Menominee Nation hosts Eagles Invite, Marion/Tigerton sweeps team titles

A home track meet in Keshena gave Menominee Nation athletes a chance to compete in front of local supporters without the long road trips that often come with spring competition, and the Eagles made the most of that visibility even as Marion/Tigerton swept both team titles at the Eagles Invite.

Held Thursday, April 23, the meet brought several neighboring programs to Menominee Nation High School, where the boys race ended with Marion/Tigerton on top at 163 points. Gresham/Bowler finished second with 100, Menominee Nation took third with 92, and Wolf River Lutheran in Shawano was fourth with 64. On the girls side, Marion/Tigerton again led the field with 149 points, but Menominee Nation was right behind in second with 135. Gresham/Bowler scored 122, and Wolf River Lutheran finished with 49.

The girls result was especially notable for Menominee Nation, which finished just 14 points behind Gresham/Bowler and well ahead of Wolf River Lutheran. On the boys side, the Eagles were 71 points back of Marion/Tigerton, a reminder that the home meet produced a mixed but competitive showing across the two squads. For families, classmates and younger athletes watching from the stands, the event offered a local snapshot of how the Eagles stack up against familiar regional opponents.

That matters in Keshena, where Menominee Nation High School sits on the Menominee Indian Reservation, part of the tribe’s present homeland in the Menominee River region. Hosting meets close to home reduces travel demands and puts tribal youth on a stage their community can reach more easily, turning a regular weekday contest into a visible part of the county’s sports calendar. It also gave local runners, jumpers and throwers a chance to compete in a setting tied directly to Menominee County pride.

The April 23 meet also fit into a broader spring pattern. On April 9 in Bowler, at the GB Cats Invite, Marion/Tigerton had already swept both divisions, with the boys scoring 182 points and the girls 186. Menominee Nation finished fourth in the boys meet with 67 points and third in the girls meet with 83, showing that the Eagles have stayed in the mix against the same cluster of schools all month.

One individual mark stood out in Keshena: Urijah Reevis of Menominee Indian cleared 4 feet, 10 inches in the high jump. For a program building through the outdoor season, results like that show the value of keeping competition local, where every mark can be seen by the people who know these athletes best.