The Hastings Banner — Thursday, October 21, 2021 — Page 15Panthers pile up PRs at
SAC Championship Meet
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The last time the Panthers were as high as
third at a Southwestern Athletic Conference
Championship race was in 2017 when the DK
girls finished second in the standings behind
the perennial powerhouse from Saugatuck.
The Delton Kellogg girls had never fin-
ished better than the Saugatuck girls at a SAC
Championship – at least not until Thursday.
The Panthers bested the Trailblazers on a
fifth-score tiebreaker to place third at the
championship meet hosted by Kalamazoo
Christian.
The host Comets swept their way to the
conference title on the girls’ side, putting five
runners among the first eight finishers and
closing out the meet with only 25 points.
Lawton was second with 99 points, ahead of
Delton Kellogg 103, Saugatuck 103,
Schoolcraft 111, Coloma 120, Parchment
183, Watervliet 210, Constantine 212 and
Gobles 308.
The Panthers handily won the tiebreaker
with the Trailblazers, as all seven DK runners
were across the finish line before the fifth
Saugatuck girl came in. DK four girls set new
personal record times at the meet, freshman
Lillie Steele, junior Joelle White, senior
Melanie Monroe and sophomore Brea
Chandler.
DK senior Aubrey Aukerman led her team
with an 11th-place time of 21 minutes 15.
seconds. DK senior Halena Phillips was 16th
in 21:44.46, earning her best time of the sea-
son so far.Saugatuck had girls just ahead of each of
those two Panthers, with senior Samantha
Sixberry tenth in 21:15.21 and senior Hannah
Smit 14th in 21:24.60.
The Trailblazer team then brought senior
Becky Pond in 23rd at 22:25.60 and fresh-
man Elliana Zolper 27th in a personal record
time of 23:07.19.
The Panther pack started rolling in after
that. Steele set a new personal record with
her 28th-place time of 23:07.41 just behind
Zolper. DK freshman Johannah Houtkooper
was 29th in 23:09.40, Monroe 33rd in
23:27.41 and Chandler 39th in 23:54.80.
Saugatuck’s number five runner was near-
ly 35 seconds behind Chandler who was
about 35 seconds faster than she had ever run
before and nearly a minute faster than she
had been at the Panthers’ previous race in
Portage Oct. 9.
Freshman Alaina Klooster led the
Kalamazoo Christian girls to the conference
title with a third-place time of 20:14.79,
which is a new PR for her. Her junior team-
mate Aubrey Herder was fourth in a sea-
son-best time of 20:44.19. Kalamazoo
Christian also had Hope Zichterman sixth
(21:00.51), Annika Sytsma seventh (21:02.24)
and Rachel Allabaugh eighth (21:06.07).
Kendra Koster, a sophomore from Lawton,
was the individual girls’ champion with a
time of 19:19.86 and Coloma senior Ava
Genovese placed second in 19:40.13.
Parchment had the two fastest guys
Thursday, but that couldn’t stop Saugatuck
from winning the championship meet with61 points. Kalamazoo Christian was second
in the boys’ standings with 71 points, ahead
of Coloma 82, Watervliet 107, Parchment
115, Gobles 134, Delton Kellogg 165,
Constantine 205, Fennville 209, Schoolcraft
280 and Hackett Catholic Prep 307.
Parchment senior Garrett Winter won the
race in 15:57.53 and his junior teammate
William Winter was second in 16:31.43.
Saugatuck senior Adam Martinson placed
third in 16:43.43.
The DK boys pushed their own pace in the
same way the girls did, with five of the
Panthers’ seven runners scoring new person-
al record times. Freshman Ethan Rimmer led
the way with a 19th-place time of 18:34.77.
He cut more than 56 seconds off his previous
best time and finished six spots better than he
did at the second conference jamboree of the
season.
Delton Kellogg junior Isaac Shepard was
25 th in 19:00.41 which is a new personal
record for him. DK also got new PRs from
senior Eli Austin, junior Gage Vincent and
junior Brett Harsevoort.
Senior Caden Ferris was the third DK
across the finish line. He was 34th in
19:32.55. Austin placed 46th in 19:56.16.
DK junior Micah Martin was 50th in
20:07.46.
Vincent and Harsevoort were right behind.
Vincent was 52nd in 20:22.02 and Harsevoort
53 rd in 20:22.21.
Delton Kellogg will return to Kalamazoo
Saturday for the Kalamazoo Christian
Invitational.Marcukaitis sisters each part of four wins in pool
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Sophia Marcukaitis and Abby Marcukaitis
were both a part of four victories in the
Community Education and Recreation Center
pool in Hastings Thursday as the Delton
Kellogg/Thornapple Kellogg/Hastings varsi-
ty girls’ swimming and diving team score d a
108-71 win over OK Rainbow Tier II
Conference foe Calvin Christian/West
Catholic.
The sisters swam the first two legs of the
200-yard medley relay to open the event, with
the senior Abby taking the lead leg ahead of
Sophia. Junior Preslee Hall and sophomore
Holly Carpenter followed up to get the win for
the team in a time of 1 minute 59.
Abby would follow up that race with indi-
vidual wins in the 100-yard freestyle in 59.
seconds and the 100-yard backstroke in 59.22.
Sophia won the 200-yard individual med-
ley in 2:22.83 and the 100-yard breaststroke
in 1:14.58.
Carpenter, Hall and Lizzie Middleton
teamed with Sophia Marcukaitis to win the
200-yard freestyle relay for DK/TK/HHS in
1:53.22. The team of Abby Marcukaitis,
Aubrey Hawks, Middleton and Cadence
VanOoy won the 400-yard freestyle relay in
4:21.65.
Carpenter and Middleton had individual
wins for the DK/TK/HHS team too, with
Middleton taking the 200-yard freestyle in
2:21.04, besting Hawks by a little over half a
second for the top spot. Carpenter won the
50-yard freestyle in 27.53, a little over half a
second faster than Hall who was the runner-up.
DK/TK/HHS also got a win from freshman
Abigail Dumond in the diving competition.
She won with a score of 198.20.
Calvin Christian/West Catholic got a win
from Eden Maring in the 100-yard butterfly and
from Josie Stammis in the 500-yard freestyle.
The DK/TK/HHS girls are back in the
CERC pool this evening, Oct. 21, as they
host Wayland for their annual Cancer
Awareness Meet.
The DK/TK/HHS freshmen and sopho-
mores were back in action Saturday at
Saturday’s Freshman/Sophomore Meet in
Grand Rapids where they placed fifth in a
group of 11 teams.
Rockford won the meet with 285 points,
ahead of Forest Hills Northern/Eastern 263,
Loy Norrix 220, Ottawa Hills 136.5, DK/TK/
HHS 125, East Kentwood 101, Grand Rapids
Catholic Central 95.5, Grand Rapids union 54,
Caledonia/Lowell/South Christian 36, Fremont
33 and Calvin Christian/West Catholic 12.
Sophomore Sophia Marcukaitis had a pair
of runner-up finishes. She was second in the
200-yard individual medley with a time of
2:19.79 and second in the 100-yard breast-
stroke in 1:13.79.
Carpenter, another DK/TK/HHS sopho-
more, had a couple outstanding finishes as
well, placing fourth in the 50-yard freestyle
with a time of 27.73 seconds and sixth in the
100-yard freestyle in 1:01.71.
The DK/TK/HHS team was great in the
diving competition. Dumond, a freshman,
placed third with a score of 203 points. The
team also had sophomore Maelea Martin
sixth at 152.50 and sophomore TJ Myers
eighth at 147.85.
A pair of sophomores were the only girls
ahead of Dumond. Rockford’s Megan Jolly
won the event with a score of 219.95 and
Caledonia/Lowell/South Christian’s Mayari
Coriano-Lahiff was second at 212.90.
The top 12 scored in each race. Middleton,
a sophomore, picked up a 12th-place point
with her time of 6:27.97 in the 500-yard free-
style. Freshman Aubrey Hawks was 11th in
the 100-yard back stroke with a time of
1:14.23 for DK/TK/HHS.
The top relay finish for their team was a
fifth-place time of 2:13.14 by Hawks,
Middleton, Sophia Marcukaitis and Carpenter
in the 200-yard medley relay.Delton Kellogg's Lillie Steele (left) and Joelle White race alongside each other during
the Southwestern Athletic Conference Cross Country Championship hosted by
Kalamazoo Christian Thursday.
DK/TK/HHS junior Kasey Kapteyn swims her leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay for her team during its OK Rainbow Tier II
Conference win over visiting Calvin Christian/West Catholic Thursday in Hastings. (Photo by Bob Gaskill)
DK/TK/HHS junior Abby Gaskill swims the freestyle during her team's win over visiting Calvin Christian/West Catholic Thursday
at the CERC in Hastings. Gaskill was fourth in the 50-yard freestyle and also swam the fourth best 100-meter freestyle time of the
evening. (Photo by Bob Gaskill)DK/TK/HHS sophomore Sophia Marcukaitis makes her way to a victory in the 100-
yard breaststroke during her team's victory over visiting Calvin Christian/West Catholic
Thursday in the CERC pool in Hastings. (Photo by Bob Gaskill)