Monroe St. Mary's Boys Finish Meteoric Rise with 1st Finals Team Title
By
Todd VanSickle
Special for MHSAA.com
May 30, 2026
KENT CITY – This was a season of first for the Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central boys track & field program.
And for the first time in school history Saturday, the Falcons won a Finals championship, scoring 39 points to claim the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 title.
Elk Rapids (32) took second and Reed City (31) was third.
“What an amazing day,” said SMCC coach Roman Smith. “This is very exciting. This is the first year our boys have even won a league meet. We went from being winless to state champions. It is pretty special. We have special group of kids.”
Monroe St. Mary’s 400 relay team earned a first place (42.20). The team included Cole Reinhardt, Gavin Swartout, Vince Harris and Brady Reinhardt.
“We had a plan going in to it,” Smith said. “As a coach you look at what your kids can do and seed times, and you hope that they live up to that.”
Monroe St. Mary’s first-year coach felt comfortable with how his relay teams were expected to perform, but knew it would take more to pull off a team championship.
“We knew we had to have some special things happen with our individual medalists, and those things happened,” Smith said. “When you have a kid seeded 23rd and he ends up with a third-place finish in the 100 meters, it really helps when it comes to points.”
Smith was referring to Gavin Swartout, who ran 10.82 seconds in the 100 meters for third place. Wyatt Dehring, of Clinton, won the sprint (10.75).
“I just told my kids to run your marks; go run the times you know you can run and let the chips fall,” Smith said. “It was a battle towards the end. When people were saying we won mathematically, I didn’t believe it. I didn’t want to talk about it.”
Elk Rapids slid into second place late in the meet.
“We are a young group and worked hard to get here,” said Elk Rapids’ coach Cameron Ward. “This means everything. It is still a surprise. It was a great team effort, and hopefully there is more to come.”
The Elks’ were led by freshman Garett Godden, who took second in the 100 meters (10.79) and 200 meters (21.80), the latter after he ran a personal best in the prelims (21.66). All told, he competed in four events.
“With all this running, your legs get so tired,” Godden said, who was making his first Finals appearance. “(This meet) is definitely bigger and a lot more people. It gives me adrenaline.”
The Elks also won the 1,600 relay (3:23.58) with Noah Liggett, Miles Prabhaker, Gavin Hamilton, and Godden. The same team took second in the 800 relay (1:30.07) behind Adrian Madison’s Wade Garza, Bryson Ballantyne, Derrell Tillman and De’Lante Garrison (1:30.01).
Jonesville’s 3,200 relay team (8:01.99) rounded out the relay winners with a team of Nicholas Fowler, Collin Fucile, Ashton Potwin and Caleb Blonde.
In the field events, Montague’s Isaac French won the shot put (54-1), and Bronson’s Brayden Fritz threw the discus 164-2 to claim the title. The top high jumper was Tayeden Redding, of Warren Michigan, with a clearance of 6-6, and Tucker Wiginton, of Springport, pole vaulted a winning height of 15 feet. Reed City senior Jack Deitsch repeated in the long jump (23-5¼).
Charlevoix’s Hunter Eaton ran a personal best to win the 1,600 meters (4:16.08).
“At the 600-meter mark, I was like let’s hammer down and see what happens,” Eaton said. “I was going into today fearing nobody. Try to win. That was the goal.”
It was his third individual Finals title. Last year, he also won the 1,600, and he was the Division 3 cross country champion in the fall.
Eaton also finished fourth in the 3,200 (9:34.53). Logan Youngman, of Hillsdale, won with a personal best performance (9.26.08). Monroe St. Mary’s Christian Craanen took second with a personal best (9:29.35).
Lansing Catholic’s Leland VanAlstine won both the 300 hurdles (14.19) and 110 hurdles (14.42). Detroit Edison senior Dennis Jackson repeated as the 400 champ with a season-best time (48.11) and finished second in the 200 meters (21.80) after finishing fourth last year. Landon Rogers, of Red Arrow (Three Oaks River Valley/New Buffalo), won the 800 meters (1:56.15). Central Montcalm's Zade Kooistra finished first in the adaptive 100 and shot put.
PHOTOS (Top) SMCC's Brady Reinhart, center, runs the final leg for his team's winning 400 relay Saturday. (Middle) Elk Rapids' Garett Godden sets the pace for the winning 1,600 relay. (Click for more from Mary Wilson and John Willoughby/RunMichigan.com.)
Chesaning Boys Vault to Top of Podium, Ovid-Elsie's Tokar Completes Pole Vault Sweep
By
Tom Lang
Special for MHSAA.com
May 31, 2025
KENT CITY – Chesaning came into Saturday’s Lower Peninsula Division 3 Boys Track & Field Finals with some confidence.
But truly, some might not have seen coming what the team went on to accomplish.
After all, Chesaning’s boys did not crack the top 20 last year – but they zoomed to the top in 2025, winning the team title with 57 points ahead of 2024 champion Pewamo-Westphalia with 34 points, Reed City with 33 and Lawton with 32.
Chesaning became the seventh team to win the boys title over the last seven seasons.
“It’s a great group of boys,” said Chesaning coach Dylan Harrington. “They are supportive of each other. They are in it for the team above all else. They work hard together and motivate each other. They pick each other up if they’re down a little bit. And they put their best foot forward today. It was great to see.”
Harrington said there were not really any surprises. He said Caleb Walker has been as solid as anyone can be in the hurdles, and Walker indeed won the 110 race Saturday and finished second in the 300.
“I don’t think he’s been beaten all year in the 110 – and overall, every event we stepped up where they needed to. Our throws got us points. It was just a great team effort.”
The team of Cole Maier, Blake Hoerner, Zach Harlan and Walker won the 1,600 relay at 3:25.20, just ahead of Traverse City St. Francis by 0.59 seconds. That was Chesaning’s only other outright win on the day, proving that team balance works.
Both the 100 and 200 dashes were photo finishes.
Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett senior Cicarella Santino won the 100 at 10.86 seconds, less than a whisker ahead of Pewamo-Westphalia senior Trevor Smith, the 2024 champion, at 10.88. Smith redeemed himself by winning the 200 in 22.40, just ahead of Chesaning’s Harlan at 22.44 and Cicarella in third.
“I knew Trevor is a great competitor,” Santino said about the 100 race. “I knew it was going to be a close race and come down to the wire. And I was prepared for that, but thankfully I came out at the end.
“There are ups and downs throughout the season, but I think I stayed consistent all the way through. I started out indoors, and I worked at it and slowly kept bringing my time down and getting better every single week. Last year, I came in fourth in the 100 (to Smith). Trevor was obviously the guy I was going for all year as the returning champ.”
Smith would have loved to take both titles, but he was content with the 200 win.
“Being able to get another photo finish opportunity, and win this one, was really great,” Smith said about the second race. “I prefer running the 100, but today, I love the 200 win. They were both really great races, really close, and I enjoy that the most out of anything.”
Smith ran in two relay races as well.
“Usually, my favorite race anytime is the 4 x 100,” Smith said. “It’s because I’m running my favorite open race, the 100, but I’m at full speed by the time I get the baton, and I’m able to run, so it just makes you feel a lot faster and a lot better about yourself.”
Smith said he is going to Ferris State on Tuesday to talk to the coaches about a possible future there.
Another college bound senior is heading to Alma College, but to play football.
Pole vaulter Tryce Tokar of Ovid-Elsie won his fourth title in that field event, completing a Finals career sweep. He finished at 15 feet.
“It’s relieving now to win four straight,” he said. “That pressure is off. But it was fun today. I like vaulting.
“I had a couple of injuries early on, which I normally do honestly,” Tokar explained about the start to the spring season. “That’s pretty consistent when you transfer from football to track; you have some injuries to overcome. Everyone does, I’m not singled out. But I overcame it.
“I’m not really the fastest guy,” he added about excelling in pole vault. “I don’t really run sprints or anything. But I’m pretty athletic and just good enough to be a good vaulter. It takes a lot of technique. I owe a lot of it to coaches, and I like the athletic aspect of it.”
PHOTOS (Top) From left, Chesaning's Zach Harlan, Pewamo-Westphalia's Trevor Smith and Detroit Edison's Dennis Jackson push to the finish of the 200 championship race at Kent City. (Middle) Ovid-Elsie's Tryce Tokar crosses over the pole vault bar on the way to winning that championship for the fourth-straight season. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)