While some local high school track athletes are preparing for the state championships, others are wrapping up their seasons, and some their high school careers. On Tuesday after Brandywine High School played host to the Lakeland Conference in the annual Lakeland Conference meet.

While the Edwardsburg boys clinched the conference title the girls title was still up for grabs. The Coloma Comets would capture the girls portion of the meet tonight and would finish tied with Berrien Springs for the conference title.

The conference meet is everyone’s opportunity to be the overall conference champion in his or her particular event, and on this night the competition was tight.

Starting with the field events, Coloma’s Sophia Weidner (4-09) edged out Berrien Springs’ Holly Toliver (4-08) in the high jump while Hunter Woods of Edwardsburg was the only jumper to clear the 6-foot mark as four other competitors bowed out at 5-10.

Edwardsburg dominated the pole vault competition as Casey Garcia would beat out the Adolph twins from Buchanan, Chelsea and Courtney at a height of 8-09, while on the boys side the Eddies took the top three spots with Nick Thomas taking the prize at 12-00.

Paige Anderson out jumped the competition in the girls long jump as she was able to leap 16-05.25 beating out Coloma’s Natalie Coombs by better than 4 inches. Jesse Mays from Edwardsburg just missed jumping 20 feet as he went 19-10 bettering Brandywine’s Aaron Marquardt jump of 19-03.50.

While Emily Kozinski easily beat the competition in the discus with a toss of 97-07.50, Buchanan’s Rodney Ballard found the boys discus to be a lot more competitive as his throw of 136-05.50 beat out Brandywine’s Jacob Frazier who threw 135-07. Frazier would redeem himself in the shot put where his toss of 53-05 would out distance second place by nearly 5 feet, while Emily Hager of Berrien Springs had a toss of 32-01.50 to take the conference title for the girls.

With all of the field events done, the night came down to the track where it was anyone’s race(s) to be won.

In the team events it was the Bridgman girls relay of Callie Meyer, Paige Melick, Emily Ulrath and Lydia Sankey that claimed the 4×800 relay while Edwardsburg’s Josh Clark, Hunter Woods, Allen Lopez and Austin Horvath took the boys 4×800.

Berrien Springs and Brandywine would win the girls and boys 4×200 relays respectively as the Shamrocks team of Gabrielle Baur, Koby Gillespie, Meghan Stephenson and Paige Anderson took the honors as did AJ Srmek, Cody Brackett, Aaron Marquardt and David Dykema for the Bobcats.

In the 4×100 meter relays it was Berrien Springs taking the girls honors with the combination of Anderson, Baur, Gillespie and Stephenson while Edwardsburg’s Drew Baker, Jesse Mays, Skye Roy and Tyler Williamson took home the top spot for the boys.

Wrapping up the relays for the night was Coloma’s Heidi Conrad, Bianca Wright, Alexis Baker, and Alexis Pflugradt while for the boys it was Brandywine’s combination of Dykema, Marquardt, Srmek and Stone Hadley.

Individual honors would go to the following: Olivia Zvonar of Coloma in the 100-meter hurdles, and Gregg Hall of Edwardsburg in the 110-meter hurdles.

Buchanan’s Brianna Dineen took home the top spot in both the girls 100-meter dash and the 400-meter dash, while Berrien’s Zachary Mottley would double up himself in the 100-meters and the 200-meters.

Also claiming first place in multiple races were Buchanan’s Stephanie Reith as she claimed each of the 1600-meters and 3200-meter runs, Edwardsburg’s Josh Clark as he took both the 1600-meters and the 400-meters, and Berrien Spring’s Koby Gillespie who took the 200-meters and the 300-meter hurdles.

Rounding out the individual victories were Edwardsburg’s Emily Getz and Hunter Woods in the girls and boys 800-meter runs respectively, Bridgman’s Cammeron Magro in the boys 3200-meters and Brandywine’s AJ Srmek in the boys 300-meter hurdles.

Lakeland Conference Track

At Brandywine High School

Boys’ final standings

1. Edwardsburg 14, 2. Brandywine 12, 3. Berrien Springs 10, 4. Coloma 7, 4. Bridgman 7, 6. Buchanan 4, 8. Cassopolis 2

Dual meet records

Edwardsburg 6-1, Brandywine 5-1, Berrien Springs 3-1, Coloma 2-3, Buchanan 2-4, Bridgman 1-4, Cassopolis 0-6

3200 RELAY: Edwardsburg (Josh Clark, Allen Lopez, Austin Horvath, Hunter Woods) 8:38.17; 110 HURDLES: Gregg Hall (Edwardsburg) 16.18; 100 DASH: Zachary Mottley (Berrien Springs) 11.35; 800 RELAY: Brandywine (AJ Srmek, Cody Brackett, David Dykema, Aaron Marquardt) 1:34.42; 1600 RUN: Josh Clark (Edwardsburg) 4:38.00; 400 RELAY: Edwardsburg (Drew Baker, Skye Roy, Jesse Mays, Tyler Williamson) 45.37; 400 DASH: Josh Clark (Edwardsburg) 52.37; 300 HURDLES: AJ Srmek (Brandywine) 42.75; 800 RUN: Hunter Woods (Edwardsburg) 2:07.00; 200 DASH: Zachary Mottley (Berrien Springs) 23.12; 3200 RUN: Cameron Magro (Bridgman) 10:33.48; 1600 RELAY: Brandywine (Stone Hadley, Aaron Marquardt, AJ Srmek, David Dykema) 3:35.00; HIGH JUMP: Hunter Woods (Edwardsburg) 6-0; POLE VAULT: Nick Thomas (Edwardsburg) 12-0; LONG JUMP: Jesse Mays (Edwardsburg) 19-0; DISCUS: Rodney Ballard (Buchanan) 136-05; SHOT PUT: Jacob Frazier (Brandywine) 53-05.

Girls’ finals standings

1. Berrien Springs 13, 1. Coloma 13, 3. Edwardsburg 10, 4. Bridgman 7, 4. Buchanan 7, 6. Cassopolis 4, 7. Brandywine 2

Dual meet records

Berrien Springs 6-0, Edwardsburg 4-1, Coloma 3-1, Cassopolis 2-3, Bridgman 2-4, Buchanan 1-4, Brandywine 0-6

3200 RELAY: Bridgman (Callie Meyer, Paige Melick, Emily Ulrath, Lydia Sankey) 11:05.67; 100 HURDLES: Oliva Zvonar (Coloma) 16.69; 100 DASH: Brianna Dineen (Buchanan) 13.08; 800 RELAY: Berrien Springs (Gabrielle Baur, Koby Gillespie, Meghan Stephenson, Paige Anderson) 1:51.57; 1600 RUN: Stephanie Reith (Buchanan) 5:56.51; 400 RELAY: Berrien Springs (Paige Anderson, Koby Gillespie, Meghan Stephenson, Gabrielle Baur) 53.00; 400 DASH: Brianna Dineen (Buchanan) 1:02.66; 300 HURDLES: Koby Gillespie (Berrien Springs) 49.41; 800 RUN: Emily Getz (Edwardsburg) 2:36.29; 200 DASH: Koby Gillespie (Berrien Springs) 26.97; 3200 RUN: Stephanie Reith (Buchanan) 14:00; 1600 RELAY: Coloma (Heidi Conrad, Bianca Wright, Alexis Baker, Alexis Pflugradt) 4:34.25; HIGH JUMP: Sophia Weidner (Coloma) 4-09; POLE VAULT: Casey Garcia (Edwardsburg) 8-09; LONG JUMP: Paige Anderson (Berrien Springs) 16-05; DISCUS: Emily Kozinski (Edwardsburg) 97-07; SHOT PUT: Emily Hager (Berrien Springs) 32-01.