It’s time for the 2025 Boys Outdoor Track and Field Season Preview. I’m excited about sunshine and warm breezes…ok, probably snow, hail, freezing rain, gusting wind, etc., but I AM excited to get back out watching Blue Water Area athletes achieve amazing things. Over the last few months, I’ve been looking at results from last year’s outdoor season to compile the predictions and probable performances for this year. The statistics used to write the season preview include BWAC, MAC, and Catholic High School League results, Blue Water Area meets such as the Marysville Invitational, Muskrat Invitational, Blue Water Meet of Champions, Thumb Meet, and Macomb County Meet, and of course Regional and State Finals qualifying and placements.
A couple of notes about the process:
Consistency is king: When examining so many performances across a months-long time frame, consistent participation and placement throughout the season were required to get a feel for the performance or improvement potential.
I didn’t include incoming freshmen (last year’s 8th graders) as sometimes they participate in a different spring sport or don’t come out for track in high school.
I didn’t factor in the majority of PRs from any meets last year that were hand-timed for the preview, nor will I use them for top times and marks lists this season. When you see PRs for everyone across the board by huge margins, especially in sprint events, that’s a sign that the times are usually inaccurate. With the requirement of FAT timing for state meet qualification, it’s a much more reliable standard than hand timing.
Early Qualifying marks add a new dynamic to reporting on racing for this year: athletes can now meet a state-meet qualifying mark earlier than regionals, which will likely change the landscape of Michigan track and field. An EQ is defined by the MHSAA as “an athlete who achieves the mark in any round of a valid pre-qualified event which meets the proper standards (FAT TIMED and 6+ teams) is qualified to participate in the LP finals in that event”.
Finally, I will miss someone who deserves a nod or mention: with such a large amount of data across a long period, it is inevitable. I cross-check and reference and scour athletic.net repeatedly, but Blue Water Running is just me, I work a full-time job during the day (which includes wrangling some kindergartners) and I do this for free, so sometimes, things get missed. I’m human. Also, my apologies if I mispronounce or misspell your name or incorrectly type a time or mark.
Alright, let’s get into the season ahead!
SPRINTS
100 Meters/200 Meters
Anchor Bay’s Gerry Hanson was first or second at every MAC Red match-up in the 100 and claimed runner-up honors in the league for both the 100/200, was fourth in his D1 regional against sub-11 sprinters, and ninth in a talented field at the Macomb County meet, where the 100-meter dash winner ran a faster time than the D1 state meet winner. Hanson has PRs of 11.3 and 23.10.
Macomb Lutheran North’s Isaac Miller is more of a relay specialist: the Mustangs competed at the state meet in the 4x100/4x200, but Miller has split under 11 in 4x100 events and run 23.10 in the open 200. The same applies to his teammates Hudson McDonald, Jack May, Will Haskins, and Clay Thompson.
Chase Battani (Almont) was first in the 100 in every league meet, was second at the BWAC championships, won the Davison Twilight Classic and the Marlette Invitational, and has a best of 11.31. Now that North Branch's Ethan Dinanath has graduated, he has a clearer path to outright domination, especially considering he races in D3 and is the defending regional champion. Fellow Almont Raider Tim Miller has a 100/200 best of 11.57/23.92. Marine City’s Austin Brown has sub-11.5 100 times and a 200 PR of 23.3: he won the 100-meter dash at the Algonac Muskrat Classic and the Blue Water Meet of Champions.
North Branch’s Micheal Gorman has a 100 best of 11.34 and was third in the BWAC championships. Alan Valdovinos from Imlay City was second in the BWAC champs 200 and consistently runs sub-24s. Joseph Pacitto of Richmond has run low 11s in the 100-meter dash, while Jack Justin of Marysville has a best of 11.69 and was second in the MAC Gold.
Port Huron Northern’s Alex Jamison was second in the open 200-meter dash at the Blue Water Meet of Champions (23.52) and teammate Isaiah Lopez ran 11.44 for the 100, while fellow Husky Vasili Kasparian 11.56 for the 100 and 23.54 for the 200. St. Clair’s Avery Cody has a 200-meter PR of 22.99 and made it into the finals at regionals, placing seventh. He is the Marysville Invitational and MAC Gold champ.
In D4, Memphis’ Kai Fisher won the 200 meters at the Green Devil Invite, Algonac Friday Night Lights Invitational, GTC East league meet, and was one the ONLY freshman to make it to the state meet in the event, where he finished 17th with a PR of 22.84. He also placed well in several meets in the 100-meter dash.
In the adaptive events, Luke Bowman (Anchor Bay) is a state champion in the 200/400 meter races (and shot put).
400 Meters
MLN’s Roman Cody has run a 51.52 open 400 and was regional runner-up, placing 25th at the state meet. Fisher of Memphis was the GTC East league champ and Blue Water Meet of Champions winner in the 400: his PR is 53.05.
Almont’s Matthew Bacholzky ran his PR in the event last year at 52.48, won the Marlette Invitational, the Davison Twilight Classic, and the Blue Water Meet of Champions, and qualified for the state meet for the second straight year. Bacholzky’s teammate Nolan Maxlow had a 53.7 PR by season’s end and narrowly missed qualifying for states, finishing third in his regional, and Bacholzky and he went 1-2 at the Davison Twilight Classic. Cros-Lex’s Noah Jackson was third in the BWAC (53.53) and Bryce Barkowska of North Branch was fourth (53.55). Enrique Cardenas of Imlay City ran 53.84 by season’s end. Marine City’s Evan Martin was third at the Blue Water Meet of Champions and has a PR of 53.37.
Jonah Konarz of Anchor Bay (D1) is mainly a hurdler, but he’s run 53.32 this indoor season, while fellow Tar Brandon Ziehmer ran a best of 53.0 as a freshman and finished in the top ten in several large invitationals, including the Davison Twilight Classic and Macomb County Championships.
800 Meters
The boys’ 800 is wide open at the D2 level, as the upperclassmen favorites from 2024 all graduated. Thomas Kann returns as the top BWAC finisher, taking third and narrowly missing an AQ at last year’s fast (and hot) regional race, where he finished sixth in 2:00.74. All signs point to a sub-two-minute time this season for him. Yale’s Wyatt Murtos or Algonac’s Julian Walker could challenge, as they both have distance training under their belts with solid improvements during their cross country seasons.
Joshua Macri of Macomb Lutheran North is the fastest next to Kann on paper, with a PR of 2:02 indoors, which bested his 2024 season PR by over ten seconds, while teammate Vasilios Kirchhoff has run 2:03 outdoors and both have put in a consistent season of indoor racing. In D1, Anchor Bay’s Aaron Osterman has been racing indoors for 16 Ways Track Club and ran between 2:04 and 2:06 several times: he consistently raced the 800 last season and has a PR at 2:04 for both indoor and outdoor.
1600 Meters
Look for more distance names to repeat here for BWAC titles: Yale’s Murtos (at 4:42 he’s the fastest BWAC returner), Algonac’s Walker (4:49), and Yale’s Ted Rutkofske (4:49). Macomb Lutheran North’s Joshua Macri was dominant in cross country and has the area’s fastest PR outdoors in 4:38, but he’s already run 4:33 indoors. Along with his teammate Xavier Roman (4:38 outdoors/4:37 indoors), both are coming off a strong cross-country season and have been racing steadily throughout the winter. Anchor Bay’s Greg Vogt ran 4:39 outdoors last year and has a 4:37 best already from the indoor season.
3200 Meters
Macri and Roman have bests of 10:41 and 10:21, respectively, and went 1-2 in the fall cross country regional race. Anchor Bay’s Greg Vogt has a 10:04 indoor best and 9:49 outdoors, placing him fifth last year in Macomb County. In the BWAC, it’s pretty much anyone’s race, as all the heavy hitters from last year graduated. Again, look for Walker, Rutkofske, or maybe Connor Pepin of Cros-Lex, who dropped over two minutes off his 5K time during his first-ever cross country season, finished fourth at regionals, and was a state qualifier.
Other Distance Mentions:
Jerry Westrick, St. Clair: 800 (2:06), 1600 (4:52).
Ethan Kreger, St. Clair: 1600 (4:45). Brayden Prieskorn, indoor 1600 (4:46).
Carson Prone, PHN: 1600 (4:56), 3200 (10:24)
Sophomore Colton Grzyb of Almont (D3) and Levi Fitchett of Dryden (incoming freshmen that raced indoors) both have bests of 5:06 in the mile, and 2:17 in the 800.
Imlay City’s Isaac Sommer went from a 2:14 800 to a 2:08, and from a 5:09 to a 4:44 mile.
MLN’s Jack McMahon: 800 (2:06).
110/300 Meter Hurdles
Jonah Konarz of Anchor Bay established himself as one of the top 60-meter hurdlers in the state during the indoor season and is the returning 2024 MAC Red champ in the 110s (15.20 PR) and 300s. He won the Macomb County Meet in the 300s and has a PR under 40 seconds (39.98). He just missed qualifying for the state finals, taking third in both hurdling events, so hopefully this year with the Early Qualifying standards he can make that trip to compete in the state meet.
Colin Boullard of St. Clair just squeezed under the 110 AQ at last year’s regional and was one of only seven Michigan sophomores competing in the event at the state meet. He set his 110-hurdle PR of 15.54 by taking runner-up at the Blue Water Meet of Champions and ran his 300-hurdle PR (42.10) at regionals. His fellow Saint Avery Cody was fifth at regionals in the 110s in 16.11, with a PR of 15.6.
Chase Battani’s speed (Almont) serves him well again here, with a first, second, or third-place finish in the 110 hurdles all season long, qualifying for the D3 state meet and posting a PR of 15.56. His Raider teammate Brody Corneau ran his PR of 16.69 to make it into the regional final as a freshman. Dylan Bittner of Cros-Lex has a 300-hurdle PR of 43.71, which is just fast enough to qualify for D2 regional competition this year. Marine City’s Michael Blunden has run 43.79.
Evan O’Brien of Macomb Lutheran North ran his PR of 15.72 to take sixth at regionals. Joseph Pacitto (Richmond) was third in the 110-meter hurdles for the BWAC Championships and at the Blue Water Meet of Champions: his season-best is 16.04.
RELAYS
Due to graduated students and relay leg changes, it’s not always possible to predict relay times or teams, but the preview is based on any returning runners and last season’s fastest times. For example, Marine City had two of the fastest sprint relays but graduated almost the entire crew, so therefore it’s hard to predict this season’s teams.
4 x 100-meter relay
Macomb Lutheran North 44.19
Jack May, Clay Thompson, Isaac Miller, Hudson McDonald
Third at regionals (just missing a state AQ spot) and sixth in Macomb County, the Mustangs’ relay is the fastest out of BWR-covered schools.
Port Huron Northern (D1) 44.89
Vasili Kasparian, Isaiah Lopez, Collin Landschoot?
The Huskies graduated one member of their relay, but they placed fifth in their quick D1 regional.
North Branch 44.96
Micheal Gorman, Wyatt Muxlow, Liam McIntyre.?
The Broncos won the BWAC meet and were fifth at regionals and will need to add a fourth leg.
Port Huron High 45.69
Jace Garcia, Jordan Barksdale, Jaylen Young, Dion Edwards
Third at the Marysville Invitational and the MAC Gold.
Marysville 46.10
Aiden Murphy, Trey Cummins, Jack Justin
First in the MAC Gold and lots of room for improvement with a young underclassmen team.
Almont 46.56
Eric Haddon, Brody Corneau, Tim Miller,?
Just missing a second-place finish in their D3 regional, this relay could sub in Matthew Bacholzky, who ran on the state-qualifying 4x200 relay and has more flexibility in running events with long jumping off his schedule.
Imlay City 46.59
Brett Lestage, Tyler Kanai, Alan Valdovinos, ?
Imlay City graduated one relay leg but had significant improvement from the beginning of the season to mid-May, where they dropped their fastest times.
Cros-Lex 46.60
Ethan Jackson, Jon Hurlburt, Isaiah Solis, Noah Jackson
Another young relay that dropped a lot of time from the season’s beginning to end.
4 x 200-meter relay
Almont 1:33.25
Tim Miller, Nolan Maxlow, Matthew Bacholzky
BWAC and Regional champs, they lost a relay leg to graduation but have the fastest time of any area team and state meet experience.
Port Huron High 1:33.75
Owen Palmer, Landon Wesch,??
Third at the Blue Water Meet of Champions, the Red Hawks need two more relay legs.
North Branch 1:34.75
Bryce Barkowska, Micheal Gorman, Wyatt Muxlow,?
Fourth at regionals, second in the BWAC, down one senior.
Macomb Lutheran North 1:34.98
Jack May, Hudson McDonald, Will Haskins, Isaac Miller
Second at regionals, fourth in Macomb County, and 27th at states with all returning and many other athlete options to sub in.
Marysville 1:35.03
Jack Justin, Owen Krantz, Mason Delor,?
Placing third at regionals and just missing a state qualification, the Vikings went on to win the Blue Water Meet of Champions, only losing one senior from their relay.
Imlay City 1:35.73
Brett Lestage, Ethan Everhart, Alan Valdovinos,?
Same relay members, the same late-season improvement as the Spartan’s 4x100: they won the Bad Axe Hatchet Invitational in this event.
4 x 400 meter relay
Anchor Bay 3:31.21
Jonah Konarz, Brandon Ziehmer,??
The Tars will need to replace two guys in their relay, one of them a former state champ, so there are big shoes to fill. Osterman? Vogt? Hanson bumps up from the short sprints?
Macomb Lutheran North 3:31.5
Marino Martoni, Jack May, Will Haskins, Roman Cody
The Mustangs all come back with one of the fastest times in the region and state-meet experience (17th in D2).
Port Huron Northern 3:33.12
Alex Jamison, Kenny Thomas, Andrew Becker,??
The defending winner in this event at the Blue Water Meet of Champions, losing two seniors with strong 400/800 times is a definite challenge.
North Branch 3:34
Bryce Barkowska, Valentino Casteneda, Tommy Kann, ?
The Broncos were undefeated in the BWAC and won three out of four invitational meets in which they competed. They were a favorite in the event at regionals and probably would have run a state AQ, but unfortunately were disqualified due to a baton drop. The graduation of Ethan Dinanath leaves a pretty big hole in the anchor leg position but with a solid three returning, they have a legitimate shot at being a relay contender.
Yale 3:36
Mikey Cowhy, Wyatt Murtos,??
Second in the BWAC but losing their two fastest legs, Yale is in the challenging position of finding 50% of a relay.
Cardinal Mooney 3:36
Jack Luzynski, John Bailey,??
A tough rebuild with two all-state runners graduating.
Almont 3:39
Nolan Maxlow, Matthew Bacholzky, Adam SaintOnge,?
A D3 state-qualifying relay, the Raiders need to find one more 400 runner to fill in.
4 x 800-meter relay
This event has frequently been a two-team battle at D2 regionals between St. Clair and Yale, but with the graduation of three-fourths of the Bulldogs’ and Saints’ relays, it’s anyone’s game this year.
Yale, 8:02
Murtos is the lone remaining Bulldog from last year’s team who were BWAC champs, regional champs, and undefeated all spring until placing 10th at D2 states, but Yale always has a strong distance crew to pull from. Ted Rutkofske has chipped in a few times throughout the season and has experience here.
St. Clair, 8:15
Jerry Westrick is the only returning runner from the state-qualifying relay, but Ethan Kreger subbed in at the state meet and could contribute. Just like Yale, the Saints have cross country runners who could make an impact in this relay.
Cardinal Mooney, 8:21
Jack Luzynski, Evan Jacobs,??
Seventh in the state at the D4 finals, the Cardinals had individual 1600 state champion Tyler Lenn and all-state 1600/3200 runner Isaac Zammit, so it will be a challenge for this small school to pull in two more runners of that caliber.
Anchor Bay, 8:23
Losing a senior-heavy relay (including state champ Thomas Westphal) is a tough rebuild, but Greg Vogt, Aaron Osterman, and Brandon Ziehmer all had big cross country improvements and spent the majority of the winter racing indoors.
Macomb Lutheran North, 8:23
Grant Garner, Joshua Macri, Vasilios Kirchhoff, Jack McMahon
First at every regular season duel meet and invitational, fourth at regionals, and with several athletes in interchangeable distance legs, this relay looks to drop more time, especially with the success of the Mustangs’ cross country team.
Algonac, 8:38
Nathan Clemons, Julian Walker, Owen Beindit,?
The Muskrats ran in a D3 regional where the second-place team ran 9:15 and still qualified, so chances are they can shoot for the state meet again if they find a fourth relay member. They were also the BWAC runner-up relay to Yale.
Field Events
Shotput/Discus
Andrew Starrs of Macomb Lutheran North is the top returning thrower in the area with a PR of 47’-7” in the shotput (second place at regionals). He won regionals in the discus in his best of 146’-6” - ten feet further than the prior year - and was the Catholic High School League runner-up in both throwing events.
Cameron Gramzow of Anchor Bay had a great indoor season with club Kaizen Throws, where he was all-state in the discus, taking seventh in 148’-7”. He also threw his shot put PR of 44’-9”: both were significant improvements over his 2024 season bests, so look for him to make an impact in the MAC Red, Macomb County, and his D1 regional.
In the BWAC, it’s the Bickel and Haywood battle: Eli Bickel of North Branch has shot and disc PRs of 47’-1” and 149’-0”, respectively, while Yale’s Zack Haywood has PRs of 43’-5” and 145’-3”. Haywood won the BWAC championship in the discus with Bickel taking the shot put win, but then Bickel won the shotput regional title and qualified in the discus, competing at the MHSAA finals. Bickel also won the Blue Water Meet of Champions in both events, while Haywood won the Marysville Invitational in discus.
Lincoln Watkins of Port Huron High has thrown 48’-4” and 132’-2” and won the MAC White in the shot put while placing third in the discus at the Blue Water Meet of Champs. Noah Northrup of Marine City has a shot put best of 44’-10.5” and was third at the Blue Water Meet of Champions. Chase Walker of Armada and Caden Lohr of St. Clair have both thrown 125’ in the discus, while PHN’s Noah Wiggin has bests of 44’-8.5” (shot put) and 125’-8”(discus).
Pole Vault
Kieran Whitlam of Macomb Lutheran North spent most of the winter ranked in the top ten indoors in Michigan.
He saw improvements of a foot to vault him over 14’ and was undefeated the entire 2024 season before states, returning as the defending Macomb County and D2 regional champ. Austin Brown (Marine City) vaulted 11 feet to win the MAC Blue.
In D1, Ethan Usrey of Anchor Bay set a huge PR of almost two feet to vault 11’-9” at regionals, while Port Huron High’s Owen Palmer won the MAC Gold and has a best of 11’-6”: his teammate Mconilly Price has a best of 10’.
Almont’s Chase Battani has been atop the area standings for pole vault for most of his high school career: his best stands at 14’-6” outdoors but he has vaulted 15’ unattached. He was first in every outdoor meet he entered the entire season up until regionals, then was third at the D3 state finals, earning an All-State podium finish. Levi Opperman of North Branch had a strong freshman debut last spring, finishing second to Battani in the BWAC finals and ending his season with a vault PR of 10 feet. Brady Pasternak was another Bronco freshman vaulting for North Branch and cleared 9’-6”. Alfred Schweihoffer (Yale) has a 10-foot best as well and was third in the BWAC, while Imlay City’s Devon Duckert has a PR of 10’. In the MAC Gold, Mason Delor was third for Marysville and has a vault PR of 10’-6”.
High Jump
Marine City’s John Coverdill was undefeated in high jump the entire season, winning the MAC Blue, Blue Water Meet of Champions, and regionals: his best jump is 6’-3”, and if he can clear that at the state meet, he should be on the all-state podium.
Isaiah Lopez of PHN cleared 6’2” indoors in 2024 and 5’-9” outdoors, but only jumped once during the 2025 season. Liam McIntyre of North Branch won the BWAC championship at 5’-10” as a freshman and has cleared six feet. His teammate Valentino Castaneda has cleared 5’-8”. Eli Garcia of Imlay City was also a freshman, finishing second to McIntyre at the BWAC champs with a best at 5’-7”, while Max Noll of Cros-Lex jumped 5’-8”. Tim Short won the GTC East in 5’-8” for Memphis.
Long Jump
The area’s dominant jumper last year was Matthew Bacholzky, who is the returning BWAC and D3 regional champ from Almont and has jumped over 20 feet. Unfortunately, he won’t be in the mix this year for the long jump: although cleared to run, a broken fibula and subsequent surgery during fall football will keep him off the jumping runway for the 2025 track season. The only returning BWAC jumper in the top five that hasn’t graduated is Jovani Pena of Imlay City, who had a freshman best of 18’-4.25”.
MLN’s Isaac Miller has long jumped 19’-11” and made the podium at the Catholic League Championship. PHH’s Lincoln Watkins hasn’t jumped more than a handful of times, but has a best of 19’-6.75” from 2024. Lopez of PHN jumped 19’-8” and Simon Stockwell of Anchor Bay has gone 19’-10”.
I can’t wait to get back out there and see all of you running, jumping, and throwing. You can find results and articles on bluewaterrunning.org and our social media sites throughout the season. You can follow Blue Water Running on Instagram, X, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. You can also check out photo albums of meets that will be linked through the website and download and share them to help spread the word about Blue Water Running’s mission, which is to feature and celebrate the achievements of high school and collegiate cross country and track/field athletes from our area.
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