Viking boys, however, suffered a 79-57 defeat at the hands of the Squires.
Junior Meghan Schulz put together her best performance this season in the shot put at 36-1 to win that event again. Brittney Houseman and Savannah Emaus went 1-2 in the long jump.
The Lady Viking relay teams took three of the four races, all but the 3200 quartet. Anna Washburn, Hannah Crouch, Emaus and Nastasja Terpstra hooked up to win the 400-meter relay in 55.3 seconds; Houseman, Alyssa Rausch, Madeline Krcatovich and Terpstra turned the trick in the 800 in 1:57.8, and the 1600 relay won with Gracie DeZeeuw, Rausch, Cassidy Finney and Laura Velderman in 4:34.2.
Houseman won both the 100- and 200-meter dashes in 13.2 and 27.2 seconds, respectively. Supporting performances by Emaus, Washburn, Terpstra and Krcatovich enabled the Lady Vikings to sweep both races.
Velderman captured individual firsts in the 400 and 800 middle distance races, in 66 seconds and 2:31.4, respectively.
Jasmine Fisher won the 1600 in 5:27.7 and was second in the 3200, but did not compete in the distance relays.
Shannon Henshaw (56.4 seconds) and Rausch went 1-2 in the 300-meter hurdles.
In the guys’ meet, Brandon DeGroot picked up a win in the open 400 and was third in the 800, freshman Todd Henley ran a personal best 5:04.4, good for second, and won the 3200 in 10:48.9. Nick Belka was second in the 400.
Logan Blank was first in the 110-meter high hurdles and second in the 300 intermediates, and he won the long jump at 18-4.5.
Nathan Roberts won the shot put with a toss of 40-10 and Andrea Zaghi and Aaron Maule went 1-2 in the discus. Trey Collins, only a freshman, also was runner-up in both the high jump and pole vault. Freshman Ethan Gilder added a third in discus, as was Carson Timm in the 100.
The Viking boys were hurt badly in the sprints and in the relays, where they scored few points.
