The track at St. Joseph High School will be a hopping place this Friday as the Rotary Club of St. Joseph-Benton Harbor holds its 67th Annual Track Meet.
The Rotary’s Renee Borah tells us this is one of the biggest track meets held in Michigan each year as the club invites student athletes from all over Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren counties to compete. It’s the only chance some of the schools get to face each other.
“It’s a really fun event,” Borah said. “I encourage everyone to come out and support all these athletes. It is so great to see all these kids come out and run and perform. It’s just a really high energy and our scholarship winners is always fun to see that.”
Borah says there are four $2,000 scholarships being given out this year as part of the track meet. And there will be prizes for the athletes competing.
“We have these beautiful rotary medals that we give out every year. There’s five places, gold, silver, and bronze. This year we’re making it more competitive where we’re offering points to schools. So we’re giving out these beautiful crystal trophies as well.”
Trophies will be awarded to the winners in the women’s and men’s categories. There will be 21 teams competing, hailing from school districts big and small.
Borah says not only will there be plenty of athletes at the track meet, but with the event open to the public, hundreds of spectators should be on hand. Entrance to the track meet will be $5 for adults and $2 for students with all proceeds going to the track meet scholarships. Field events and preliminaries start at 4:30 p.m. with the finals starting at 6.
Borah says they’ve only had to postpone the track meet due to weather a few times over the years, so that’s unlikely even if it rains.
The 2025 Rotary Track Meet Scholarship winners are:
ANDREW MABRY of Bridgman High School. Andrew is the son of Matthew and Pamela Mabry and has Cross Country, Track, Basketball, Club Volleyball, Student Senate, NHS, DECA and is a Student Body Representative as well as many Community Service Projects. Andrew has been accepted to the University of Alabama, U of M, MSU, Davenport, WMU, Arizona State and Grand Valley. He has earned a GPA of 3.98. His plans are to attend an University majoring in Nursing.
ELENA FIGUEROA of Saint Joseph High School. Elena is the daughter of Thom Figueroa and Mauren Chacon and has participated in Track, Cross Country, AP Leadership Club, National Honors Society, Rotary Interact Club, is the Senior Class Vice President as well as a wide variety of community service activities. Alena has earned a GPA of 3.984. She has been accepted to University of Michigan and Michigan State University, majoring in Biochemist in preparation for a career in medicine.
EMMET LORENZ of Saint Joseph High School. Emmett is the son of Orrin and Bridget Lorenz and has participated in Cross Country, Track, Scouts of America, Swimming, Math Club, Sailing and Youth Orchestra. Also, he has volunteered in many community service projects including the Soup Kitchen. Emmet has earned a GPA of 3.806. He has been accepted to are to Michigan State University and Western Michigan College of Engineering. Course of study is Electrical Engineering
LILLIAN WIEGAND of Berrien Springs High School. Lillian is the daughter of Greg and Kate Weigand and has participated in Track, Dance, Basketball, NHS and many many Community Service Projects. Lillian has been accepted to Michigan State University and the University of Alabama with a Kinesiology focus.