GRAND RAPIDS AREA - May 30, 2009 - Standish-Sterling's Ashlyn Gulvas and Ogemaw Heights' Alex Rose highlighted area athletes' performances at the state track and field finals Saturday in the Grand Rapids Area.

Gulvas defended her state titles in both the shot put and discus at the Division 3 finals, while Rose won the Division 2 shot put championship as the Falcon throwers led their boys team to a fifth-place overall finish.

Division 2 at Zeeland

Rose was just one of several Falcons to have big days at the Division 2 finals. Not only did he win the shot put by more than four feet with a toss of 58-7.5, but his teammate, sophomore Anthony Zettel, took second with a throw of 54-5.5.

Rose also took second in the discus (166-0), behind a 180-8 throw by Caro's Jack Dennis. Senior Anthony Carollo earned an eighth-place medal with a throw of 150-6. Zettel also competed in the discus, but finished out of the medals at 22nd place.

Ogemaw distance runner Martin Nelkie finished 11th in the 3200 and achieved one of his season goals of breaking the 10-minute mark with a run of 9:57.24.

On the girls side, Kayla Brindley snapped her two-year string of frustrating ninth-place finishes by taking second in the discus with a career-best throw of 136-9.

"I was just so happy for Kayla," said Falcon girls coach Rick Frank. "Placing ninth the last two years, a lot of kids might not want to keep trying. All Kayla did was work even harder.

"She made it to state and threw her best discus throw ever at the state finals. She left no doubt she would medal this year on her second throw of the competition."

Brindley also took 10th in the shot put with a toss of 36-11.5, while Lauren Steinhurst was 11th in the discus with a throw of 110-3.

Kalena Franklin competed in the 100 hurdles and finished with the 10th-best time at 15.90, and also ran a 27.43 in the 200.

"I was very pleased with Lauren and Kalena," Frank said. "They had nice performances, just not quite good enough to medal. The nice thing is they are juniors; if they choose to work to improve for one more year, a state medal could be in their future also."

Division 3 at Comstock Park

Ashlyn Gulvas's twin titles weren't quite a repeat of last season. Gulvas struggled with a sore back for much of the season and didn't have won of the top seeds coming into the finals, but showed her state championship form when it counted most.

Gulvas far surpassed her season best with a throw of 144-9 in the discus to win by nearly 12 feet, then threw 44-5.25 in the shot put to win that by more than three feet.

The Panthers' 4x400 relay team of Gulvas, Chelsea Szostak, Jennifer Lentz and Katie Ouillette broke the school record by more than two seconds while earning a fourth-place medal with a time of 4:09.77.

With those three medal-winning efforts, the Panther girls finished seventh overall and just five points out of fourth place.

Szostak also competed in the 300 hurdles, finishing just out of the medals at 10th place with a time of 48.54.

Tawas Area's Emily Short competed in the 3200 run, cracking the top 20 with a career-best time of 12:07.

Cole Walderzak brought home a third-place medal for the SSC boys in the discus with a throw of 161-8. Allendale's Zach Hill set a Division 3 finals record with a throw of 181-0 to win.

SSC's 4x200 relay team of Kevin Reeves, Trent Fouchey, Casey Potts and Mitchell McFarland also earned a medal, finishing eighth with a time of 1:32.34.

Walderzak finished 10th in the shot put (49-10.25) while McFarland was 22nd in the long jump. Reeves made the semifinals in the 100 dash with a time of 11.67 but didn't make the cut for the final heat, while the 4x100 relay squad of Reeves, Fouchey, Potts and Jesse Bashor took 11th (45.04).

Tawas Area's Jeff Janis ran in the 400 (53.65).

Division 4 at Forest Hills Eastern

Whittemore-Prescott had a big day at the Division 4 boys finals at Ada Forest Hills Eastern, led by Billy Raushi's four-medal day.

Raushi took second in the high jump (6-5), fifth in the long jump (20-7.25) and fifth in the 110 hurdles (15.25) while anchoring the 4x200 relay with Matt Ackerman, Greg Lomason and Lukas Earl (5th, 1:34.90). The relay picked off that fifth-place medal despite an injury the night before to freshman speedster Cody Foreman, with Earl filling in at the last minute.

Ackerman also earned a medal in the 100, taking seventh (11.64).

The Cards also took 19th in the 4x100 relay (46.84).

For AuGres-Sims, A.J. Baker took 12th in the 1600 (4:40.02) and 11th in the 3200 (10:15.37), with Nate Jennings taking 17th in the shot put (42-7).

On the girls side, Hale's Tarra Caverly finished her illustrious career with a fifth-place finish in the 100 hurdles (16.31) and fourth in the 300 hurdles (48.19).

AuGres-Sims' Emily Lutz took 17th (30-11.5) in the shot put.

Fairview got a medal from Tia Rogers in the long jump (5th, 16-3.5) while Posen's Corey Hentkowski got an eighth-place medal in the long jump (19-9.5).