West Iron County boys tie for fourth at UP track finals

West Iron County’s boys tied Norway for fourth at the Upper Peninsula Division 1-2-3 finals with 47 points, a finish that marked the program’s best showing in several years. The meet at Kingsford High School’s Flivver Field on May 30 also showed Forest Park with reason to leave Kingsford encouraged, as both Iron County programs finished the season with real evidence of depth and upward movement.

For the Wykons, the points came from a balance of youth and experience. Freshman Eduel Spencer placed third in both the 800-meter run and the 1600, sophomore Seth Oberlin was second in the high jump and fourth in the 400, and sophomore Alex Ghiggia finished second in both the discus and shot put. Oberlin’s season-best high jump of 6 feet underscored how much he had grown during the spring, while coach Jeff Taff credited the seniors Christian Robles, Tanner Nordstrom and Saul Kobkobsen for helping push the team through a big step forward.

West Iron’s girls also finished fourth, and Bristol Shamion delivered one of the meet’s most complete performances. She won the 100-meter hurdles, the 300-meter hurdles and the high jump, then added a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash in 27.82 seconds. Her winning high jump mark at finals was 4 feet, 10 inches, even though her season best had reached 5-2 earlier in the year. Lacey Shamion finished second in the long jump, Lilyanna DeSousa was third in the shot put, and the 4x100 relay of Robles, DeSousa, Shamion and McDonald took second. During the season, West Iron also posted a 2:01.56 in the 4x200 relay with Genesis Robles, Cami Alexa, Lilyanna DeSousa and Kendall McDonald, a sign that the girls program had more than one scoring path.

Forest Park’s late push was highlighted by Ava Fischer, who broke her own school record in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 46.69 seconds. Fischer had already shown her range as a hurdler, after running 48.00 in the 300 hurdles at the 2024 finals and posting 17.77 in the 100 hurdles earlier this season. Coach Kristi Berutti said the team was in second place until late in the meet before finishing fourth, a strong sign that the program remained in the hunt deep into the day.

The team scores showed just how difficult the climb was. Pickford won the Division 2 boys title with 139 points, followed by Rudyard with 104 and Bark River-Harris with 77, before West Iron County and Norway tied at 47. Pickford’s fifth straight U.P. crown set the standard at the top, but West Iron and Forest Park both left Kingsford with momentum that could carry into next spring.