By Staff
NILES - The 16th annual Niles Ring Lardner Bender relays came to a close late Friday evening.
The boys team took first place out of 12 competing schools and finished with 78 points with their closest compeition coming from South Haven,which had 56 points.
The relay team combinations of Nate Allison, Kylyer Shearer, Dwight Roland, Zach Payne, Mcade Reese and Cameron Sly won first place in the distance, 3,200 meter and 1,600 meter relays.
Shearer, David Garner, Matt Karsten and Shawn Holland added another first place in the hurdle relay race.
By winning four of seven races, they helped the team ensure the first place victory.
The boys cemented the victory by taking second places in the 800 meter, shot put and high jump events.
Asaad Ali, Chris Lighthart and Karsten had a combined total distance in the shot of 109-6.5 with Ali throwing his personal best of 42-5.5.
The toughest performance of the night came from Justin Williams who, despite an injured leg, insisted on running his events and helped his long jump and 800 meter relay teams take second place finishes.
Finals standings for the boys teams were Niles in first with 78 points, South Haven with 56, St. Joe-Upton with 42, Berrien Springs with 40, Lakeshore with 34, Edwardsburg with 28, Buchanan with 12, Brandywine with 10 and Dowagiac, Fairplain, McCord and River Valley all with no points.
While the boys were winning their relays, the girls team had to fight and scrap for every point, finally losing by just four points to St. Joe-Upton 66-62.
The girls started the day out by winning the shot put. Kaleigh Hill, Rachel Smith and Jasmine Austin combined for a distance of 90-6.
Nellie Coquillard and Alyssa Pingel took second in the high jump both going 4-6.
The girls took first place in the distance and 3,200 meter relays.
Liz Vanden Heede, Sarah Tyler, madie Rodts, Meagan Horn, Ashley Allison and Sara Crabtree all had outstanding efforts in the races.
The hurdle relays were also won by the girls which consisted of Autumn Lucero, Stephanie Watson, Brittany Buti and Horn.
Final standings for the girls teams were St. Joe-Upton in first with 66 points, Niles with 62, Lakeshore with 48, Berrien Springs with 42, Brandywine with 30, Edwardsburg with 24, Dowaigiac with 12, South Haven with 10, Buchanan with four, River Valley with two and Fairplain and McCord remaining scoreless.
So far this season the two teams have competed against 29 teams in their meets. The boys are 29-0 and the girls are 27-2.
Since the year 2000, including this year to date, the combined win-loss record against all opponents faced by both the boys and girls is 530-25.