Blue Devils Have Strong Finish at UP Finals

The Sault High Blue Devils track and field teams put their best efforts in against some tough Division 1 competition at the UP Finals meet in Kingsford last weekend. The boys team came away as runners up, and the girls had a fourth place team finish. Four Blue Devils won individual titles, with one athlete breaking his UP Finals record he set last year. Junior Gabe Litzner set a new UP Finals meet record, and Division 1 record in the 3200m run, finishing in 9:31.20. Upon winning this event again, Litzner remarked “I was nervous but I wanted to keep the record. I was happy and relieved to set the record.” Litzner broke the school record, which he owned, earlier in the season when he had a 9:14.18 finish at a meet in the lower peninsula.

Senior Annabelle Fazzari competed in the finals for the fourth year in a row and brought home her first D1 championship in the girls shot put. When asked how that felt, Fazzari replied “It was really fun!! I have competed in this event at UP finals all four years and watched other girls win first place, some that were even on my team. After placing close many times I finally placed first! I felt like all my hard work finally paid off for a great finish for my senior year!”

Junior sprinter and recent record breaker Javonte Bellamy won the boys 100m dash, finishing in 10.97. “It was a different feeling to win the 100 at finals, it felt like all my hard work paid off, but then something clicked in my brain and I realized that I can still be better and still be faster it felt really good to win but it felt even better knowing that I have the opportunity to put in more training next year to be even faster. Bottom line is, works not finished.”

Senior adaptive athlete Johnny Osborn had an exceptional end to his season as well. “It was unbelievable the amount of improvements I made to be able to win all four events. My hard work paid off and you can see my times dropping throughout the year. Shot-Put was okay. I won and I am the 4 time UP State Champion for 9th through 12th grade. Sadly, I threw my worst throw of the year. The 100m was awesome to race against other adaptive wheelchair athletes. When I race by myself I can’t tell how fast I’m going. I got a Personal Record (PR) by 1 second 20.60! The 400m was in my opinion my best event of the day. I got a PR by 5 seconds 1:17.31. It helped that I was in lane 3 starting behind and had to work to chase up. After the 200m all I wanted to do was try again. I was 0.1 away from my PR and it was the last thing I did as a high schooler! I ended my career with 4 UP State Records, 4 School Records, and I am the second fastest in the state for wheelchair racers, and second in shot put! I am grateful and excited that I got to score points to help my team throughout the year. But the job isn’t done! Sadly the MHSAA hasn’t approved the ability for adaptive athletes to score points at Regionals and Finals. There was a point in the meet where the Boy’s Team was behind Kingsford for 2nd Place by 4 points only having two events left. We ended up winning but I felt defeated at that point when I worked so hard and if I would’ve been able to score one point per event like I did at local meets, we would’ve been tied and I would’ve been sad if we lost. The Boy’s Team brought home the 2nd place trophy and if Coach Martin is correct we haven’t brought home a trophy since 2008!”

Head Coach for the boys team, Jim Martin reflected on the day. “Saturday’s meet was a microcosm of our season. Seemed like for every success we had a disappointment. We had very few PR’s. If it were a baseball team we’d say we didn’t have our best stuff. But just like they have all season long, they kept working, pushing, clawing, digging and most importantly, they never gave up on themselves, their coaches and most importantly their teammates. This was a total team effort. 13 of 14 athletes scored points and earned Division I All-State status. Not to mention, we brought home a MHSAA Division I Runner-up trophy for the first time in almost a generation. 2008 is the last time we brought home a trophy from our State Final. Most of our kids weren’t even born yet. But they are a scrappy group and they were not going to be denied. They worked too hard to let it slip away. That tenacity was rewarded as we scored 20 points in the last three events to seal the deal.”

The top six athletes in each event earned points for their team. Both Thelma Osumili 30’1.5” and Brady Ditmyer 44’0.25” finished third in their respective shot put events. The 4×800 girls relay team of Asia Jones, Izzy McCord, Regan Sporte and Stephanie Jones had their best time of the season, 10:57.54, earning a fifth place finish. The boys relay team of Evan Huyck, Adam Brandt, Caleb Klier and Eli Hills also had their best time of the season, 8:20.55, taking third place. Fazzari had a fifth place finish (16.83 – PR) in the girls 100m high hurdles. Abrianna Spencer, S. Jones, Grace Mayer and Bella Smith were runners up in the 4×200 relay with a season’s best time of 1:50.72. For the boys relay, Dean Roe, Max VanDoren, Ian Southwell and Klier came in fourth place, with their best time, 1:35.44. Litzner was runner up in the 1600m run, with a time of 4:20.16. The girls 4×100 relay team of Jordyn Giffin, Mayer, McCord and Smith had their best time of the season, 53.22, good enough for a fifth place finish. Roe, VanDoren, Tristan Walcher and Bellamy had a fourth place finish in the boys relay, with a time of 45.44. Mayer placed third in the girls 400m dash, with her fastest time, 1:02.31. Southwell had a fifth place finish for the boys, in 52.71. In the 300m low hurdles, Fazzari had a sixth place finish, with a time of 50.73 and Owen Rice finished fourth for the boys with his fastest time ever, 41.90. The teams finished strong in the last running event of the day, the 4×400 relay. S. Jones, Smith, Mayer and Ava Mayer finished third for the girls with a time of 4:19.30. For the boys, Klier, Southwell, Rice and Hills were runners up, with a time of 3:38.69.

Girls team head coach Scott Menard reflected on the day. “From a girls standpoint, 4th place is where I thought we would end up as a team. I was very happy with the efforts and results of our girls yesterday. All our relay teams had PR’s, highlighted by our 4×200 team, who dropped three seconds off their best time. Grace Mayer in the 400, Bella Smith in the 200, and Annabelle Fazzari in the 100 hurdles also all had personal bests on Saturday. I was very happy for Annabelle, who won her first individual title in her career in winning the shot put. All in all, it was a very good day for our girls.”

Coach Martin chimed in again. “As for individual efforts, all four relays were in the top four. The 4×800 relay missed the school record by less than a second and PR’d by over 30 seconds. The 4×200 and 4×100 PR’d. The 4×400 team clinched the win with their second fastest time all year. Braden Ditmyer had the second best throw of his career to place 3rd in the shot put while Johnny Osborn won four events in the adaptive division and had 3 PR’s to close out his high school career. Javonte Bellamy had a hand in scoring 16 points. He took us from 7th in the 4×100 to 4th. He also just missed the Upper Peninsula 100 meter record by two one hundredths of a second in winning that race. Owen Rice closed out his high school career with a blazing fast (and PR) 300 meter hurdle race. Not to be outdone, Gabe Litzner had a stellar day. Not only was he runner-up in the mile, he won the two mile in the fastest time in Upper Peninsula track and field history.”

Middle distance coach and high jump coach Becky Arbic was proud of both teams’ efforts. “All of our athletes rose to the occasion & gave their best efforts! We’ve had a very cold season & had to run in the school hallways much more than we would have liked to, the kids really worked hard despite difficult training conditions. All of our relays gave top performances. Annabelle, Gabe & Javonte were individual champions, they battled well to win. Our young runners got good experience & we are looking forward to the future, our veterans have been fantastic leaders this season, they will be missed by their teammates & coaches.”

Martin, Menard and Arbic were joined by Coaches Tony McLain and Rick Stupak this season.

Photo credit: Hannah Klier