By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES – Portage Northern claimed the Big 16 Conference Championship Tuesday evening, posting a team score of 109 points.
Battle Creek Lakeview was second with 82 points, Portage Central was third with 75, Kalamazoo Central was fourth with 61 and Sturgis rounded out the top five with 55 points.
Niles ended eighth with 36 points.
The Vikes took the top two spots in the high jump as Kurt Poehlman took first place and Damian Bryant was second.
Poehlman cleared 6-feet-9, which not only set a new school record, but beats the SMAC Tournament record and the conference record.
Bryant cleared 6-3.
In other events, Paul DePoy took seventh in the shot put with a throw of 47-feet. Kenyon Ellison was 11th with a throw of 43-2. Ellison took 16th in the discus with a throw of 112-7.
David Davis cleared 12-feet in the pole vault for a fifth place finish and had a leap of 18-feet in the long jump to end 13th.
Isaiah Glaze was first in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.44. Glaze was second in the semifinals with a time of 11.28 and finished eighth in the finals with a time of 11.72.
Dan Geiger and Nick Schuck finished eighth and ninth respectively in the 1,600 meter run. Geiger ended with a time of 4:45.52 and Schuck ended with a time of 4:47.66.
In the 400 meter dash, C.J. Rumpf ended with a time of 51.23 for a sixth place finish.
The Vikes will host the Niles Invitational this Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.
Final scores
1. Portage Northern, 109
2. Battle Creek Lakeview, 82
3. Portage Central, 75
4. Kalamazoo Central, 61
5. Sturgis, 55
6. Battle Creek Central, 44
7. St. Joseph, 39
8. Niles, 36
9. Coldwater, 35
10. Benton Harbor, 29
11. Battle Creek Harper Creek, 27
12. Mattawan, 22
13. Marshall, 18
14. Lakeshore, 18
15. Loy Norrix, 11