The Wayland Union High School boys’ track team captured fourth place with 68 points and the girls were eighth with 33 in the Division 2 regional meet Saturday at Allendale. The Hopkins girls, meanwhile, took fifth with 59 points and the guys finished ninth with 33.
The host school was regional champion with 102.75 points and Whitehall was runner-up with 99.
The Wildcat boys scored heavily in field events, capturing two regional titles. Defending state champion Adam Huff won the discus with a throw of 163 feet flat. Teammate Junior Ashton Kuhlman took top honors in the shot put with a toss of 48-0.25.
Another high scoring event was the high jump, where Cater Williamson finished third on fewer misses, clearing 6-0. Carter Marquard leaped the same level and took fourth.
Alexander Chavez finished seventh for Hopkins in the 200-meter dash. Junior Jack Estelle was eighth in the 1600-meter run and Dylan Pallett was 10th for Wayland and eighth in the 3200.
Sophomore Alex Hubbard of Wayland was fourth in the 110-meter high hurdles and Hopkins junior Clayton Kerber was fifth. Kerber finished third in the preliminary race.
Kerber’s highlight of the meet was finishing second in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles with a time of 41.59 seconds.
Wayland’s 400-meter sprint relay quartet of Chance Lenhart, Jake Reeder. Henry Maass and Landon Dunahoo captured fourth with a time of 45 seconds flat. The Hopkins foursome of Brayden Harnish. Gage Martin, Zac Wierenga and Alexander Chavez was right behind the Wildcats in 45.19 seconds.
Reeder, Maurgan Howard, Brock Wheeler and Dunahoo squeezed into fourth place in the 800-meter relay. Wheeler, Howard, Hunter Block and Dunahoo scored one point in the 1600 relay by finishing eighth.
But the best Wildcat performance in relay events was in the 3200, in which Pallett, Xander Stepek, Zachary Keena and Breslin Vandenbos copped a third in 8:21.49.
Hopkins freshman pole vault sensation cleared 12-8 to place third. Sophomore teammate Graycin Ingle cleared 11-3 to place fifth.
Also offering surprises were Wayland’s Carter Marquard in the long jump, third, 19-11.5, and Hopkins sophomore Parker Warners fourth in 19-10.75. Sincere Williams of Wayland was seventh.
