West Iron County sprinter Danica Shamion, right center, takes the lead in a heat of the 100-meter dash during the U.P. Track and Field Finals at Kingsford High School on Saturday. Shamion proved to be among the numerous student-athletes to standout at the competition, setting a new record in the 400-meter dash. (Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photo)

KINGSFORD — On a comfortable, mostly sunny and mildly windy day, local prep track standouts used the near perfect conditions to showcase their talents at the U.P. Track and Field Finals at Kingsford High School on Saturday.

The list of area winners is long, but the performances of the Kingsford boys team, West Iron County sophomore sprinter Danica Shamion, Iron Mountain sophomore sprinter Matthew Colavecchi and the North Central boys 400-meter relay team stood out.

The Flivver boys took their battle with Marquette down to the wire before coming up a point short in the quest for the Division 1 title. The defending champion Redmen held a 3-point lead over Kingsford heading into the final event of the day, the 1,600 relay. While the Flivvers won the race, the Redmen finished second to stave off the Kingsford effort to unseat them.

Marquette finished with 138 points, while the Flivvers accumulated 137.

The Flivvers won three of the four relays on the day. The 400-relay team of Trestan Larson, Cole Myllyla, Michael Floriano and Diego Przeslakowski ran a 44.20 to edge Calumet, while the 800 relay quartet of Larson, Brody Kopp, Michael Meneguzzo and Przeslakowski posted a 1:33.22 to beat Menominee by more than 2 seconds.

Kingsford’s Diego Przeslakowski, at left, sprints ahead of the competition in the final leg of one of three relay wins by the Flivvers at the U.P. Track and Field Finals at Kingsford High School on Saturday. The event included nearly 800 student-athletes from throughout the Upper Peninsula. The Flivvers boys team performed extremely well in front of their home fans, finishing just a point short of winning the Division 1 team title. (Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photo)

Kingsford’s 1,600 relay squad of Larson, Kopp, Meneguzzo and Cardel Morton recorded a winning time of 3:35.29.

Przeslakowski also won a U.P. title in the 300 hurdles (40.76), while Floriano captured the 200 (23.12). Myllyla was the best in the long jump field, recording a jump of 20-2.75, while Lucas Tappy won the shot put title with a 47-1.

(Kingsford boys coach Joe Kriegl could not be reached for comment by press time.)

The Flivver girls finished eighth in the D1 girls standings with 16 points. Negaunee won the team title with 119.5 points, well ahead of Marquette (98).

Kingsford junior Erika Malone was the standout performer for her team, winning a U.P. title in the long jump (16 feet, 1 1/4 inch). She also individually scored points with her fifth-place result in the 100 (13.72).

Additionally, Malone contributed to the fifth-place 800 relay squad, along with Lexie Vross, Addie Rutter and Talia Wallis (1:55.38), and the fifth-place 400 relay team (54.87) which was comprised of the same four runners.

Meanwhile in Division 2, Shamion broke the 400-meter U.P. record set by former Wykon standout Emmy Kinner in 2017. Shamion ran the best 400 of her young career, running a 58.77 to shave .41 seconds off Kinner’s previous record.

“I’m really excited that I beat the 400-meter school record,” said Shamion, who also broke Kinner’s school record time in the 200 this season. “I’ve wanted it for a really long time, and I’m just really excited that I broke it at the U.P.’s.”

Shamion added two more U.P. titles to her ledger, winning the 100 (12.70) and the 200 (26.82). The Wykon star has only lost one race in her prep career so far and that was a quirk last year at Bessemer where she mistook the finish line while leading the race.

This season, she broke the tape in every race she competed in.

“Yeah, undefeated,” Shamion said of her 2022 campaign. “It was really nice.”

In the Division 2 competition, Colavecchi put his marker down as one of the fastest and gutsiest sprinters around. Twice during the day, the sophomore trailed heading down the stretch, but used his strength and competitiveness to pull out both wins.

In all, Colavecchi won the 100 (11.56), the 200 (23.71) and helped Iron Mountain capture the 800 relay (with Max Jayne, cousin Joey Colavecchi and Kurt Adiao Ryan) and the 400 relay with the same teammates.

“Matthew is such a competitor, he knows how to dig deep and find that extra bit that’s needed for a win,” Iron Mountain coach Karen Ellis said. “In the 100, it was so close, but he nailed it. Then in the 200, he came from behind and swam through the finish ….”

In the 800 relay, Jayne got off to a fast start and the three other runners put up “great” times, according to Ellis.

“In the 400 relay, the first hand-off wasn’t as smooth as what we needed and we were slightly behind, but then (Kurt) and Matthew had great splits,” Ellis added. “Matthew’s lean at the end clinched the win.”

The Mountaineers also depended on the long, lean legs of senior distance runner Luke Ruble, who provided wins in the mile (4:54.69) and the 2-mile (10:52.05).

“After the mile, I was congratulating Ruble on his new PR, and he looked at me and told me he was feeling a PR in the 2-mile too, and he did just that,” Ellis said. “He’s a great leader for our distance athletes, and really pushes to better his time each race.”

In the team standings, the Mountaineer boys finished second with 102 points, trailing four-time defending champion Ishpeming by 14 points. West Iron County placed ninth with 24 points.

Wykon senior Landon Baumgartner-Sundelius capped his senior season with a victory in the 300 hurdles, winning the race in 40.56 seconds. He also finished second in the 110 hurdles (16.74), just .07 seconds behind champion Tramon Gauthier of Ishpeming.

In the girls Division 2 competition, Bark River-Harris captured the trophy with 107 points, comfortably ahead of runner-up West Iron (74). Iron Mountain placed seventh at 41.

The Mountaineer girls received wins from junior Chloe Maycroft in the high jump (4 feet, 11 inches) and their 400 relay squad of Maycroft, Bella Pickett, Emma Ellis and Anja Kleiman (53.68).

The (400 relay) … the hand-offs were good and splits were great by all four girls,” Ellis said. “Kleiman’s speed and stride at the end, and her pure determination sealed the win. All four girls have been very consistent all year.”

In Division 3, the North Central boys 400 relay team of Trenton Naser, Lane Gorzinski, Elijah Gorzinski and Luke Gorzinski set a new U.P. standard by running a 45.34. The previous record of 45.67 was set by Mid Peninsula in 2007.

The same four Jets were also victorious in the 800 relay (1:35.31), while Naser also added an individual victory in the 110 hurdles (16.76).

With these contributions, the Jets finished fourth in the team standings with 54 points. Pickford won the title with 91, nine points in front of runner up Munising. Forest Park placed 14th with 10 points and Norway finished 19th with four points. North Dickinson competed but did not score.

The Trojans were topped by Samuel McKissack’s second-place result in the high jump (5-9).

Norway’s top finisher was Gabe Hautamaki, who finished fifth in the 100 (12.02) and the long jump (17-10.75).

In the Division 3 girls competition, Ontonagon grabbed the team title with 74 points, 12 in front of second-place Stephenson. Norway finished 13th with 10, North Dickinson placed 17th with 3 points and Forest Park ended up in a three-way tie for 18th with 2 points.

Lyneah Hauswirth led the Knights with a fourth-place result in the pole vault (7 feet). Taylor Adams added fifth-place finishes in the 800 (2:41.62) and the 3,200 (13:32.76) Norway’s 400 relay team of Hauswirth, Gabby Leiker, Elizabeth Rometti and Abby Richter also placed fifth (56.14).

Forest Park received its two points from sophomore Charlie Larson, who placed fifth in the pole vault.

The Nordics received two points from their 1,600 relay team of Micah Lindholm, Ashton Hord, Aubrey Applekamp and Vanessa Lindholm (4:35.62).

In addition to Shamion and the North Central boys 400 relay, new U.P. records were set by Marquette’s Carson Vanderschaaf in the 3,200 (9:46.53), Munising’s Josiah Peramaki in the pole vault (13-4) and Dollar Bay’s Nikolas Thomas in the 3,200 (10:05.59).