RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
Seniors Charlie Riddle and Marshall Harris each won their second individual titles to lead the Heritage Patriots to fourth-place in the New Haven Boys’ Track and Field Sectional Thursday, the best team finish among Z-Land schools.
The New Haven Bulldogs continued their historic season, adding the sectional title to their NE8 title of two weeks ago. Their 123 points easily outdistanced runner-up Homestead’s 92. Norwell took third with 88. Heritage had 78.
Adams Central placed ninth with 20 points, South Adams 10th with 19.5, and Bellmont 12th with 8.5.
Riddle won the shot put two years ago as a sophomore but last year had to settle for second behind teammate Logan Teichman. He reclaimed the title with a throw of 54-9.25, about a foot ahead of runner-up John Bussard of New Haven.
Riddle also threw 147-3 in the discus to finish second to Bussard.
“He’s worked really hard,” said Heritage head coach Jason Habisch of Riddle. “He takes a very intelligent approach to what he does. He’s worked through some of his struggles. When you’re a kid like him that is that big and strong and fast, it actually creates more problems than you think.”
“He’s putting together some really big throws coming up, I think,” added Habisch, a throws specialist who has coached multiple sectional champs and state qualifiers. He sent three throwers to state last year and also coaches Alexa Walter, who won both throws in the girls’ sectional for the Patriots earlier this week.
Harris won the 400 meters in a season-best 50.59, over a second and a half ahead of runner-up Matthew Hernandez of Norwell. “It was good to see him in peak performance,” said Heritage sprint coach Nico Tigulis. “He’s not quite as fast as he was last year, but we’re getting there.” Harris, who also ran the anchor leg on the Patriots’ sixth-place 4X400 relay team, ran sub-50 last year but has struggled most of the season with a strained hamstring.
The Patriots pulled off a startling upset, winning the 4X100 relay, despite being seeded fifth. It helped that their handoffs were nearly perfect. “That was a crucial part,” said Coach Tigulis. “We’ve been practicing those religiously on a daily basis.”
Besides Riddle, Harris, and the 4X100 relay (Lucas Weber, Nasir Martin, Cooper Naatz, and Braden Walter), the Patriots also got regional-qualifying finishes from Weber in the 100 meters, where he was third in 11.56; Dominic Ferguson, who tied for second in the pole vault at 11-6; and Wyatt Garland, who took third in the discus with a 139-7. (The top three finishers in each event automatically qualify.)
The big event for Adams Central was the 3200 meters. The Jets got a runner-up finish from Trevor Schwartz with a new personal record time of 9:58.56 and a fourth-place finish from Ethan Crockett in 10:04.39, also a personal best. Freshman Braylen Cowans placed fourth in the discus for the Jets with a throw of 132-11.
South Adams will send freshman Tristin Ehr to the regional. He tied for third in the high jump at 5-8. The Starfires’ 4X800 relay (Caiden Neuenschwander, Easton O’Dell, Carson Laux, Gavin Litwiller) placed fourth in 8:45.18.
Bellmont had a rough night and for the first time in many years will not send anyone to the regional. Their best hope for a top three finish, senior Harry Gunsett in the 800, was involved in a tangled mess on the homestretch of the first lap and fell hard to the infield. He had qualified for the regional last year and ran 2:00 just last week. The third-place time Thursday was 2:02.15. The Braves’ top finish came from sophomore Hudson Krull, who tied for sixth in the high jump at 5-6.
Other Notes & Times:
-Marshall Harris repeated as sectional champ in the 400 with a season-best time of 50.59 for Heritage.
-Xavior Palacios ran a 56.65 for Bellmont in the 400, which was a career best for the junior.
-Tyler Schwartz finished on the podium and in the points for AC with his seventh-place finish in the 800, setting a new PR.
-Heritage’s Corbin Roth was 10th in the 1600 with a new career best.
-Trevor Schwartz of Adams Central nearly beat last year’s winning time in the 3200 and also broke the ten-minute mark for the first time in his career. Schwartz’s 2025-best time is now 45 seconds better than last year’s top performance. Schwartz finished runner-up to Cooper Knoblauch of Homestead in the race.
-Heritage won the 4×100 with a team of Lucas Weber, Nasir Martin, Cooper Naatz and Braden Walter. They ran the best time in Z-Land this season to win with the exact same time as Wayne. That team went .42 faster than at the ACAC meet, which was where they had set their previous mark.
-Dominic Ferguson cleared 11-06 for the first time Thursday and finished as sectional runner-up in the pole vault.
-Maddox Miller (South Adams) went 10 feet in the vault to steal a team point for the Starfires with an eighth-place finish.
-In his final meet as a Bellmont pole vaulter, Jack Riehm cleared 9-06 for the first time in his career. His teammate, Landon Sielschott, also had a PR with a nine-foot jump.
-Wyatt Garland (Heritage) added a few inches to his career best to win sixth place in the shot put for Heritage.
Team Scores: 1st-New Haven 123, 2nd-Homestead 92, 3rd-Norwell 88, 4th-Heritage 78, 5th-Huntington North 70.5, 6th-FW Wayne 43, 7th-FW South Side 32.5, 8th-Bishop Luers 29, 9th-Adams Central 20, 10th-South Adams 19.5, 11th-Canterbury 19, 12th-Bellmont 8.5
100 M: 1st-Jayden Howell (Hom) 11.48, 3rd-Lucas Weber (Heritage) 11.56, 6th-Nasir Martin (Heritage) 11.75
200 M: 1st-Adrian Wooten (Wayne) 22.86, 2nd-Jase Harmon (Nor) 22.91
400 M: 1st-Marshall Harris (Her) 50.59, 2nd-Matthew Hernandez (Nor) 52.15, 7th-Nehemiah Richmond (Bel) 54.08
800 M: 1st-Jace Trevino (Hom) 1:56.57, 4th-Caiden Petrie (Nor) 2:02.83, 5th-Caiden Neuenschwander (SA) 2:04.07, 7th-Tyler Schwartz (AC) 2:08.62
1600 M: 1st-Jace Trevino (Hom) 4:22.08, 4. Gavin Threewits (Nor) 4:33.44, 8th-Maddux Miller (Bel) 4:50.94
3200 M: 1st-Cooper Knoblauch (Hom) 9:49.19, 2nd-Trevor Schwartz (AC) 9:58.56, 4th-Ethan Crockett (AC) 10:04.39, 6th-Gavin Threewits (Nor) 10:28.69, 7th-Gage Reinhard (Nor) 10:47.39
110 M Hurdles: 1st-Braylin Tisdale (Hom) 14.59, 4th-Zane Borne (Nor) 16.09, 6th-Elijah Nunn (Nor) 17.05, 8th-Geremew Gerber (Her) DQ
300 M Hurdles: 1st-Aaron Hoffer (NH) 39.46, 5th-Sawyer Thiele (Her) 44.03, 8th-Blake Hoffman (SA) 44.68
4×100 Relay: 1st-Heritage (Weber-Martin-Naatz-Walter) 44.20, 8th-South Adams (Garcia-Landis-Hoffman-Patterson) 46.70
4×400 Relay: 1st-New Haven 3:28.78, 3rd-Norwell 3:33.86, 6th-Heritage (VanOsdale, Naatz, Weber, Harris) 3:38.53, 8th-Bellmont (Kintz-Gunsett-Miller-Riehm) 3:43.89
4×800 Relay: 1st-Norwell 8:15.04, 4th-South Adams (Neuenschwander, O’Dell, Laux, Litwiller) 8:45.18, 7th-Bellmont (Braun, Ramsey, Garcia, Kozlowski) 9:32.25, 8th-Heritage (Baeumler, Mantle, Smith, Voglewede) 9:33.92
High Jump: 1st-Danny Kelly (Luers) 6-04, 3rd-Tristin Ehr (SA) 5-08, 6th-Hudson Krull (Bel) 5-06
Pole Vault: 1st-Jasper Kreigh (Nor) 12-00, 2nd-Dominic Ferguson (Her) 11-06, 4th-Easton Scherer (Nor) 11-00, 6th-Cade Foster (Her) 10-00, 8th-Maddox Miller (SA) 10-0
Long Jump: 1st-Kevion Mitchell (NH) 21-09, 3rd-Jase Harmon (Nor) 20-11.5, 5th-Braden Walter (Her) 19-09.5, 7th-Jackson Garcia (SA) 19-06
Shot Put: 1st-Charlie Riddle (Her) 54-09.25, 2nd-John Bussard (NH) 53-08.5, 3rd-Wes Carmean (Nor) 53-03.75, 6th-Wyatt Garland (Her) 44-10.5
Discus: 1st-John Bussard (NH) 158-01, 2nd-Charlie Riddle (Her) 147-03, 3rd-Wyatt Garland (Her) 139-07, 4th-Braylen Cowans (AC) 132-11, 7th-Wes Carmean (Nor) 121-07
About the Author
