As the regular track and field season is winding down, the Sault High Blue Devils sent a number of athletes to compete in Division 1 Region 41 qualifier in Escanaba. The meet drew athletes from Marquette, Menominee, Manistique, Gladstone and Escanaba, with the top four finishers advancing to the UP Finals competition in Kingsford in two short weeks. Marquette boys and girls won the event, with the Sault boys taking second and the Lady Blue Devils coming in third.
Regarding the boys that competed, Head Coach Jim Martin was pleased. “I thought we exceeded expectations. I thought we’d get 8-12 out and we have 14 athletes advancing We also tied our best performance (2nd place again) in a Regional championship.”
One Blue Devil, junior sprinter Javonte Bellamy, broke the school record in the boys 100m dash with a time of 10.94. When asked about it, he replied “It felt great to break the school record, all last season I knew I could be better and do better. So coming into this season I set an “unrealistic” goal for myself. Or so everyone thought, I kept on pushing myself to be better and faster everyday and genuinely believed I was going to break the record and that just goes to show, anything you put your mind to you can accomplish.” As for his goals for the rest of the season, Bellamy noted “I want to keep on working hard until finals and when finals comes, I want to win my two individual events and my team to win it all.”
There were a number of regional champions for the Blue Devils. The girls 4×800 relay team of Asia Jones, Isabelle McCord, Regan Sporte, and Stephanie Jones finished with a time of 11:01.69. Johnny Osborn (22.29) won the adaptive 100m race. Osborn also outraced his opponent from Marquette in both the 200m (40.26) and 400m (1:24.53) events. Annabelle Fazzari (33’0”) won the girls shot put, Brady Ditmyer (44’2”) won it for the boys, and Osborn (17’8”) clinched the victory in the seated shot put event.
Runners up include Grace Mayer (1:03.61) in the girls 400m dash, Fazzari (50.70-PR) in the girls 300m low hurdles, Owen Rice (41.92-PR) for the boys 300m low hurdles, and Gabe Litzner in both the 1600m (4:40.44) and 3200m (9:34.06) run. The boys 4×100 relay team of Dean Roe, Max VanDoren, Tristan Walcher and Bellamy finished with a time of 45.42. The girls 4×200 relay team of Abrianna Spencer, S. Jones, Mayer and Bella Smith finished with a time of 1:53.47. Caleb Klier, Ian Southwell, Rice and Eli Hills finished the boys 4×400 relay in 3:35.46. Evan Huyck, Adam Brandt, Hills and Litzner had a 9:07.12 finish in the boys 4×800 relay.
Third place finishers include Bellamy (22.86) in the boys 200m dash and Smith (27.59-SR) in the girls 200m dash. The girls 4×100 relay team of Jordyn Giffin, Mayer, McCord, and Smith finished with a time of 54.03. S. Jones, Smith, Ava Mayer and G. Mayer had a 4:24.52 finish in the girls 4×400 relay. Isaac Niebuhr placed in both the boys 110 high hurdles (17.33) and 300m low hurdles (43.49). McCord jumped to 4’10” to qualify in the girls high jump.
Lastly, finishing fourth for the Blue Devils were Southwell (53.04-PR) in the boys 400m run and Hills (2:02.40-PR) in the boys 800m run. The 4×200 relay team of Roe, VanDoren, Southwell and Klier finished with a time of 1:37.16.
Coach Becky Arbic praised the athletes’ efforts at the qualifying meet. “Our relays ran well, not sure how many PR’d but I think all of them. Izzy McCord jumped her PR twice this week, 4’10”, that was a 4” improvement!!! She qualified in high jump, first girl from the Soo to do that since my Joanne did in 2019. Annabelle Fazzari qualified in the 100 & 300 hurdles & dropped 2 seconds in the 300’s she also qualified in shot. Javonte broke the 100M dash school record & our boys hurdlers did well, as did the boys relays.”
Girls Head Coach Scott Menard reflected on the regional event as well. “I thought the girls performed as well as could be expected. We had a lot of personal bests, but Gladstone and Marquette just had too much this year and will be tough to beat at UP Finals.”
The Blue Devils will compete later this week at the Northmen Fun Run in Petoskey.
- Blue Devils Have Strong Finish at UP Finals - June 9, 2025
- Regional Results; Bellamy Breaks Record - May 21, 2025
- Road to Regionals: Blue Devils Take Bulldog Invite - May 14, 2025
