Dollar Bay Cashes In on School Records for 1st Finals Title
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
June 6, 2021
KINGSFORD — History was made in the Upper Peninsula Division 3 Track & Field Finals on Saturday as the Dollar Bay Blue Bolts were crowned champions for the first time with 67 points.
They were followed by Pickford with 55 and Rapid River with 47.
Dollar Bay set school records while winning the 1,600-meter relay in three minutes, 42.88 seconds and 3,200 relay in 8:31.01.
Bessemer had won the 3,200 relay eight years in a row. The Speedboys, however, took third this time (8:58.64).
“We got it done,” said senior and Bay College basketball recruit Davin Hill. “Our coach pushed us hard all year. Our practices were harder than the meets.”
Senior John Norland anchored the winning 3,200 relay and took the 400 (51.38) and 800 (2:07.1).
“We knew we had a chance to win the U.P. Finals,” he said. “I ran my second-fastest split (2:01) in the 3,200 relay. The 400 and 800 are tough races. The 800 is very close to a sprint.”
Conner LeClaire added a first in the 300 hurdles (42.33) and second in the 110s (17.63).
Pickford’s lone first came on Hayden Taylor’s toss of 42 feet, 8¼ inches in shot put with Cedarville senior Drew Bailey taking second (42-2).
Rapid River senior Parker Dausey won discus (126-1) and classmate Max Lenaker took high jump (6-1).
North Central took the 400 relay (46.32) and sophomore Luke Gorzinski captured the 200 (23.29), edging Republic-Michigamme’s Isaac Lawrence by two hundredths of a second.
Lawrence won long jump (20-2) and placed third in the 100 (11.69), one hundredth of a second behind Munising’s Micaiah Peramaki.
Brimley senior Cameron Hoornstra won the 100 (11.62), and Rudyard’s Gannon Smith took pole vault (10-6).
Chassell senior Kolson Kytta became a double winner, taking the 1,600 in a school-record 4:35.37 and 3,200 (10:45.14) on a hot and humid day in Dickinson County.
“I did a lot of visualization about how I thought the races would do,” said Kytta, who’s considering running at Michigan Tech. “I put in a lot of training to get better. I don’t think the heat affected me too much.”
Lake Linden-Hubbell recorded its lone first in the 800 relay (1:38.04), and Carney-Nadeau senior Tim Hodson crossed first in the 110 hurdles (17.58).
“Our handoffs looked pretty good,” said senior Caleb Klein, who anchored the winning 800 relay. “This was our best time all year ,and I think the competition helped us a lot. All the adrenalin from all the fans being here also got me going.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Dollar Bay's A.J. Datto passes the baton to Davin Hill during the 1,600 relay Saturday. (Middle) Chassell's Kolson Kytta leads the pack after completing six laps of the 3,200. (Below) Carney-Nadeau's Tim Hodson won the 110 hurdles with Connor LeClaire from Dollar Bay taking second, Pickford's Josh Sullivan taking third, and Powers North Central’s Trenton Naser taking fourth. (Photos by Cara Kamps. Click to see more at RunMichigan.com.)
Peramaki Adds to Past Finals Fame by Leading Munising to Team Title
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
June 4, 2023
KINGSFORD – Munising’s Micaiah Peramaki couldn’t really top last year’s Upper Peninsula Division 3 Finals. He became the eighth male all-time to win four events at an MHSAA track & field championship meet.
“I proved myself last year, so it’s a little more of a fun meet this year,” Peramaki said. “But it’s still important for me just to do good.”
And he was excellent again.
He led the Mustangs to the team title with individual wins in the 100, 200 and 400. He was also a part of the winning 1,600 relay team.
“The 100, I was right next to my brother, Josiah; he ended up getting third. That was really fun actually. We both did really good in that,” Peramaki said. “The 400, I had Aa’Keem (Jackson) from Newberry to watch out for. He pushed it hard in the corner over here, I was prepared for it and I just ran hard from there.”
Josiah Peramaki repeated with a win in the pole vault. Other members of the 1,600 relay were Kane Nebel, Zack Lindquist and Josiah Peramaki.
Munising won the team title with 103.5 points. Newberry was second with 81, Bessemer third with 52 and Rapid River fourth with 44.
Bessemer won the 400 relay (Tommy Trudgeon, Landon Peterson, Daniel Lis and Vinnie Triggiano). Bessemer also finished fifth in the 800 relay – despite being seeded first – and Trudgeon said he had to make a comeback in the 400 relay, which also was seeded first.
He was behind after a shaky handoff, though. But the 100 meters is probably his best race anyway. He finished runner-up to Peramaki, one-tenth of a second behind him.
“I guess I just had to close like a train,” he said of his leg of the relay. “It feels great, glad to win.”
Newberry won the 800 relay (Marco Juarez, Jackson, Matthew Rahilly and Kennedy Depew) and Dollar Bay the 3,200 relay (Joshua Gaunt, Josh Luukkonen, Caleb Kentala and Amos Norland).
Crystal Falls Forest Park’s Samuel McKissack won the 110 hurdles, and Newberry’s Chris Hopson was champion in the 300 hurdles.
In the distance races, Dollar Bay’s Norland won the 800, Forest Park’s Gaven Rintala the 1,600 and Chassell’s Kalvin Kytta the 3,200.
The latter race with Norland was so close – Kytta won by seven hundredths of a second – that Kytta wasn’t sure if he was in fact champion or not.
“I got passed by the leader. I tried to stick on him through the rest of the race,” he said. “He got a little gap on me the last 100 meters. I just felt that juice. I think I passed him.”
It turns out he did.
Whitefish Township, which has just 22 students in the high school, went home with a champion for the first time in school history – Seth Mills in the discus. Newberry’s Rahilly won the long jump, North Central’s Dylan Plunger won the high jump and Rapid River’s Kody Goldi took the shot put.
PHOTOS (Top) Munising's Micaiah Peramaki, center, wins the 400 on Saturday. (Middle) Bessemer's Vinnie Triggiano (4) is able to hold off Lake Linden-Hubbell's Matthew Jokela and Newberry's Kennedy Depew to win the 400 relay. (Below) Chassell's Kalvin Kytta, left, and Dollar Bay's Amos Norland run together until the end of the 3,200. (Photos by Cara Kamps/RunMichigan.com.)