MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer knew what it was up against Wednesday when O-K Green Conference foe Byron Center showed up in three charter buses for the teams' dual meet.
The Bulldogs are one of the O-K Green Conference's power programs, having finished tied for 11th at last year's MHSAA Division 1 finals. They have immense talent and depth, and showed it Wednesday, defeating the Rockets in both the boys' and girls' duals. The R-P boys lost by a 87-50 score, and the Rocket girls fell 89-48.
The day wasn't entirely without highlights for the Rockets. Girls stars Raquel Walker and Jersi Bilek delivered their typical excellent performances. Bilek won three individual events and Walker took the win in two.
Bilek took the top spot in the 200, 400 and 1,600-meter events, including setting a personal best in the 1,600 with a time of 5:32.1. Bilek's time in the 200 was 28.92 seconds, and she ran the 400 in 1:02.5.
Walker won both the 100-meter dash and the long jump, with a time of 12.85 in the 100 and a leap of 17-6 in the long jump. So impressive was her effort in the latter that she did not take her final allotment of jumps because she had already earned a mark that would give her the win.
R-P had two other girls event wins. Zaire Wright won the shot put and set a personal best mark of 32-2, and in the 800-meter relay, the all-freshman team of Ariana Siegel, Mattie Kemp, Janiya Jerdine and Alyssa Hillin got the win just as they did at the Whitehall Tri last week. Their time was 2:00.6.
The boys' Rockets were also led by familiar stars - seniors Mason Darke and Marvin Moore. Darke won both hurdles events, with a personal best time of 14.37 seconds in the 110-meter race and a time of 38.86 seconds in the 300. Moore raced to a win in the 200-meter dash, setting a personal best time of 22.75 seconds.
The duo also starred in the relays, teaming up along with Ethan Rolewicz and London Rankin to get the win in the 1,600 relay in a time of 3:31.2. Moore added a win, along with Rankin, Emcee McLaurin and Artis Williams, in the 400 relay, with the group posting a time of 44.22 seconds.
Also for the Rockets, the 800 relay team of Ethan Vossekuil, Landon Howland, Fred Woods and Tanner Nash took first place in a time of 1:38.5.
