From staff reports

ALLENDALE – A pair of Niles thinclads grabbed top five finishes at the Lake Michigan Credit Union Laker Challenge hosted by Grand Valley State University on Monday and Tuesday.

Andrew Wortham finished second in the 400-meters with a time of 50.96, while Madie Rodts, who will run at Grand Valley next year, finished fourth in the 800-meters with a time of 2:25.06.

The Vikings also grabbed a fifth place finish in the 4×300-meter relay with a time of 2:33.94.

That unit consisted of Leon Murphy, Wortham, Ronnie Jones and Anthony Gonzales.
Taylor Brandstatter finished ninth in the 400-meters with a time of 1:04.36. She also led off the 4×600-meter relay team that placed seventh.

That team also consisted of Rodts, Bridgette Carpenter and Gabby Ezell.

Dowagiac junior Kaisha Martin grabbed three first place finishes at the Grand Valley State University Laker Challenge on Wednesday.

Martin won the long jump with a leap of 16-9, the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.9 and the 200-meters with a time of 26.43.

She was also part of the 4×300-meter relay team that placed fourth. She was joined on that squad by Cierra Mattix, Jacoya Brookins and Andrea Wade.

Other medalists included Mattix in the pole vault (tied for fourth) with a height of 7-feet, Regina Kennedy in the discus (sixth) and shot put (seventh) with distances of 73-2 and 27-8 respectively, Wade (seventh) in the 400-meters with a time of 1:09.82 and Brookins (seventh) in the 60-meter high hurdles with a time of 11.06.

For the Chieftain boys’ team, Kyle Wright earned the top placing with a fourth place finish in the pole vault with a height of 12-feet.

Pierre Reed finished sixth in the 60-meter high hurdles (9.51), Mike Hemenway finished seventh in the shot put (40-3), Chris Gantt finished eight in the 1,600-meters (4:52.13),

Austin Adams finished eighth in the 60-meters (7.48), Jon Myers finished eighth in the 200-meters (24.31) and Mike Bennett finished eighth in the long jump (18-8).

Other top 10 finishes came from Troy Butcher, who was ninth in the 60-meters (7.54) and Colin Tidey, who was ninth in the pole vault (10-0).