Olivet Girls Continue Reign as Peters Closes Championship-Filled Career
By
Todd VanSickle
Special for MHSAA.com
May 30, 2026
KENT CITY – After winning its first Finals championship in girls track & field a year ago by just five points, Olivet extended its title reign with another close finish Saturday at Kent City.
The Eagles scored 82 points at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 championship meet to outpace Lansing Catholic (76), with Pewamo-Westphalia (61.5) third.
“I am an alumni of the school, so to come back and do this is, is awesome,” Olivet head coach Brian Lincoln said. “We knew going in that it is was going to be a battle with Lansing Catholic. Our girls stepped up, like they have all season and for the past four seasons.”
Olivet senior Emily Peters claimed her fourth 300-meter hurdles title in 44 seconds. She qualified for this meet in seven events.
“It is pretty crazy,” said Peters said, who plans to run track for Northwood University next season. “Going into my freshman year, I knew I was pretty fast, but I never expected to have this kind of success.
“This is a perfect ending. It is the culmination of all my hard work. I am so grateful for this.”
Peters also took second in the 100-meter hurdles with a personal best of 14.83 seconds as the Eagles had success in several events.
Celina Sinclair won the 200 meters with a personal best of 24.91 seconds after finishing second in the prelims. The Eagles’ 400 relay team of Bailey Powell, Lola Miars, Peters and Sinclair took first place (49.51) over Kingsley (49.53) and Traverse City St. Francis (49.77). Olivet’s 800 relay team (Peters, Sinclair, Miars and Kendall Eggerstedt) also found the top spot on the podium (1:44.67).
Pewamo-Westphalia won the 3,200 relay (9:40.94) with Julia Paxton, Katherine Schafer, Adelyn Thelen and Calista George. Lansing Catholic was second and Saugatuck finished third.
Montrose’s Addyson Stiverson won the shot put with an all-Finals record of 55 feet, 6½ inches. The previous record (50-9½) was set in 2021 by Bryon’s Sarah Marvin.
Second place went to Pewamo-Westphalia’s Jenna Spitzley with a toss of 38-1¾. “If you would have asked me a week ago, I didn’t think I would have been in the 38 range,” Spitzley said.
The Pirates senior also won the discus with a throw of 136-7. She credited her family for her success.
“I had my brother there,” Spitzley said. “He has been coaching me a lot and helping me.”
She will attend Hillsdale College in the fall and plans to throw the shot put, discus and the hammer at the collegiate level.
Olivia Beaudrie, of Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central, won the high jump with a leap of 5-4. Julia Sergeant, of Houghton Lake, took first place in the pole vault clearing 11 feet after finishing sixth in the event last spring.
“I am really happy with my progress this year,” Sergeant said.
Despite being the top seed, she was a little nervous coming into meet.
“There were a few girls I was a little intimidated by,” Sergeant said. “There were two girls I have never seen vault before, but I knew what I was capable of and I did it.”
Novella DeGraff, of Saugatuck, had a personal best of 10-9 in the pole vault to finish second. She also finished third in the long jump with a personal best of 17-2. Smantha Hopkins, of Harrison, was first with a leap of 17-4¾.
Both of DeGraff’s marks in the field events set school records. It was the second year DeGraff had competed at the Finals, although she missed last season’s meet due to a torn knee ligament. She also ran a personal best in the 100-meter hurdles for third place (14.83).
“Today has been pretty chaotic,” DeGraff said. “I planned to try my best, but I didn’t expect I would do as good as I am. My mentality was to have a good time.”
Lansing Catholic’s Grace Wonch (4:58.84) and Josie Bishop (4:58.89) took first and second, respectively, with personal bests in the 1,600 meters. Bishop won the 800 meters (2:16.07), while Wonch took the bronze. Wonch also claimed the 3,200 meters (10:53.12) and Tiya Feldpausch, of Olivet, was second. (10:58.84).
The reigning 100 hurdles champion Julia Hughes repeated with a run of 14.55 seconds. She took third in the 300 hurdles.
Erie Mason senior Giuliana Nastale repeated as the 100 champion in 12.11 seconds. Sinclair, of Olivet, was second. Ella Clause, of Clinton, ran a personal best (57.99) to claim the 400. Centreville's Diannah Schwartz finished first in the 100, 200, 400 and shot put adaptive events.
PHOTOS (Top) Olivet's Emily Peters, center, clears a hurdle on the way to a runner-up finish in the 100 hurdles race Saturday. (Middle) Montrose's Addyson Stiverson launches the shot; she set the all-Finals record in the event. (Click for more from Mary Wilson and John Willoughby/RunMichigan.com.)
Preview: Historic Collection of Contenders Setting Bar High for UP Girls Finals
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 31, 2024
Lineups filled with past champions and emerging stars in all three divisions could make Saturday’s Upper Peninsula Girls Track & Field Finals an event we recall for years to come.
Headlining the day, Lake Linden-Hubbell junior Emily Jokela will attempt to win four individual events for the second straight season and bring her career Finals title total to 11, while fans will watch one last time as nine-time individual event winners Danica Shamion from West Iron County and Lola Korpi from Ishpeming complete their careers.
All three divisions will again be contested at Kingsford High School, with preliminaries leading off the day at 9 a.m. local (Central) time. Tickets cost $11 and are available digitally only via GoFan.
MHSAA.tv will live-stream the meets beginning at 9 a.m. (CDT)/10 a.m. (EDT), viewable with subscription. Check out the Girls Track & Field page for meet information and lists of all qualifiers. Those described as "seeded" below have received those seeds based on Regional performances.
Following is a glance at team contenders and individuals to watch in all three divisions:
Division 1
Team forecast: After Marquette dominated most of the last decade, the Sentinels and Negaunee have taken turns winning Division 1 and finishing runner-up most of the last six seasons. Marquette was first last year by 34 points ahead of the Miners. But Gladstone and Sault Ste. Marie have several high seeds heading into Saturday – and a team title won by either would be the first not claimed by Marquette or Negaunee since Escanaba shared the 2007 championship.
Ella Fure, Marquette sophomore: She made her Finals debut last season by winning the 3,200 and finishing third in the 800, and she’ll run those two races and also is seeded first in the 1,600 (5:37.84).
Danielle Lund, Manistique senior: She’s seeded first in both discus (101-11) and shot put (35-8) and will run on two relays after winning shot put and finishing third in discus, and running on the winning 400 relay and runner-up 1,600 relay in Division 2 a year ago. She also won Division 2 shot put as a sophomore.
Lexi Olson, Ishpeming Westwood junior: The reigning champion in the pole vault will again compete in that event and the high jump, and also run on the 800 relay.
Madison Pekrul, Negaunee junior: After winning the 100 hurdles and finishing second in the 300 as a freshman, she flipped those results with a 300 title and 100 hurdles runner-up finish last spring. She’s seeded second in the 300 (49.43), third in the 100 hurdles (17:37) and will run on the 1,600 relay.
Tessa Rautiola, Houghton sophomore: Her Finals debut in 2023 included championships in the 1,600 and 3,200 relay and a third place in the 3,200 run, and she’s slated to run all three events again with the top seed in the 3,200 (12:28.02) and second in the 1,600 (5:38.85).
Faith Spiroff, Ishpeming Westwood junior: She’s won the high jump the last two seasons and also won long jump and finished fifth in the 100 as a sophomore. She’s top-seeded in the long jump (17-1¾) and high jump (5-4) and will also run the 100 and 800 relay.
Jacie Tuljus, Gladstone junior: She’s seeded first in the 100 (12.73), 200 (27.06) and 400 (1:02.33) and as part of the 400 relay (51.50) after finishing third in the 100 and 200 as a sophomore.
Division 2
Team forecast: Bark River-Harris has won the last two championships, last year 13 points ahead of runner-up Ishpeming. The Broncos will again turn to a pair of standouts this weekend among several others. But the Hematites again feature a big points scorer in the distance races in Lola Korpi, and West Iron County boasts the same potential in the sprints with Danica Shamion – which could make for another tight race at the top.
Mya Hemmer, Ishpeming sophomore: Her Finals debut last season included a championship in the long jump and runner-up finish in the shot put, and she’ll compete in those two plus long jump and also run on the 800 relay.
Mckenzie Hoffmeyer, Bark River-Harris senior: After winning long jump as a freshman and sophomore, she finished second to Hemmer in that event last spring but was also third in the 100, second in the 200 and added a second relay championship to her career total. She’s seeded first this weekend in the 100 (13.19), 200 (26.83) and long jump (13.19) and will run on the top-seeded 800 relay (1:52.43).
Lola Korpi, Ishpeming senior: Regardless of what happens Saturday, she’ll graduate as one of the most accomplished distance runners in U.P. Finals history after already winning the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 her first three years and running on winning relays two of those seasons. She enters this time as the second seed in the 800 (2:33.18), top seed in the 1,600 (5:40.23) and 3,200 (12:28.98) and running on the top-seeded 3,200 relay (11:24.83).
Danica Shamion, West Iron County senior: Shamion is to sprints what Korpi is to distance, having won the 100, 200 and 400 all of her first three seasons and setting the UPD2 Finals records in the 200 and 400. She enters Saturday seeded fourth in the 100, fifth in the 200, but first in the 400 (59.95) and also fifth in the high jump after finishing runner-up in that field event a year ago.
Lauren Zawada, Bark River-Harris senior: Another major scorer for the reigning team champ, Zawada has been on winning relays the last two years – including two in 2023 when she also was second in the 300 hurdles and fifth in the high jump. She’s top-seeded in the high jump (4-10), 100 hurdles (17.61), 300 hurdles (50.76) and will run on the top-seeded 1,600 relay (4:25.07).
Division 3
Team forecast: Lake Linden-Hubbell and Stephenson shared the championship last season, breaking Ontonagon’s two-year hold on the title. Four-event winner Emily Jokela is back for Lake Linden-Hubbell after scoring 40 of her team’s 72 points a year ago, but the standings also could see some shifting with St. Ignace moving in from Division 2 and Newberry showing several high-seeded qualifiers across the meet.
Kaylen Clark, Newberry senior: After running to the 1,600 and 3,200 championships last season, and as part of second and fourth-place relays, she’s top-seeded in the 3,200 (12:53.95) and as part of the 3,200 relay (10:23.81), third-seeded in the 800 and fourth-seeded in the 1,600.
Abi Codere, Lake Linden-Hubbell senior: She won the 100 hurdles for the third time last season, and also was part of the winning 400 relay and runner-up in pole vault. She’ll run on 400 and 800 relays Saturday and is top-seeded in the pole vault (9-8).
Emily Jokela, Lake Linden-Hubbell junior: After winning the 100, 200, 400 and 300 hurdles last season – and the 200, 400 and 300 hurdles as a freshman in 2022 – Jokela is top-seeded in the 100 (13.35), 400 (1:00.75) and 300 hurdles (48.81) and third-seeded in the 200 (27.29).
Nora Keranen, Dollar Bay junior: Last year’s long jump champion will compete in that event plus high jump, pole vault and as part of the 400 relay.
Mariska Laurila, Carney-Nadeau junior: She won discus, was second in shot put and seventh in long jump as a sophomore, and returns as the top seed in the shot put (33-7) and competing in the shot put, long jump and this time as part of the 400 relay as well.
Avery Visnaw, St. Ignace sophomore: She made her Finals debut last season with the pole vault championship, a runner-up finish in the 100 hurdles, fifth place in the 300 and as part of the runner-up 400 relay in Division 2. This weekend she’s third-seeded in pole vault, fourth-seeded in 300 hurdles and fifth-seeded in 100 hurdles, and running on the top-seeded 400 relay (54.56).
PHOTO Ishpeming Westwood's Faith Spiroff competes on the way to winning the high jump at the Mid-Peninsula Conference championship meet May 22. (Photo by Cara Kamps.)