SHELBY – Though Shelby and Hesperia’s track and field teams gave it their all, neither could get the better of North Muskegon Tuesday, April 15.
The Panthers and Norsemen gathered at the Tigers’ home track on Tuesday for a tri meet. North Muskegon’s boys team totaled 99 team points, leaving Shelby (18) and Hesperia (11) in the dust.
While Shelby couldn’t notch a first-place finish on the boys side, they did excel in the sprinting events. Isaac Garcia posted top-five finishes in both the 100-meter and the 200, finishing in fifth and third respectively. Trey Gauthier also finished fourth in the 100 for the Tigers, while Alvin Espinoza claimed fifth. Hesperia’s Andy Lopez-Garcia posted a personal record (PR) in the 200, running a 25.96.
In the 400, Elijah Dashiell posted a PR time of 56.62 to claim second place, while Hesperia’s Hunter Tinkham (1:00.79) and Trevor Payne (1:01.60) came in fourth and fifth.
Nate Rushtorfer continued to dominate the hurdles, claiming Hesperia boys’ only top finish of the day. Ruhstorfer ran the 110 hurdles in 17.75.
Shelby’s 400 relay team that qualified for the state finals last season struggled to find their footing on their home track. With two pieces of that relay team graduating in 2024, Jaylin Henderson and Venancio Cadena-Arvizu took over. Henderson tried his best to anchor the Tigers, but was beaten by a Norse team.
In the field events, Gauthier hopped a new PR of 18 feet, nine inches in the long jump, taking second place. Casey Lamblin claimed second with a PR discus toss of 116-5.5.
The girls teams for Shelby and Hesperia were much closer to North Muskegon. The Norse won with a total of 53 points, while the Tigers followed with 42.5 and Hesperia rounding it out at 36.5.
Shelby’s girls claimed first in the 400 thanks to a PR from Noel Parker (1:14.03) as well as the long jump on a 14-3.75 mark for Nova Gottschalk. The Tigers’ relay teams were also successful. Gottschalk, along with Ava Lamberg, Annabelle Stark and Jade Harris-Anderson, took first in the 400 relay (58.57), before the same quartet took first in the 800 relay (1:59.51).
Kathryn Beyer, Grace Hasenbank, April Luna and Parker also claimed first in the 3,200 relay (12:07.00).
Hesperia found its success in the field events. Emily McCallum continued her impressive run at shot put, tossing a first-place mark of 32-3, while Hanna Rickard claimed first in discus with a throw of 80-4.
Both Shelby and Hesperia track will be back in action on Friday, April 18 when the Panthers host their second annual Small School Invitational.
