-
Forest Park Elsie Williams running the relay race. -
Look at the determination on West Iron County Danica Shamion's face. Go Danica! -
Forest Park Dietrich Rasner has some height on his jumps. -
West Iron County Savannah Parker holding her pace in this race. -
Crossing the finish line, Vienna Price of Forest Park. -
Cheyenne Ritchie of West Iron County determined to give it her all in this relay race.
Forest Park Elsie Williams running the relay race.
Look at the determination on West Iron County Danica Shamion's face. Go Danica!
Forest Park Dietrich Rasner has some height on his jumps.
West Iron County Savannah Parker holding her pace in this race.
Crossing the finish line, Vienna Price of Forest Park.
Cheyenne Ritchie of West Iron County determined to give it her all in this relay race.
By Patrick Browne
KINGSFORD — May 13, the West Iron Wykons and Forest Park Trojans participated in the Kingsford Invitational Track Meet, proving local talent is abundant in the county. Myriad first place awards clearly displayed why this year’s Upper Peninsula Championships on June 1 should see our teams perform well.
Leading the Lady Wykons, senior Danica Shamion once again earned first place finishes in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes as well as the high jump. The future Central Michigan Chippewa held nothing back as she ran the quarter mile in less than one minute and bested second place by over four seconds. The second place finisher, sophomore Elsie Williams of Forest Park ran an inspired race and responded well, but could not overcome the future Division 1 athlete.
After taking a strong second, the determined Williams bounced back to win the long jump with a leap of 15 feet six inches.
“Something must have been in the air as I PRed in all my events!” Williams said.
“Elsie has cut significant time off her 400 and has made fantastic gains in the long jump,” said Coach Lindsay Anderson.
Forest Park’s Vienna Price, a freshman who has her eyes on the school’s distance records, earned first place in the 800-meter dash, the mile and the two-mile. Her 800 performance saw her beat out second by over 13 seconds, an impressive margin of victory.
“My coach, DJ Rasner, has been pushing us with the hill repeats which is leading me to be successful,” Price said.
The Wykons’ Sidney Storti, an impressive multi-sport athlete, had a strong showing in both the discus and the shot put, finishing second in the discus with a toss of 77 feet eight inches and third in the shot put with a throw of 25 feet 11 inches.
Wykon Coach Kristi Berutti was effusive in her praise.
“Sidney is one of our team captains,” she said. “She leads our group of throwers and has made nice gains this year, especially in the discus. She is always positive and cheers her teammates on. We are thankful she has one more year with us.”
When team scores were tallied at the end of the meet, the girls at Forest Park eked out an eight-point victory over the Wykons who finished a strong second and were missing a couple of their consistent point-winners. With the Trojans coming in first and the Wykons a close second, both teams made excellent showings and represented the area well.
Both teams have been running shorthanded and are hopeful to be at full strength in time for Regionals and the Upper Peninsula Championships.
“We are working hard at practice and we have a couple of runners out sick which is really hurting our total points,” said Wykon coach Berutti.
Anderson of Forest Park said: “I was thrilled with our performance against some really large schools. We were missing our senior distance runner Tatum Clark, but fortunately were able to eke out a win.”