Blue Water Area schools are set to officially begin the 2024 boys' outdoor track and field season on Monday, March 11. Meet the athletes leading the charge for their teams in our season preview.
RUNNING EVENTS
100 Meters
200 Meters
Parker Atkinson of Marine City was second in the 100 (11.14) and 200-meter dash (23.34) at D2 regionals, the only time he finished lower than first in either race all season. A baseball player who hadn’t run high school track until his junior season, he dual-sported all spring. Atkinson looks to continue his success as a senior and repeat as MAC Blue champ in the 100/200 while claiming another regional championship with his teammates in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relays.
Ethan Dinanath of North Branch has a 200-meter personal best of 23.59 and was fifth at regionals and second in the BWAC and at the Blue Water Meet of Champions: he also qualified for the MITS indoor track finals in the 60-meter dash. His teammate Micheal Gorman was only a freshman when he won the 100-meter dash at the Reese Invite and was BWAC Champion last year with a best of 11.6. Gorman looks to repeat over Joseph Pacitto of Richmond, 2023 BWAC runner-up in the 100 and third in the Blue Water Meet of Champions with a best of 11.52. Junior Jack Justin of Marysville has a 200-best of 23.67 and was fourth in the MAC Gold.
For D1, Anchor Bay has several strong sprinters. Gerry Hanson is only a junior but already one of the top sprinters in the MAC Red and region with a PR of 11.25 in the 100 and 23.27 in the 200. Senior Aiden Champagne has a PR of 23.35 in the 200 and has similar times during his indoor campaign: he was also fourth at outdoor regionals last year in the 200. He and Hanson have teamed up as half of the 4x100 and 4x200 relays.
Port Huron Northern’s Alex Jamison has a personal 200-best of 23.97 and was the only freshman in the top five at the Marysville Invitational and the Blue Water Meet of Champions. PHN also has junior Isaiah Lopez, who won the 100-meter dash at the Blue Water Meet of Champions and was runner-up at the Marysville Invitational, with a season-best of 11.46.
Capac's Tyler McKenney (junior) has run an 11.68 in the 100, finishing third and just missing the state qualifying mark at D3 regionals. He was also sixth in the 200-meter dash (24.94).
Anchor Bay’s Luke Bowman competed in the adaptive wheelchair sprints all season including the state meet, where he raced a best in the 100 of 19.65 and 35.66 in the 200, which is a 17-second improvement from the start of the spring.
400 Meters
Last season, Cros-Lex’s Noah Jackson (junior) was third in the BWAC and fifth with a personal best at regionals (53.85). Yale’s Anthony Edwards (senior) was second in the BWAC with a 53.67. Evan Martin of Marine City (senior) had a PR of 54.03 to take second in the MAC Blue and was seventh at regionals.
Almont’s Matthew Bacholzy finished second in the D3 region in 2023 as a freshman (53.87), fifth at the Blue Water Meet of Champions (the only freshman to do so), and competed at the state finals and finished 20th. He’s already dipped into the 53-second range during the winter indoor season. Anchor Bay’s Champagne ran a 52.42 to qualify for the indoor track state finals.
DISTANCE EVENTS: Anchor Bay’s Thomas Westphal has personal bests that will win any meet or invitational he enters, so it’s just a matter of what races he chooses to focus on each week. He’s run 1:55 for the 800, 4:10 for 1600, and 8:55 for the 3200 and has never lost an 800 or 1600-meter race outside of the D1 state meet, where he was runner-up in 4:11. He won the indoor state finals 1600 in a time of 4:15.
The same all-around range applies to Tyler Lenn of MC Cardinal Mooney: he is the returning D4 state champion in the 1600 (4:14), has run 1:57 in the 800, 9:24 in the 3200, and was regional champion in all three events. Lenn can even drop a 51-second 400.
800 Meters
The boys’ 800 is a bit more unpredictable at the D2 regional level, as the upperclassmen favorites from 2023 graduated. BWAC league leaders include seniors Blake Ferguson, who won the conference 800 in 2023 (PR of 2:01.7 for runner-up at the Blue Water Meet of Champions), Acer Campbell (3rd in BWAC; PR of 2:07), and Giovanni Pardo-Keegan (fourth in BWAC and BWA Meet of Champs; PR of 2:03.32). Trent Glass of Marysville, also a senior, was third at the Blue Water Meet of Champions with a big personal best of 2:01 but ran sub-2 minutes during his indoor track season (1:59.97).
Port Huron Northern’s Luke VanderHeuvel and Grant Gonser both have bests in the 800 meters of 2:03 and were part of the 4x800 meter relay that won the Blue Water Meet of Champions and qualified for the Division 1 state finals. They went 4-5 in the MAC White. Jack Howell of St. Clair ran his best of 2:05 to finish sixth at the Blue Water Meet of Champions.
Isaac Zammit of MC Cardinal Mooney was second in both the 800 and 1600 at D4 regionals, with bests of 2:04 and 4:42, respectively. He won the Catholic High School League Championships in the 800. Zammit ran a 4:34 mile during the winter indoor track season.
1600 Meters
Look for more Yale distance names to repeat here: Ferguson (4:35), Campbell (4:41), Pardo-Keegan (4:39), and junior Wyatt Murtos (4:49). All are coming off a strong cross country season full of improvements. St. Clair seniors Vinny Schweihofer and Dylan Distelrath both have a personal best of 4:47 and Macomb Lutheran North’s Brewer Snay has run 4:38.5, but already equaled that time during the indoor season. Anchor Bay’s Gabe Rusch (4:44) and Zachary Rubicz (4:37 outdoors) are solid milers, with Rubicz already running faster than his outdoor best during the indoor season at 4:31. In D4, Dryden's Aiden Fitchett ran a 4:44 best to qualify for the state finals, where he finished 19th. He dropped that to a 4:41 during the winter indoor track season.
3200 Meters
Snay was runner-up at regionals in the 3200 with a best of 9:49 along with an indoor track state finals qualifier (9:52). He was also the 2023 regional champ for cross country, so he has a strong distance base to kickstart the track season. Any of the aforementioned Yale runners could also compete in this event.
Anchor Bay’s Greg Vogt was second in the MAC Red with a best of 10:05. St. Clair’s Dylan Distelrath was third in the MAC Gold and fifth at regionals (10:13) and Port Huron Northern’s Luke Maher was runner-up in the MAC White (10:15).
100/300 Meter Hurdles
Junior Jonah Konarz of Anchor Bay was the only underclassman to make the 110 hurdle finals last year at regionals and finished third (best of 15.79). He placed in the top three at most of the season’s meets and was MAC Red runner-up. He was fifth in the 300 hurdles at both regionals and the Macomb County Championships (42.56). Colin Boullard was the lone freshman to make it to the 110-meter hurdle final in the MAC Gold Championships, finishing fifth in 16.48, so his sophomore year looks promising.
Tye Kirschner (senior) of Cros-Lex won the 2023 BWAC 100 hurdles and was second at the Blue Water Meet of Champs in his best of 15.77. He was third at the North Branch D2 regional, just missing the second state qualifying spot. Richmond junior Joseph Pacitto was second in the 110-meter hurdles for the BWAC Championships and third at the Blue Water Meet of Champions: his season-best is 16.30 and he also made it to the regional finals, placing sixth.
In the 300 hurdles, Kirschner returns as the top finisher from last year’s BWAC meet with a PR of 44.31. Yale’s Brett Bearss (senior) was third in the BWAC and seventh at last year’s regional but has a speedy personal best of 42.66, which he ran mid-season last spring to win the Goodrich Invitational. Bearss also won the Marysville Invitational, as well.
RELAYS
4 x 100-meter relay
Marine City 44.2
Grant Westrick, Bodie Ramsey, Parker Atkinson, ?
Regional champs and state qualifiers, the Mariners lost one of their relay legs to graduation, but still have Atkinson as anchor to power them home.
Macomb Lutheran North 44.36
Jack May, Clay Thompson, Isaac Miller,?
Regional runners-up and fifth in Macomb County, this relay returns three members (all only juniors) with state meet experience, where they placed 19th in Division 2.
Port Huron Northern (D1) 45.08
Alex Jamison, Vasili Kasparian, Isaiah Lopez,?
The Huskies graduated one member of their relay, but Jamison and Kasparian are only sophomores along with the experience of junior Lopez, who’s been steadily improving throughout the indoor season.
North Branch 45.37
Ethan Dinanath, Wyatt Muxlow, Micheal Gorman,?
The Broncos won the BWAC meet and were third at the Blue Water Meet of Champions. They’ll also need to replace a senior relay leg.
Richmond dipped under 46 seconds once last season but lost half of their squad (Matyunas and Yera) to graduation.
4 x 200-meter relay
Marine City 1:32.51
Grant Westrick, Bodie Ramsey, Parker Atkinson,?
The same athletes return as in the 4 x 100 and are the defending MAC Blue and Regional champs.
Macomb Lutheran North 1:34.98
Ian Ruatto, Clay Thompson, Isaac Miller,?
Fourth at regionals, fifth in Macomb County, returning three relay legs.
Marysville 1:35.03
Jack Justin, Owen Krantz, Alec Trendy,?
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.
Almont 1:35.49
Matthew Bacholzky, Nolan Maxlow, Tim Miller, ?
As BWAC runners-up and third-place finishers at regionals, only one senior graduated from the Raiders’ team.
4 x 800-meter relay
Yale 7:57.16
Blake Ferguson, Acer Campbell, Gio Pardo-Keegan,?
The Yale Bulldog trio of Ferguson, Campbell, and Pardo-Keegan have been a dominant force, winning the 2023 regional 4x800 meter relay and placing seventh at the state finals, earning all-state honors in a time of 7:57. While the relay lost one member to graduation, Yale always has a strong distance crew to pull from, and these guys all dropped big personal-best split times when it mattered most.
St. Clair 8:06.81
Jack Howell, Vinny Schweihofer, ??
Losing two athletes including the regional champ in the 800 (Carter Boullard) to graduation means the Saints will need to add a new half to their crew. They qualified for states and finished in eleventh place.
PHN 8:15.17
Luke VanderHeuvel, Grant Gonser, ??
Blue Water Meet of Champions and D1 state finals qualifiers: with Glen Davis and Matt LeFreniere now running collegiately, can the Huskies find two middle-distance guys to rebuild their relay? Perhaps it will be Luke Maher, who had a stellar cross country season, dipping under 17 minutes.
Anchor Bay 8:22.01
Thomas Westphal, Zachary Rubicz, Greg Vogt, Aidan Leslie
The Tars were second in the MAC Red and sixth at regionals, where all five teams before them hit the qualifying mark. With Westphal and their relay members all part of the first cross country team to qualify for states since the 1970s, they will be contenders.
MC Cardinal Mooney 8:39.54
Isaac Zammit, Jack Luzynski, Evan Jacobs, Tyler Lenn
The Cardinals qualified for the state finals by winning their D4 regional, along with winning the Catholic High School League Divisional Championships and placing third at the Blue Water Meet of Champions. They return all four relay members.
4 x 400 meter relay
The mile relay, as it is colloquially known, looks to be headed for a rebuilding year: 2023’s regional had Armada placing second (3:32.25) but graduating their entire relay team. Marysville was third (3:34.40) and Yale fourth (3:34.71), but both lost 50% of their teams, too. North Branch has a returning team (senior Dinanath and juniors Castaneda, Kann, and Robinson), but with a season-best of 3:36, they’ll need to drop several seconds to be competitive at the league and regional level. In D3 competition, Almont was second at regionals with a 3:41 and ran at the state finals, but also lost half of their team to graduation. They return sophomore Bacholzky and junior Nolan Maxlow.
FIELD EVENTS
Shotput/Discus
Junior Andrew Starrs of Macomb Lutheran North is the top finishing returner from D2 regionals, placing seventh with a throw of 39’-11.75” in the shotput. He has a best of 43’-4.75” and won several dual and quad meets. Starrs was third in the discus at regionals, just missing a state berth, but later won the Macomb County Meet in 136’-1”, his season best.
Zack Haywood of Yale (40’-10.75”) and Eli Bickel (40’-4”) of North Branch were both just freshmen when they took fourth and fifth, respectively, in the BWAC behind a senior-studded podium. Bickel was also third in the discus at the BWAC Champs in 136’, while Haywood was fourth in 123’-4”. Drew Hoffman of Port Huron High was the MAC Blue champ for discus in 123’-6.5”.
Pole Vault
Freshman Levi Opperman of North Branch won every BWAC middle school pole vault competition and was sixth at the Mid-Michigan Megastar Meet, vaulting 10 feet. That height would have placed him in the top six for high school BWAC finishes.
Almont’s Chase Battani is only a junior but 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’ indoors along with placing second in the state at the MITS State Finals. He won every outdoor meet he entered the entire 2023 season, including the league meet, regionals, and Blue Water Meet of Champions. He was third at the D3 state finals, earning an All-State podium finish. He went on to place second at the MITCA Michigan Champions of Champions Track & Field Festival and won the Meijer State Games of Michigan meet. While his teammate Josiah Clark is a few feet behind him, he still took second at regionals to earn a trip to the D3 state meet, vaulting a best of 10’-6”.
Yale's Jeremy Griffith was fourth in the BWAC and won the Goodrich Invitational: he took fourth at regionals with a personal best of 12’-2”. Port Huron High’s Owen Palmer won the MAC Blue with a vault of 10’-6”.
While we don’t normally cover the Thumb Area in its entirety, we have to mention senior vaulter Logan Malloy (Marlette), who was state-runner-up in the Division 4 pole vault last year with a best of 13’1”.
High Jump/Long Jump
D1: Anchor Bay’s Bishop Thomas (junior) narrowly missed a state qualification, jumping the same height as the third-place finisher. His best height is 6’2”. He won the MAC Red and was sixth at the Macomb County Championships. Junior Isaiah Lopez of PHN has already cleared 6’2” indoors, which is two inches higher than his best outdoors in 2023. He also does well in the long jump, with a best of 19’-9”.
D2: Garret Distelrath of Marysville has long-jumped 20’-7.5” and won the MAC Gold Championship, along with most of the season’s league dual meets and Yale Relays, placing fourth at regionals. Wyatt Muxlow of North Branch has jumped 19’-9.5”, was third in the BWAC, and fifth at both the Blue Water Meet of Champions and the Thumb Meet of Champs.
Almont’s Bacholzky won his D3 regional and placed 14th in the state with a leap of 19’-10.75”. He has also competed in the triple-jump event indoors and has already jumped 19’-4” indoors for the long jump this winter. Kai Fisher of Memphis high-jumped 5'-8" as an eighth grader, which could potentially qualify him as a freshman for the state meet if he jumps consistently up to regionals.
Statistics used to write the season preview:
BWAC, MAC, and CHS League results
Blue Water Area meets (Marysville Invitational, Muskrat Invitational, Blue Water Meet of Champions, Thumb Meet, Macomb County Meet)
County, Regional, and State Finals placements
If you feel there's an athlete we overlooked with performances comparable to the ones mentioned above, feel free to let us know! You can use the contact button on the website or message us on any of our social media platforms.
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