KALAMAZOO, MI –– One point.

That was the difference between Kalamazoo Hackett and Southfield Christian on Saturday, as the Irish fell just short of obtaining their fifth Division 4 boys track and field state championship in the last eight years at Baldwin Middle School in Hudsonville.

Nonetheless, Hackett still had a stellar outing.

Cross country champion and star junior runner Marek Butkiewicz led that charge, defending his state title in the 3,200-meter run en route to sweeping the distance events –– he’d start his tear by capturing his first state title in the 1,600.

Elsewhere, Lawton senior Mason Mayne made history by not only defending his state title in the discus, but he completed the day by sweeping the throwing events in becoming the first Blue Devil in program history to win multiple state titles.

Kalamazoo Central senior sprinter Jeremy Dixon captured his first state title in the 200-meter dash, finishing in a personal best time of 21.11 seconds, and also grabbed all-state honors in the 100 and as part of the Maroon Giants’ fourth-place 800-meter relay team.

Kalamazoo Hackett’s 3,200-meter relay team and Centreville’s 400-meter relay team also captured state titles on Saturday.

Check out all the athletes from the Kalamazoo-area that made the top eight cut in their respective events to earn all-state honors over the weekend.

MORE: 2025 MHSAA Division 2 boys track finals: Parma Western soars to historic first title

MORE: 2025 MHSAA Division 1 boys track & field finals: history highlights Belleville’s first title

STATE CHAMPIONS

Jeremy Dixon, Kalamazoo Central

Grade: Senior

Event: 200-meter dash

Division: 1

Time: 21.11 (PR)

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Centreville 400-meter relay

Team: Matthew Bates, Henry Kelley, Carter Cartier, Deandre Stout

Division: 3

Time: 43.49

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Mason Mayne, Lawton

Grade: Senior

Event: Shot put

Division: 3

Throw: 59’9.75

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Mason Mayne, Lawton

Grade: Senior

Event: Discus

Division: 3

Throw: 180’9

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Marek Butkiewicz, Kalamazoo Hackett

Grade: Junior

Event: 1,600-meter run

Division: 4

Time: 4:16.85

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Marek Butkiewicz, Kalamazoo Hackett

Grade: Junior

Event: 3,200-meter run

Division: 4

Time: 9:23.40

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Kalamazoo Hackett 3,200-meter relay

Team: Marek Butkiewicz, Alexander Dumont, Kellen Siems, Sean Siems

Division: 4

Time: 8:06.36

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DIVISION 1 ALL-STATE

Jeremy Dixon, Kalamazoo Central

Grade: Senior

Event: 100-meter dash

Place: 3rd

Time: 10.45 (PR)

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Kane Morris, Portage Northern

Grade: Sophomore

Event: 200-meter dash

Place: 7th

Time: 21.67 (PR)

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Jackson Lam, Loy Norrix

Grade: Junior

Event: 1,600-meter run

Place: 3rd

Time: 4:14.24

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Portage Northern 400-meter relay

Team: Melvin Mesan, Vaughnzell Tyus, Ryan Mauwa, Ty Oaks

Place: 7th

Time: 42.30

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Kalamazoo Central 800-meter relay

Team: Curtis Whitfield, Jeremiah Marshall, Maurice Streeter, Jeremy Dixon

Place: 4th

Time: 1:27.10

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Liam Takace, Portage Central

Grade: Senior

Event: Shot put

Place: 8th

Throw: 53’6.75

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DIVISION 2 ALL-STATE

Sullivan Zietlow, Three Rivers

Grade: Senior

Event: 800-meter run

Place: 5th

Time: 1:56.24 (PR)

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Donovan Ryan, Plainwell

Grade: Junior

Event: 1,600-meter run

Place: 8th

Time: 4:22.19

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Alex Robbins, Otsego

Grade: Junior

Event: Discus

Place: 5th

Throw: 162’7 (PR)

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David Wills, Three Rivers

Grade: Sophomore

Event: High jump

Place: 4th

Jump: 6’4

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DIVISION 3 ALL-STATE

Greyson Burrous, Lawton

Grade: Junior

Event: 100-meter dash

Place: 4th

Time: 11.12

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Greyson Burrous, Lawton

Grade: Junior

Event: 200-meter dash

Place: 5th

Time: 23.18

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Ethan Miller, Centreville

Grade: Senior

Event: 400-meter dash

Place: 3rd

Time: 49.78 (PR)

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Shawn Butler, Parchment

Grade: Senior

Event: 400-meter dash

Place: 5th

Time: 49.99 (PR)

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Lawton 400-meter relay

Team: Dillon Carlson, Greyson Burrous, Timothy Willoughby, Jack Fletcher

Place: 6th

Time: 43.95

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Parchment 1,600-meter relay

Team: Caythen Verburg, Keagon Cole, Elliot Cole, Shawn Butler

Place: 4th

Time: 3:28.89

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Matthew Bates, Centreville

Grade: Junior

Event: Shot put

Place: 3rd

Throw: 52’3.75 (PR)

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Matthew Bates, Centreville

Grade: Junior

Event: Discus

Place: 6th

Throw: 161’3 (PR)

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DIVISION 4 ALL-STATE

Mason Mansfield, Gobles

Grade: Senior

Event: 100-meter dash

Place: 6th

Time: 11.01 (PR)

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Nathan Medendorp, Kalamazoo Hackett

Grade: Junior

Event: 400-meter dash

Place: 4th

Time: 51.46

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Mekhi Singleton, White Pigeon

Grade: Senior

Event: 400-meter dash

Place: 6th

Time: 51.74 (PR)

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Sean Siems, Kalamazoo Hackett

Grade: Junior

Event: 800-meter run

Place: 7th

Time: 2:00.47

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Sean Siems, Kalamazoo Hackett

Grade: Junior

Event: 1,600-meter run

Place: 3rd

Time: 4:22.60 (PR)

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Luke Lawrence, Climax-Scotts

Grade: Senior

Event: 110-meter hurdles

Place: 4th

Time: 15.20

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Jordan Pisco, White Pigeon

Grade: Senior

Event: 110-meter hurdles

Place: 6th

Time: 15.56

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Alexander Dumont, Kalamazoo Hackett

Grade: Senior

Event: 300-meter hurdles

Place: 4th

Time: 40.61 (PR)

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Climax-Scotts 400-meter relay

Team: Chase VanMiddlesworth, Elijah Bowron, Maximus Wurtzel, Luke Lawrence

Place: 4th

Time: 44.77

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Gobles 400-meter relay

Team: Nathan Ray, David Sager, Steven Juarez, Mason Mansfield

Place: 7th

Time: 45.14

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White Pigeon 400-meter relay

Team: Josh Davidson, Maddix Jancasz, Mason Yoder, Jordan Pisco

Place: 8th

Time: 45.26

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Kalamazoo Hackett 800-meter relay

Team: Jude Coffman, Sam Finley, Nathan Medendorp, Luke Napolitan

Place: 4th

Time: 1:32.00

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Climax-Scotts 800-meter relay

Team: Maximus Wurtzel, Chase VanMiddlesworth, Luke Lawrence, Elijah Bowron

Place: 5th

Time: 1:32.37

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Kalamazoo Hackett 1,600-meter relay

Team: Alexander Dumont, Nathan Medendorp, Luke Napolitan, Sean Siems

Place: 3rd

Time: 3:28.53

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Sam Bleeker, Climax-Scotts

Grade: Senior

Event: Shot put

Place: 6th

Throw: 47’8 (PR)

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Marvin Jones Jr., Marcellus

Grade: Junior

Event: Shot put

Place: 8th

Throw: 45’7.75

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Gabe Walliczeck, Climax-Scotts

Grade: Junior

Event: Discus

Place: 4th

Throw: 152’8

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Jordan Pisco, White Pigeon

Grade: Senior

Event: High jump

Place: 8th

Jump: 6’0

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Another successful track and field season for Otsego County came to a close on Saturday, May 31 and two more state championship trophies coming back to Gaylord and Johannesburg-Lewiston High Schools.

Gaylord senior Zachary Cowper won the Division 2 state championship with a school-record-breaking shot put throw of 65 feet, 0.5 inches, joining the GHS Wall of Champions while JoBurg’s Allie Nowak won her second-straight Division 4 800-meter state championship, clocking in a time of 2 minutes, 18.45 seconds.

Cowper’s throw not only set a new school record, it was the longest throw of any Michigan shot put throw this season regardless of division. The Illinois State track and field commit also placed 20th overall in the discus throw with a toss of 148 feet, 11 inches.

Nowak, meanwhile, still holds the Division 4 record in the 800-meter with a time of 2:13.51 set at last year’s D4 state finals. This year, she defended that title while finishing her high school career with a third state title, also playing a major part in JoBurg’s first-ever team state championship back in 2022 as a sophomore leader of the girls cross country team.

Gaylord’s Katie Berkshire nearly joined Cowper and Nowak as state title winners on Saturday, twice over; the GHS junior finished as the state runner-up in both the 1,600-meter (4:58.14) and the 3,200-meter (10:36.05). It finished up another elite season for Berkshire, never finishing lower than third overall in any individual race while finishing atop the podium ten separate times.

Here are the other top performers from a busy weekend for Gaylord-area sports:

Skylee Ames, Gaylord track and field: finished her high school career with a personal best time in the 300-meter hurdles at the D2 state finals, finishing 11th with a time of 47.73 seconds.

Ella Moylan, Gaylord track and field: the Alma track and field signee finished 11th in discus at the D2 state finals with a throw of 114 feet, 2 inches.

Brennan Radulski, Gaylord baseball: went 2-for-3 with double during GHS’s district semifinal loss to Petoskey.

Jeremiah Witt, JoBurg track and field: the Lake Superior State track and field signee finished ninth in the 1,600-meter at the D4 state finals with a personal best time of 4:31.45.

Aubrey Jones, Gaylord softball: Oklahoma State signee went 5-for-5 with two home runs, a triple and a double, seven runs batted in and six runs scored. At 72 career home runs, Jones stands just two home runs shy of tying the MHSAA career record.

Kennedy Wangler, Gaylord softball: hit a home run and two doubles during wins over Cadillac and Ogemaw Heights, helping Gaylord win its fifth-straight district title.

Lily Ryckman-Hall, Gaylord softball: had two home runs, a triple and a double over the two district games on Saturday.

Daniel Jacobson, Gaylord St. Mary baseball: had four hits, eight runs scored and two runs batted in over two games on Saturday, May 31, hitting a solo home run to start a district-championship winning day.

Sam Kuznicki, Gaylord St. Mary baseball: got the win on the mound in the district semifinal vs. Hillman before finishing off the last 2.1 innings of the district final against JoBurg, helping GSM capture its fourth district in five seasons.

Jaeden Briley, JoBurg softball: went 2-for-3 with a home run, two RBIs and a run scored in the district semifinal win over Atlanta on Saturday.

Rylan Rosso, JoBurg baseball: went 4-for-4 with two doubles, four RBIs and 3 runs scored in a 15-0 district semifinal win over Charlton Heston Academy.

Collin Lake, JoBurg baseball: went 3-for-4 with a double and three runs scored in the district semifinal victory.

Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen

New Sheridan HS Girls Basketball Coach: Sheridan High School has a new girls basketball coach for next season.

Chris Wagner who has been the coach at Cody for the past 6 seasons, will take over for Ryan Sullivan who has left to take a coaching position at the University of Montana Western.

During his tenure at Cody, Wagner has led the Fillies to 1 state championship and 3 runner-up finishes, including this past season.

After going 8-14 in his first year, his combined record during the last 5 years has been 111-15.  

Wagner has coached against Sheridan a few times, and says what the Lady Broncs do now, is not all that different from what he had Cody doing.

Wagner adds he student taught at Sheridan in 2012 and helped coach the weight room one summer for the Bronc football team.

He was named the Wyoming 4A Girls Basketball Coach of Year in 2022 and 2023.

In ‘22, Cody went 24-1 and lost to Cheyenne East in the 4A State Championship Game.

In ‘23, the Fillies put together an undefeated 4A state championship season going 25-0.

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Sheridan Troopers Legion Baseball: The Sheridan Troopers went 1-3 in games played at Billings this past weekend.

On Saturday, the team lost to both the Billings Royals and the Scarlets.

Yesterday, Sheridan won in walk-off fashion against Idaho Falls, and then lost to the Royals again.

The Troopers are now 18-12 on the season and next play this coming Thursday thru Sunday at a tournament in Rapid City, South Dakota.

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Colorado Rockies Baseball: The Colorado Rockies lost all 3 games this past weekend at the New York Mets.

Friday’s score was 4-2.

Sam Hilliard hit a solo home run for the cause.

Saturday’s score was 8-2.

Ezequiel Tovar went yard on his own.

Yesterday’s score was 5-3.

Orlando Arcia hit a solo shot and Tyler Freeman hit a 2-run home run, but it was not enough.

Today the Rocks start a 3-game series at Miami.

First pitch is scheduled for 4:40pm.

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NBA Playoffs: The Indiana Pacers advanced to the NBA finals, by winning Game 6 of their best of 7 Eastern Conference Finals series vs. New York at home on Saturday 125-108, to win the series 4-games-to-2.

Indiana will play at Oklahoma City in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, which starts on Thursday.

OZARK — The final week of the 2024-25 Missouri high school sports calendar has arrived, and the state will crown six high school baseball champions this week at the Ozark Mountain Sports Complex.

Twenty-four teams enter the week dreaming of storming the field and hoisting a trophy over their heads on the Ozark turf down the street from Lambert’s. The list includes four Springfield-area teams — Miller, Fair Grove, Logan-Rogersville, and Marshfield — that hope to make some history.

We’ll report live from Ozark throughout the week, with an emphasis on the Springfield area programs. This page will also provide occasional updates on the other semifinal and championship games taking place in our backyard.

Keep this page handy as your one-stop shop for the latest highlights and scores. Hopefully, we won’t have to do too much weather reporting on here.

For a full schedule of this week’s events, along with ticket and streaming information, click here.

Once a second banana, always a second banana when in the shadow of a brighter star.

For musician and actor Desi Arnaz, that shadow belonged to Lucille Ball, his wife and co-star on the ground-breaking 1950s sitcom “I Love Lucy.” Etched in television history are the images of Lucy falling on her rear while stomping grapes at a winery, Lucy overwhelmed by a conveyor belt of chocolates, and Lucy acting nonchalant as movie star William Holden lights up her fake nose instead of her cigarette. Desi seems as important as the cone is to the ice cream.