The Jefferson Girls’ Track ranks fifth at the MITCA state rally

FAULERVILLE - Jefferson’s team for girls in athletics had two champions and finished in fifth place on Friday at the state meeting of Division 2 of the Inter-School Association of Coaches on the track in Michigan.

Jefferson scored 1,020 points in 14 teams. Zeeland East was the state champion with 1369, and Dirborn Divine Child (1276.5), Freeland (1223.5) and Gladwin (1039.5) also finished ahead of the Bears.

Jefferson’s boys finished in 11th place out of 12 teams with 679.5. Frankenmouth was the team champion with 1222.5.

“I thought a good day would end in 10th place,” said girls coach Jefferson Phil Spear. “Everything was better like ice cream with sprinkles on top. Man, did I get a lot of splashing today.”

Junior Alexa Glancy took first place in the 400 with a time of 59.71. She was also fourth in the 200 and seventh in the 100.

Junior Veronica Fitzgerald was first in the 800 for 2: 23.46 and ran in three relays, including the second-placed relay of 1,600. That relay, which also included Glency, Eli Hintz and Alisa Maserant, ended just over 2 seconds behind the winning team from Divine Child.

Jefferson competed in the MITCA state rally for the first time since 2006.

“At this point, he always felt like the most capable survived when we competed in this match,” Spear said. “The reason is because we raced in three big matches in eight days. By the time you get to this meeting, you can see how fatigue comes from many people on all teams. I was pleasantly surprised to see our girls, even our youngsters who have never run in athletics before this season, are just raising their game so as not to let down their team. “