Forest Park’s Hayden Smith clears hurdles at Negaunee invitational
Hayden Smith’s hurdle shot at Negaunee came as Forest Park finished fourth on the girls side and 10th on the boys side, with regionals and U.P. Finals looming.
Forest Park’s spring track season put Hayden Smith in the 300 hurdles at Negaunee, and the image carried more weight than a routine meet photo. It showed the Panthers competing in one of the sport’s most technical races at the right point on the calendar, with postseason qualifiers and U.P. Finals berths still on the line.
The Negaunee Lions Invitational was held Friday, May 8, at Negaunee High School and drew a deep Upper Peninsula field that included Escanaba, Gladstone, Gwinn, Houghton, Ishpeming Westwood, Kingsford, Manistique, Marquette, Menominee and Negaunee. Official results showed Forest Park finishing 10th in the boys standings with 8 points and 4th in the girls standings with 51.5 points in the 11-team meet. All 17 varsity events were completed in both the boys and girls competitions.
Marquette won the boys team title with 123 points, while Negaunee took the girls championship with 178. The meet also produced records and personal bests, and Keira Waterman and Michael Solena were singled out as the Outstanding Performers on the girls and boys sides, respectively. For Forest Park, the team scores placed the Panthers squarely in the middle of a competitive regional test, the kind of meet that can sharpen athletes before the most important races of the season.
That is where Smith’s hurdle appearance matters. A 300 hurdles race demands speed, rhythm and clean form, and Forest Park’s decision to send athletes into that kind of field shows a program still building depth as the postseason approaches. The Panthers were already moving through a busy stretch after the Niagara Badger Invitational on April 23 and the North Dickinson Booster Club Invitational on April 29, where Forest Park’s girls finished second with 97 points.
The Negaunee meet came just before MHSAA Upper Peninsula regional track meets later that week, with the U.P. Finals scheduled for May 30 in Kingsford. Against that backdrop, Forest Park’s results and Smith’s hurdle image together show a team still pushing for stronger marks when the season matters most.
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