Chelsea, MI. – The Chelsea High School hosted the track and field regionals in Region 16 and the Chelsea Bulldog girls took first place with 128.5 points, almost 30 points more than second-place finisher Monroe Jefferson. The Adrian boys team took first place with 79 points with the home Bulldogs finishing second with 67.5 points and third place Tecumseh with 65 points finishing third.
Fourteen Bulldogs qualified for the Division 2 state finals. Carley Grabarczyk qualified for the final in three events and was part of the 4×100 relay team that finished second along with Leila Wells, Aleeah Wells, and Teagen Hill. Leila Wells qualified also in three events including the 4×200 relay and finished third with a qualifying time with Aleeah Wells, Addie Howard, and Hill.
Karlie Van Remortel did outstanding and the young athlete was the regional champion in the pole vault and will be joined at the state finals by Lissa Krueger who finished second.
Anna Brant finished second in the shot put and will also be representing the Bulldogs. Also qualifying were the 4×400 relay team of Howard, Brinna Wenzel, Sam Bieber, and Caitlyn Ash which finished second, and the 4×800 relay team of Ceci Bayer, Sofie DeMea, Madison Morgan, and Bieber with a second-place finish.
Jake Nelson will be representing his Bulldogs as the 4 time adaptive sports state champion and will be racing the 100m, 200m, and 400m.
In the field events, Matt Foor from Carleton Airport threw the shotput 52 feet for the championship. In the boys’ discus, it was Foor again throwing for 177’1″, more than 40 feet further than the second-place finisher Bryan McCutcheon from Tecumseh. Ben Merkel from Monroe Jefferson got 6’4″ in the high jump while his schoolmate Michael Armetta jumped 21’4″ in the long jump. Sam Vesperman of Grosse Ile dominated in the pole vault with a height of 14’6″.
For the Girl’s field results it was Layla Tahmouch of Jefferson throwing the shotput 37″7″ only a little over a foot further than the second-place Brant. In the discus, it was Keola Botts of Flat Rock winning a throw of 123’4″. It was Riley Kerr of Grosse Ile winning the high jump with a great jump of 5’2″ while her schoolmate Kaitlyn Molnar dominated 16’10” long jump. In the pole vault it was Chelsea’s Van Remortel finishing first with a vault of 9’7″ while her schoolmate Lisa Krueger took second qualifying her for states.
Molnar, the senior from Grosse Ile was named one of the top athletes from the downriver area to watch and she did not disappoint as she helped her Red Devils girl’s team finish fifth as she set a personal record (pr) in the 300m hurdles with a time of 47.76.
The Division 2 state championship will be held June 1st at Hamilton High School.
