Bassmaster Elite All-Star Event next week

Below is the first few paragraphs of our front-page story for this week — the Bassmaster Elite Series is bringing its All-Star event to the Muskegon and White Lake areas next weekend.

This weekend, the nationally-known Bassmaster Elite Series will stage its All-Star event locally, with 14 of the top anglers in the country competing over two days of fishing on Muskegon Lake Sept. 27-28, and culminating with the top four placers after two days gunning for the Evan Williams Bourbon Championship on White Lake Sunday, Sept. 29.

It will be the second time in a month that the Elite Series has brought a competition to Michigan after the Plano Championship Chase was held on Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River in late August. Prior to that, the series had never ventured into the state, said Eric Lopez, director of operations for the B.A.S.S. organization.

“We have lots of members in the Michigan area at the B.A.S.S. Nation level,” Lopez said, referring to the organization that certifies fishermen nationwide. “We have lots of people in Michigan who were asking when we were going to do an event here. It’s not that we’ve been ignoring Michigan, but there are lots of great lakes out there. It was time.”

Ultimately it was worth the wait, as Muskegon Lake and White Lake will play host to one of the most prestigious weeks on the tour, Toyota All-Star Week.

“We’re very excited to bring the best of the best to Muskegon,” Lopez said. “We’re bringing in 14 of the best for this three-day tournament.”

Why did the Bassmaster Elite Series choose the Muskegon and White Lake areas to host the All-Star event? Lopez said it came down to the area’s support of fishing.

“There are lots of awesome fisheries in Michigan, but looking at the communities, we wanted to go to an area that believes in and supports bass fishing and has the infrastructure,” Lopez said. “That area meets those criteria.”

Next week, it appears I'll be joining Mike Iacconelli, one of the anglers competing in the All-Star event, for his practice session on the water. This should be enlightening, to say the very least.

In any case, for anyone interested in fishing, this is a big event, probably the biggest sporting event to be held here in recent history. (The event will air in multiple parts on ESPN2 Oct. 13.)

What to Make of the Football Season So Far?

Montague's Chris Carroll breaks up
a pass last week against Ravenna. Montague
might be back on track after a slow start.
(Photo by Andy Roberts)

We're already a third of the way done with most teams' football seasons, and tonight we'll be 44% finished. That's depressing, folks.

What to make of what we've gotten so far? Here's a team-by-team look at our area's 6 football teams' seasons through 3 games:

Hart — Poor Hart. They're just too small a school to be playing in the West Michigan Conference. There are only about 20 kids on the entire squad this year, so the Pirates don't even have the luxury of a JV team. The results have borne that out — Hart got blitzed in Week 1 by an Onekama team it destroyed last year, and has since taken lopsided defeats against two of the better teams in the WMC in Oakridge and North Muskegon. Hart's never even played in the state football playoffs, which go back to the 1970s. There's been rumblings of late that Hart wants to leave the WMC, but they haven't made that move yet, mostly because of teams like soccer, competitive cheer, and others that might be without a home if they pulled the trigger.

Hesperia — Hesperia's story is probably the most interesting one so far. The Panthers are 3-0 for the first time since 1992. They've been helped by a relatively soft early schedule, but still, Hesperia is halfway to the magical six-win mark that would get them into the playoffs (they haven't been since 2007), and still has six games to collect the three remaining wins. They face winless Holton tonight, a win that Hesperia should be able to get. From there the road map is clear for the Panthers: they would just have to defeat Central Montcalm again in the season finale, as they did last year, and would have to flip the result of one of the four remaining games, all of which were losses last year (Lakeview, Newaygo, Reed City and Chippewa Hills). A couple of those games were close a year ago, and this Panthers team appears, at least early, to be far better than it was in 2012, so there's hope. It should be interesting to see how that progresses.

Montague — Montague might have figured something out at halftime of last week's Ravenna game. The Wildcats went into the locker room that day trailing 20-14 and on the precipice of a loss that would've severely damaged their chances of locking in their 13th straight playoff berth. But Montague exploded for five unanswered touchdowns in the second half, went to 2-1, and if coach Pat Collins' assertion that the team is going to look like that the rest of the year comes true, they'll be right on track. Sophomore quarterback Jacob Buchberger appeared to grow up very quickly in that game, and he has plenty of weapons with which to work. This week's game against Shelby will say a lot about whether the Wildcats really are on the uptick or whether last Friday was just a case of a better team imposing their will on a lesser one when the game was on the line. Last season, the Cats won a classic in OT in that matchup. Another one would, with layups against Hart, Mason County Central and (probably) Whitehall still remaining on the schedule, pretty much lock in the team's playoff bid.

Reeths-Puffer — The Rockets are tough to read so far, mainly because I haven't seen them yet. The vagaries of the schedule have disallowed me from seeing them in action until their homecoming game in two weeks. But what I've gathered from the stats is if R-P is in the lead, you're in trouble. Julian Munday and Dereko Riley have proven to be an extremely potent one-two punch at running back. The trouble for the Rockets will come if they fall behind, because quarterback Garrett Blanshine is not built for comebacks. R-P is 2-1 this year, but has very tough contests left with Muskegon, Mona Shores and Zeeland East in league play, not to mention tonight's game with East Kentwood, a lopsided loss for the Rockets a year ago. The Rockets will need to win at least two of those games to get to the playoffs in all likelihood, a tall task for a still-growing team.

Shelby — The train just keeps rolling for the Tigers. I've been as impressed with the job Lorenzo Rodriguez does as Shelby coach as I am with any sports team in the area, and it's because his team just wins with what it's got. Last year, the Tigers got to the Division 6 state semifinals on line play, defense and guts despite not really having game-breaking talent at any skill position, with the possible exception of linebacker Ben Schroeder. They're doing it again this year, with Forrest Courtright now playing the role of Schroeder. Shelby's 3-0 heading into tonight's big game with Montague. It's especially big for the Tigers because probably no team in the WMC has a tougher remaining schedule than Shelby. Hart and Ravenna should provide W's, but there's no other sure win on the slate, with Oakridge and North Muskegon looking like the class of the league so far. (Those two face off tonight, which should be interesting.)

Whitehall — The only area football team with a new coach, the Vikings were always going to face an uphill climb this year after graduating a talented crop of seniors and installing a new veer-based attack under Tony Sigmon. I don't think anyone thought it would be this rough, though, as the Vikings have just flat-out not been able to move the football. The team still doesn't really know who its QB is — Connor Rake has the job right now by default over fellow sophomore Zarren Aylor because the latter was tossed out of last week's game and by rule will sit this week as well — and by staying on the field so long, its defense is being left out to dry. In the Vikings' defense, they've faced an extremely tough conference slate so far, and tonight's game offers a chance to get healthy against Mason County Central, whose team is just as small as Hart's. But if the Vikes can't get this one, it'll be tough to see a win anywhere on the schedule except for perhaps that Hart game.

Golf and Tennis Results - Week of 9/13

Since a long fishing column and a bunch of soccer action has caused there to be a lack of room this week in the paper, here are the results for this week's girls golf and boys tennis action.

GIRLS GOLF

Whitehall 8th at Chip Hills Invite

REMUS — Whitehall placed eighth in an eight-team field Wednesday at the Chippewa Hills Invitational, shooting a 557 as a team. Seventh-place Alma had a 505. Farwell and Central Montcalm tied for first place at the even, each shooting a 390.

Individual results were not reported for the Vikings.

Vikes drop dual to Manistee

WHITEHALL — The Whitehall Vikings dropped a dual meet at home Tuesday to Manistee, shooting a 276 to the visiting Chippewas’ 244.

Whitehall’s Taylor Mikkelson led her team in scoring Tuesday, shooting a 62, while Taylor Boyd added a 64.

Brooke Borgman shot a 72 for the Vikes, and Randi Mikkelson contributed a 78.

Manistee’s Fallon Gates led all scorers with a 46.

Rockets 2nd at conference jamboree

MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer’s girls golf team took advantage of playing on its home turf Monday afternoon, placing second in the O-K Black Conference jamboree at Lincoln Golf Club, up from fourth the previous week.

The Rockets’ team score of 209 was just 21 shots behind Mona Shores, which once again took first place.

R-P got top performances from Hannah Moss and Mikaela VanDuinen. Moss placed second individually at the meet with a 44, while VanDuinen’s 48 placed her in fourth.

BOYS TENNIS

Whitehall 3rd at Mona Shores Quad

MUSKEGON — Whitehall’s Tell Sutton led his team with a championship at first singles to help the Vikings place third at Tuesday’s Mona Shores Quad.

Sutton’s victory in the finals, 3-6, 7-5, 10-7 over Sam Kling of the Sailors, provided most of Whitehall’s scoring in the quad.

Connor Briegel won a match at fourth singles over Muskegon Catholic’s Mike Valachovic, 6-1, 6-0, and Andy Esh and Erik Butzer both won the consolation brackets at second and third singles respectively.

Jack Dillivan and Tim Hiemstra won their first-round match at first doubles over North Muskegon’s Brock Dobb and Levi Hardman, 6-4, 6-4, and Matt McCollom and Jack Zwemer took the consolation bracket at fourth doubles.

Vikes roll by Grant

GRANT — The Whitehall Vikings had to battle for a couple of flight victories, but as a team had little trouble taking out Grant Monday afternoon, 7-1.

The Vikings won five of their six matches in straight sets, with Erik Butzer being pushed to three sets by Grant’s Noah Meuwenburg at third singles before Butzer took the match, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

At first singles, Tell Sutton easily dispatched Roman Aguilar, 6-0, 6-1. Andy Esh took down Simon Carlson at second singles, 6-2, 6-3.

Whitehall swept the doubles matches, all in straight sets. Picking up victories were Jack Dillivan and Tim Hiemstra at first doubles; Drew Bolles and Judd VanBergen at second doubles; Jacob Herbert and Alec Milliron at third doubles; and Matt McCollom and Jack Zwemer at fourth doubles.

Rockets down Muskegon Catholic

MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer easily dispatched Muskegon Catholic Monday in a non-conference match, 7-1.

The Rockets won three matches — fourth singles, third doubles and fourth doubles — by default, as the host Crusaders did not field players in those flights.

All the three Rockets’ players to win their matches did so in straight sets. At first singles, Zack Strong defeated Christian Stone, 6-2, 6-1. Second singles saw Luke Sessink dispatch Adam Lewis, 6-3, 6-0. Nate Grinwis defeated Jack Farrell at third singles, 6-0, 6-3.

At second doubles, Chandler Adame and Jesse Miller knocked off Connor Inglat and Mike Valechare, 6-1, 6-4.

Whitehall 4th at Grand Haven Invite

GRAND HAVEN — Whitehall took fourth place in the Buccaneer Fall Classic last Saturday behind first singles player Tell Sutton, who won all three of his matches.

Sutton defeated Grand Haven’s Korey Searle 7-5, 7-5, beat Zeeland East’s Nate Weeldreyer 6-4, 6-3, and received a forfeit victory against Grand Rapids Catholic’s Joey Ellis when Ellis had to retire due to injury. Ellis was ahead 6-0, 6-5 at the time of his forfeit.

The Doug Baird Controversy at Hesperia

And here I was thinking my second summer in West Michigan would be a quiet one.

Hesperia Community Schools has blown that idea out of the water after the controversial removal (or as the coach's camp is putting it, firing - tomato, to-mah-to, I guess) of its most successful team's coach — wrestling's Doug Baird.

Baird, who coached wrestling at Hesperia for 19 seasons, most of them as head coach, had guided the Panthers to the 2008 state title and overall had led the team to five of the previous eight Division 4 state-finals matches, most recently this February, a match the Panthers narrowly lost to five-time champion Hudson. So his removal was an extreme surprise.

As we dug more into the case, including attending a loud June 11 school board meeting at which the removal was addressed and making a Freedom of Information Act request to find out what was going on, it became obvious this was a big issue to many of the folks in Hesperia.

Baird's removal came as the result of two formal reprimands he received in the spring relating to separate incidents. The first incident, in February at the individual wrestling regional tournament in Rogers City, involved a wrestler bringing marijuana to the hotel at which the team stayed, an incident blamed on Baird because the wrestler in question, along with a couple of teammates, were left at the hotel unsupervised while the rest of the team and staff went to McDonald's (one speaker at the June 11 meeting intimated that the boys weren't taken to McD's because they needed to make weight, which seems sensible).

The second one, the more serious one and the one under the most scrutiny in this case, alleged that Baird did not report evidence of child abuse that was supposedly reported to him during a P.E. class in March. The coach had allegedly been informed by a student that he was inappropriately touched off-campus by a former student whose care he may or may not have been in at the time. The people on Baird's side in that case counter the reprimand with questions as to whether he was truly legally obligated to report what he heard, with some suggesting he was trying to get more information before bringing the matter to the school board.

Whatever happened, the board deemed it enough to remove the coach, and it has already begun the process of hiring a new one, with classified ads in our papers the last couple of weeks. However, Baird's supporters haven't gone quietly, petitioning to recall three of the school board members who voted Baird out (the only three that they can legally recall at this time). His supporters, who've formed a group called Concerned Citizens for Total Education, have also said they will petition to recall board president Todd Jacobs once they can do so at the beginning of 2014. The issue has divided the wrestling program and placed just about everyone in the Hesperia district on opposing sides.

The most curious thing to me, and something that hasn't been fully addressed, mostly due to the firestorm surrounding the removal and the recalls, is that Baird hasn't been removed as a teacher, nor has he been removed from his post as the cross-country coach, coincidentally Hesperia's second-most successful sports program, boasting consecutive state championships in 2010 and 2011. It seems unlikely that any answers on that topic are forthcoming, as the board has stated publicly that they will offer no further comment on anything relating to Baird - and true to their word have not responded to phone messages left in the interim. Baird's supporters have pointed out several times that he can't be that deserving of a firing if they only took away 1 of his 2 coaching jobs and left him installed as a teacher. If the accusations leveled against him are true, it seems that they would be fireable offenses all the way around, and not just at the wrestling level.

It's unclear what will happen from here — the board members under recall are appealing the county's acceptance of the petitions, which will almost certainly delay any potential recall election for months. The recall could not proceed in November unless a minimum amount of signatures are collected by Aug. 2, and signatures can't be collected if the petition is under appeal. This makes it pretty much impossible for a recall to take place before next May, so as far as Baird is concerned he is more or less in a holding pattern. He has filed grievances with the teachers' union in regards to both reprimands, grievances that are still in the process of being sorted out. He's maintained he wants to coach wrestling, and he wants to do it at Hesperia - though it seems that if he were offered the ability to coach wrestling elsewhere it would be hard for him to turn it down given the situation in which he finds himself.

There is much to be determined, but one thing's for sure — this is an unfortunate situation for all involved and one that appears ready to drag on for a while.

Spring Sports Roll On

Whitehall's baseball team, shown here mobbing pitcher
Zach Zweigle after winning the district title last Saturday,
will look for a regional championship this weekend.
(Photo by Andy Roberts)

This year, spring sports in West Michigan are going on beyond their usual end. We have three area teams — Whitehall, Montague and Pentwater — competing in this weekend's regional tournaments. Pentwater hasn't been this far since 1998 and Montague hasn't since 2001, while Whitehall is making their third straight trip to the regionals. Will any of them make it to the quarterfinals?

Montague is probably the team with the best shot — they went 14-0 in West Michigan Conference play this year, although they had to battle to extra innings to beat Mason County Central in the district title game last Saturday. But you can't overlook Whitehall's battle-tested group or Pentwater's veteran team.

Each team would play a quarterfinal game on a college campus if it reached that point. Pentwater's would be at Hope College, Whitehall's would be at Central Michigan and Montague's would be at Michigan State. Selfishly, it'd be pretty cool for me to get to cover a game at MSU, obviously a major school and a school from which I had a cousin graduate. But I'd be thrilled to cover any of the three quarterfinals, each of which are on Tuesday, June 11.

Pentwater golf won their first-ever regional title
Thursday afternoon in St. John's. They'll play in the
state finals next weekend at Michigan State.
(Photo courtesy of Michael DeRuiter)

We also had a golf team — Pentwater — reach the state finals and actually win a regional title Thursday. That was the Falcons' first such title ever, fueled by a 78 from Sam Wagner and an 80 from Chance Helms. Helms' score was especially impressive, as he shot in the mid to high 80s most of the year, and since Pentwater won the regional by two shots, it's safe to say Helms pretty much won it himself with his performance.

We're approaching that depressing two-month stretch where there will be no sports, so I am soaking it all in and enjoying every step of these runs. Hopefully, there will be more to come as we approach the summer.

It's a Big Week

In the prep sports coverage business, most weeks during the school year are the same. You pore through the week's schedule of events and find events to cover that are a) the most newsworthy; b) the most convenient (i.e. it's at a local school); and/or c) contains a local team you haven't given enough coverage to yet. (At our particular papers, I do my best to get a picture of each local team in action into the paper during their season if at all possible, while still trying to make sure the most newsworthy sporting events get coverage.)

This is not a complaint, by the way - it adds a layer of simplicity to a decidedly not-simple job to be able to find the schedule and pick the events to cover.

But the first week of playoff action is not the same. It's not even close.

This is especially the case in the springtime. In the fall and winter, the district rounds of playoff action are generally spread out. Football's playoffs start later than volleyball's, boys basketball playoffs start later than girls, and on and on. But in the spring, girls soccer, baseball and softball all play postseason games in the same week, most of them on the same days. So this means simplicity is out the window.

That day has arrived, as of next Tuesday at least, for me. Our eight schools will begin playoff action Tuesday with the pre-district rounds of baseball, softball and soccer. Thursday will be the girls soccer semifinal games, and Saturday will have the finals of all the events.

I'll utilize this blog to provide some extra updates. My coverage schedule so far is as follows:

Tuesday: I'll be at Hesperia vs. Oakridge baseball/softball pre-districts, while Andrew Skinner, the OHJ editor, will be at Walkerville vs. Pentwater baseball/softball. Greg Means, the Beacon editor, will be covering Mason Co. Eastern vs. Montague soccer.

Wednesday, I will most likely head down to Reeths-Puffer to cover their baseball game against Whitehall. The two teams added that game after both drew pre-district byes as a tune-up.

Thursday will have no local events, but Friday will have the MCE baseball district semifinals and finals, which David Bossick, the LDN sports editor, will cover. Saturday, I will be at the Orchard View district baseball/softball tournament to catch Whitehall, while Andrew Skinner will be at the Manistee district and the Hart soccer district final.

It's going to be fun, guys. Stay tuned.

More Leftovers!

I should really publicize this thing to Beacon readers, because this week I have to put THREE different sports' results in here due to lack of space. We had a bunch more ads this week (yay ads!), and on top of that Cy Berg, our weekly fishing writer, wrote his longest column of my tenure here at the Beacon. So since I had to ax tennis last week, this week I cut golf, lacrosse and track. The results for those are as follows. Sorry to all who wanted them in the hard copy...

GOLF

Rockets 2nd, Whitehall 3rd at GMAA

MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer was tops among area teams at the GMAA golf meet Wednesday, at Chase Hammond Golf Course in Muskegon.

The Rockets came in second with a score of 326, while Whitehall placed third with a score of 355. Montague came in ninth place with a total score of 390.

Mona Shores easily won the city title with a score of 289.

Reeths-Puffer’s best score, and the area’s top mark, was an 80 by Ryan Kooiman. Collin Kolbe shot an 81, Noah Carter had an 82 and Trevor Fowler shot an 83 for the Rockets.

Whitehall’s Logan Irey led the Vikings with a score of 82 and Tyler Carr added an 84. Tell Sutton’s 94 and Chris Lopez’s 95 rounded out the Whitehall scoresheet.

Montague had a rough afternoon compared to its strong performance throughout the season. Dylan Lohman’s 92 led the Wildcats and Tracy Lawrence shot a 96. Three Montague golfers — Riley Lohman, Nate VanGeison and Matt Visger — each fired a 101 for the team.

Vikes 2nd, Montague 4th at WMC Jamboree

WHITEHALL — The Whitehall Vikings placed second Tuesday at the third West Michigan Conference jamboree of the season, held at the White Lake Golf Course. Montague placed fourth.

The Vikings and Wildcats are now second and third respectively in the league standings overall.

Whitehall shot a total of 354, 13 shots behind North Muskegon, which has won all the jamborees so far. Chris Lopez’s 87 led Whitehall, while Logan Irey shot an 88 and Tell Sutton added an 89. Tyler Carr shot a 90, giving the Vikes four scores of 90 or better. Lopez’s mark of 87 ranked seventh in the league individually for the week.

Montague’s best score came from Dylan Lohman, who shot an 89. Tracy Lawrence and Riley Lohman each added a 90, and Nate VanGeison was the Wildcats’ fourth scorer, with a 96.

Through three weeks, Irey is the area’s top scorer, third overall in the conference, with a score of 265. He is two shots behind North Muskegon’s Jacob Chovaz and 20 behind WMC leader Paul Johnson.

Lawrence ranks second in the area and tied for fourth in the league with a cumulative score of 268.

LACROSSE

Rockets upset Zeeland
MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer scored an upset win, its second straight victory, knocking off O-K Conference leader Zeeland at Rocket Stadium Wednesday, 12-11 in double overtime.

The Rockets erased a 9-5 fourth-quarter deficit to force the sudden-death overtime, and it took until the second OT for Curtis Pek to find the back of the net and give the Rockets the win. It was Pek’s third goal of the night to go with three assists.

“Curtis Pek was a major factor in the game,” Reeths-Puffer coach Paul Pek said.

Dean Griffin had four goals and an assist for R-P and Alex Dinger added two goals and three assists. Casey Trautner notched two goals and an assist.

R-P concluded the conference season with a 2-3 league record. The Rockets are 4-6 overall.

R-P beats G.R. South Christian

GRAND RAPIDS — The Reeths-Puffer lacrosse team picked up a O-K Conference win Monday night at Grand Rapids South Christian, riding good defense to an 11-2 win.

The game was originally scheduled for Apr. 11, but was moved to Monday due to weather, replacing a previously-scheduled game with Forest Hills Northern.

The Rockets (3-6, 1-3 O-K) took control of the game in the second quarter, scoring seven goals to the Eagles’ one to take a 10-1 halftime lead.

Alex Dinger had a big night for the Rockets, scoring three goals and assisting on three others. Casey Trautner had three goals and two assists, and Kyle Kolbe had a goal and an assist.

Rockets fall to Holland

MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer dropped an O-K Conference contest Saturday afternoon against Holland, as the Dutch rolled to a 15-8 win.

The Rockets held an 8-4 lead at the halftime break but were shut out in the second half of the defeat.

Casey Trautner led the R-P offense with three goals and an assist, while Curtis Pek added two goals and two assists. Kyle Kolbe had two goals.

The Rockets dropped to 2-6, 0-3 in league play, with the loss.

TRACK

Whitehall track beats Montague

WHITEHALL — Both Whitehall track teams completed an undefeated dual-meet season Tuesday with victories over Montague at a meet in Whitehall.

The Whitehall girls took first place in each event except for three in their 91-35 win — the long jump, won by Montague’s Abby Christmas, the high jump, which Liz Moak won, and the 400-meter relay.

Wins for Whitehall came from Autumn Sherman in the discus; Autumn Christenson in the 100 and 300-meter hurdles; Angela White in the 100-meter dash; Elise Shaffer in the shot put; Jessica Harris in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter run; Leah Deuling in the 400-meter dash; Kallan Sawyer in the 800-meter run; and Star Woods in the 200-meter dash.  The Vikings also won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200-meter relays.

The Whitehall boys recorded an 82-50 win over Montague.

Wildcats’ winners were Max Martin in the 800-meter run; Wyatt Ford in the 200-meter run; and Brennan Zuniga in the 3,200-meter run. The Wildcats also took first in the 400 and 800-meter relay.

The victorious Vikings won the other events. Winners were Isaac Love in the high jump; Tyler Goerbig in the shot put; Devin Schweigert in the pole vault; Matt Russell in the 110-meter hurdles; Antwan Burcks in the 100-meter dash and the discus; Alex Dennis in the 1,600-meter run; Tyler Grove in the 400-meter dash; Sky Christenson in the 300-meter hurdles; and Nick DeCouto in the long jump. The Vikings also recorded wins in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter relay.

Montague's Veronica Charles takes
off on the long jump during last Friday's
Optimist Invitational at Mason Co.
Central. (Photo by David Bossick)

“Both teams lost, but not without a fight,” Montague coach Terry Fick said.

“There was finally some nice weather to compete in,” Whitehall boys’ coach Kirk Mikkelson said. “The kids responded with some great performances.

“First year coaches Isaac Kopec and Leti Longoria-Rudolph have done a fantastic job leading the Lady Vikes to a great season.”

Vikes and ‘Cats compete at Optimist Invite

SCOTTVILLE — A loaded field of 13 track teams competed last Friday at Mason County Central’s Optimist Invitational, including Whitehall and Montague.

Whitehall’s boys team had the best finish of area teams at the meet, placing second to Ludington.

Individual winners for the Vikings included Isaac Love in the high jump and Antwan Burks in the 100 and 200-meter dash. Whitehall also got second-place finishes from Nick DeCouto in the long jump and Tyler Goerbig in the shot put. The Vikings were able to place in most of the events to help provide a team finish of second.

The Montague boys placed 10th, less than a point behind ninth-place Fruitport. Their best finish came in the 400-meter relay, where the team of Luis Aguilar, Brandon Moore, Joe Peterson and Wyatt Ford came in second.

Moore and Ford were third and fourth, respectively, in the 100-meter dash, and Ford placed fourth in the 200.

In the girls’ meet, Whitehall came in eighth place, just behind Hart. Autumn Christenson provided Whitehall’s top finish, placing second in the 100-meter hurdles. The Vikings placed fourth in the 400 and 800-meter relays, and Allison Donahue was fourth in the high jump.

Montague was tied for ninth along with Fruitport in the girls’ meet.

Robbie Berg contributed to both of Montague’s top finishes, placing third in the 100-meter hurdles and also as a member of the Wildcats’ 400-meter relay team that came in third. Sierra Armstrong, Liz Moak and Alex Hennrick were Montague’s other runners in the 400 relay.