County athletes from Glen Lake, Leland, and Lake Leelanau St. Mary shined at the MHSAA Div. 4 State Championships in Hudsonville on Saturday.
Glen Lake junior Colebrook Sutherland and Laker seniors Eleanor Valkner and Kariesue Taghon finished the highest among county athletes at the meet. Leland’s Ella Knudsen also showed out along with other impressive finishes for the Comets, Lakers and Eagles.
Sutherland broke the mile record with a fourth-place, school-record finishing time of 4:25.6.
“That’s the one I was really after all year. I barely got it, but I had to save it for the last minute,” Sutherland said.
Sutherland broke the schoolrecord time of 4:26.8 set by Justin Kibbey in 1999. He found his pace in the top-10 for most of the race before out-kicking at least four runners to finish fourth overall.
“I knew I just wanted to try my hardest and not leave anything,” Sutherland said. “Everyone wants to go out fast and it’s easy to catch elbows at the start.”
His goal for next year is to break the 800-meter school record.
Glen Lake senior Valkner finished fourth in the discus with an Allstate throw of 113 feet 7 inches.
“There was really good competition. I was making sure I brought my ‘A’ game,” she said. “It was important to just keep my mind and do my own thing, Instead, of getting distracted by how everyone else was throwing.”
In 2023, Valkner qualified for states but didn’t place. This year, she finished her illustrious career in style.
“It was cool to see how much I’ve improved since freshman year because I’ve been working hard and this (meet) was about perfecting all of my work,” Valkner said.
Valkner also finished 24th in shot put with a throw of 29 feet 4.25 inches. She will be heading to Michigan State University in the fall to join the livestock industries program to learn more about farming.
Glen Lake’s Kariesue Taghon stamped her name in the record books with a dazzling finish in the girls 100-meter dash at the state meet.
Taghon finished sixth in the prelims with a time of 13.09 to claim a spot in the finals. She improved by one place, finishing fifth in the finals with a blazing time of 13.15.
Taghon also finished 15th overall in the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.36.
Leland junior Ella Knudsen finished eighth overall with a personal record time of 5:18 in the mile to claim an Allstate finish. She turned around and finished 19th overall in the 3200meter run with a time of 12:14.
Leland freshman Natalie Burpee finished 29th with a time of 12:59.
The Glen Lake girls relay teams ran their hearts out for good finishes during the state championships. The Lakers 4x200-relay team of Taghon, Emily Alaimo, Robin Lane, and Lydia Fosmore finished 13th with a time of 1:52.
Taghon, Alaimo, Lane, and Fosmore also finished 22nd in the 1600-meter relay (4:31).
For the boys, Lake Leelanau St. Mary first state-qualifying two-mile relay team of Oliver Mitchell, Derek Graham, Garrett Grant, and Garrick Collins finished 25th with a time of 9:06.
The Lakers had four relay teams show impressive results. Glen Lake’s 4x800-meter relay team of Dylan Cundiff, Abraham Feeney, Tyler Bixby, and Sutherland finished seventh in the two-mile relay, claiming all-state recognition with a time of 8:22. The Lakers mile relay team also saw success with a 14th place finishing time that included Boden Fisher, Cundiff, Benji Allen, and Tyler Bixby. Glen Lake’s 4x200-relay team of Fisher, Bixby, Cundiff, and Porter Martin finished 13th with a time of 1:36.
The Lakers 4x100-relay team also finished 26th with a time of 47.63 (Boden Fisher, Noah Scott, Porter Martin, and Breckin Nerg).
Bixby went out with a bang in the 300-meter hurdles as he finished 16th with a time of 43.26.
Glen Lake freshman Abraham Feeney finished 20th in the mile with a time of 4:47.
Leland senior Agustin Creamer finished 20th in the mile with a personal record time of 10:18 in the two-mile to cap off an incredible career.
Lakers Relay team breaks the school record.
Before claiming an Allstate finish at the state championships, the Glen Lake 4x800-relay team broke the school record at the John Lober Record-Eagle Meet last Tuesday with a time of 8:14. The school record now belongs to Abraham Feeney, Tyler Bixby, Dylan Cundiff, and Colebrook Sutherland.
