The chance to earn a trip to the Track and Field State Finals was on the line throughout Michigan this weekend, and despite lightning delays, high heat, and tough competition, athletes around the Blue Water Area rose to the occasion to punch a ticket to the big day on June 1. However, a regional day can also bring disappointment and heartache: several narrowly missed the automatic qualifying marks - in some cases by hundredths of a second - so make sure to check out the full results of each meet linked below to see some great efforts and personal bests by many area track and field athletes.
D3 Regionals at Clawson: Thurs. 5-16-24
Boys: Algonac: 5th Memphis: 10th New Haven: 11th | Girls: Algonac: 5th New Haven: 6th Memphis: 10th |
New Haven, Algonac, and Memphis are all sending boys to the Division 3 state finals in June. For the New Haven Rockets, senior sprinter Christian Lacy was runner-up in the 100-meter dash in 11.43, earning his first-ever state meet qualification. Freshman Kai Fisher of Memphis did the same in the 200-meter dash, running 22.91 to place fifth but earning an automatic qualification via time (23.3 is the AQ).
Algonac’s Julian Walker is the regional champ in the 3200, winning in 10:52. He teamed up with David Clemons, Nathan Clemons, and Owen Beindit to also take first in the 4x800 relay (8:47). Clemons also qualified in the 800 in 2:09.
For the girls, New Haven’s Emma Reimer, also a freshman, is going to the state finals in two events: she was runner-up in the 800 (2:42 PR) and high jump (4-4 PR). Her fellow freshie Sophie Szabo was second in the 3200 in 14:44 to punch her ticket to states. Algonac’s Jasmine Walker won both the 1600 (6:15) and 3200 (14:16) and joined fellow Muskrats Kate Bennett, Charlie Harms, and Olivia Pastrone in the 4x800-meter relay to win in 13:53. Bennett was the regional champion in the 800, running her personal best of 2:34. The Division 3 state finals will be held at Kent City High School on June 1.
D4 Regionals @ Dryden: Fri. 5-17-24
Cardinal Mooney and Dryden
The Dryden girls finished second overall in regional team standings, just missing a regional championship title by 2.6 points behind Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest. Olivia Reynolds was four-for-four as the regional champ in the 400 meters, running her personal best of 59.39. She qualified for the state meet in the 200 meters as well, placing second in 27.31. She joined Delaney Wolle, Keira Miller, and Sophia Peter in the 4x200 relay to add another regional championship event to her resume (1:49.68). Reynolds, Peter, Caila Fitchett, and Wolle hit the automatic qualifying time for D4 states in the 4x400 relay, taking third in 4:17.34. Along with the two aforementioned relays, Peter won a regional title in the 100-meter hurdles (17.45) and was second in the 300 hurdles (50.69), earning her a trip to the state finals in both events. The 4x800-meter relay of Fitchett, Lily Finnigan, Audrey Napolitano, and Cara Prusakiewicz were regional runners-up in 11:27, securing their spot on the starting line at the state meet on June 1. Thrower Ava Devlaminck threw 97-09 in the discus to take third place, just making the automatic qualifying standard by a little over nine inches.
Marine City Cardinal Mooney girls finished 11th overall. Stella Behnan took third in the 3200 to qualify for the state finals for the Cardinals.
On the boys’ side, Cardinal Mooney also was the team regional runner-up, scoring 88 points to Mt. Clemens’ 134. Tyler Lenn was an individual double-champion, winning the 800 (2:02.4&0, the 1600 (4:21.92), and also adding the 4x800-meter relay title (8:26) to his regional accomplishments along with teammates Isaac Zammit, Jack Luzynski, and Evan Jacobs. Zammit was second in the 1600 in 4:32 to earn his state qualifying spot. Dryden's Aiden Fitchett qualified in the 1600, running 4:44.09 to take fourth.
Division 3 @ Stockbridge: Friday, 5/17/24
Almont
The Almont Raiders qualified multiple athletes on Friday night at Stockbridge. The boys finished as runners-up to Detroit Voyageur in the team competition, while the girls won a regional championship, defeating Stockbridge 149-132.
Matthew Bacholzky will be competing at the state finals in all four events: he was a back-to-back regional champ in the long jump, leaping this year to the win in 20-3.25, his best. Bacholzky was also part of the second-place 4x400 relay (3:39.59) and the winning 4x200 relay (1:33.25). He snagged another state qualification in the open 400, where he was second in 52.48, a PR. Chase Battani won the 100-meter dash in 11.47, took third in the 110-high hurdles in 16 seconds, and was second in the pole vault in 13 feet to qualify for the D3 state meet in three events.
For the ladies, Lola Battaglia was second in the 100 (13.47), won the 200 (27.02 PR), and helped the 4x100 relay win (53.11) and the 4x200 take second (1:54.9). Allison Williams was runner-up in the pole vault (7-9) and Lauren Webster took third in the high jump to automatically qualify in 4-11 in field events. On the distance side, the 4x800 relay of Jenna Kline, Ayla DeLaurier, Amada Fitchett, and Laila Evola won a regional title in 11:20. Evola won both the 1600-meter run (5:50) and 3200-meter run (13:18) as well, making her qualifying total three events.
Qualifying relay members:
Boys:
REGIONAL CHAMP 4x200 Relay: Tim Miller, Cole Walton, Nolan Maxlow, Matthew Bacholzky. 1:33.25
4x400 Relay: Adam SaintOnge, Cole Walton, Nolan Maxlow, Matthew Bacholzky. 3:39.59
Girls:
REGIONAL CHAMP 4x100 Relay: Genesis Fisher, Lauren Webster, Montserrat Coronel, Lola Battaglia. 53.11
4x200 Relay: Genesis Fisher, Montserrat Coronel, Lola Battaglia, Lillian Longo. 1:54.80
Almont competes in the D3 state meet at Kent City High School on June 1.
Division 1 @ Romeo: Friday, 5/17/24
Anchor Bay, Port Huron High, Port Huron Northern
Lightning delays pushed meet events into the late evening (or early Saturday morning for many teams around the state). Anchor Bay’s Thomas Westphal was a triple champion, winning the 800 (in a school-record time of 1:53.72), 1600 (4:16.82), and 3200 (9:28). Pole vaulter Mitchel Morrison won the pole vault in 12-9, so these two will head to the Division 1 state finals in East Kentwood on June 1. Luke Bowman will also compete in the adaptive events in the shot put, 100, and 400-meter dash. The Tars finished third overall as a team with 70 points.
Division 2 @ North Branch: Saturday, 5/18/24
Armada, Cros-Lex, Imlay City, Marine City, Macomb Lutheran North, Marysville, North Branch, Richmond, St. Clair, and Yale.
Girls Champions: Goodrich 117.7 2. North Branch 79 3. Yale 72 4. Croswell-Lexington 57 5. Orchard Lake St. Mary's 50 6. Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 49 7. Macomb Lutheran North 44.5 8. Marysville 41 9. Cranbrook Kingswood 39.2 10. Armada 29.5 11. Marine City 22 11. Ortonville Brandon 22 13. Imlay City 12.5 14. Richmond 10.2 15. St. Clair 9.4 16. Pontiac 7 | Boys Champions: Orchard Lake St. Mary's 106 2. Macomb Lutheran North 99 3. Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 65 4. North Branch 61 5. Yale 57 6. Marine City 51 7. Ortonville Brandon 47 8. Marysville 46 9. St. Clair 45 10. Croswell-Lexington 29 11. Goodrich 21 12. Cranbrook Kingswood 12 13. Imlay City 6 14. Armada 3 14. Richmond 3 16. Pontiac 1 |
The majority of Blue Water Area/BWAC athletes and schools are part of the D2 division. The regional was held at North Branch, and while there weren’t torrential downpours and whipping winds (as was the case in 2023), with temperatures hovering near 80 degrees, conditions were challenging for all-day competition, especially distance events. Despite this, several races were so fast that multiple people hit the automatic qualifying time despite not finishing in the top two spots: for example, six out of eight runners in the 100-meter dash finals met state qualification standards. The boys’ 800 had five athletes qualify, with four runners under two minutes, and they all ran their personal bests. The girls’ 4x800, 100-meter hurdles, and 1600-meter run had four qualifiers, as did the boys’ 200.
In a very impressive showing, Yale’s Sadie Dykstra (sophomore) and Keirra Taube (junior) qualified in all four events in which they participated, with Dykstra winning four regional titles, three of them individually: the long jump, 100/300 hurdles, and 4x400 relay. She is a back-to-back champion in the long jump and hurdles, winning these events last year as a freshman. Taube was also in the 4x400, won the high jump, and was second only to Dykstra in both hurdle events. North Branch’s Grace Clemens did the same, winning the 100, 200, 4x100, and finishing as runner-up in the long jump.
Division 2 state qualifiers: BOLD/Italics indicates REGIONAL CHAMP
Event | Boys | Girls |
100 | 4. Ethan Dinanath - North Branch. 11.22 6. Parker Atkinson - Marine City. 11.28 | 1. Grace Clemens - North Branch. 12.31 2. Penelope McNutt - Imlay City. 12.76 |
200 | 4) Ethan Dinanath - North Branch. 22.74 PR | 1. Grace Clemens - North Branch. 25.54 PR |
400 | 2. Casidhe Flesher - Marine City. 60.62 PR | |
800 | 1. Gio Pardo-Keegan - Yale.1:59.06 PR 2. Blake Ferguson - Yale. 1:59.46 PR 3. Trent Glass - Marysville. 1:59.70 PR 4. Jack Howell - St. Clair. 1:59.97 PR | 2. Samantha Whitlam - MLN. 2:22.23 PR 3. Morgan Newton - Cros-Lex. 2:22.74 SR |
1600 | 3. Eva Thompson - Cros-Lex. 5:15.87 | |
3200 | 1. Brewer Snay - MLN. 10:01.18 2. Dylan Distelrath - St. Clair. 10:01.21 | 2. Eva Thompson - Cros-Lex. 11:35 |
110/ 100 hurdles | 2.Tye Kirschner - Cros-Lex. 15.26a 3. Colin Boullard - St. Clair. 15.62 PR | 1. Sadie Dykstra - Yale. 15.31 PR 2. Keirra Taube - Yale. 15.77 PR |
300 hurdles | 3. Tye Kirschner - Cros-Lex. 41.99 | 1. Sadie Dykstra - Yale. 45.34 PR 2. Keirra Taube - Yale. 48.76 PR |
4x100 | 1. Marine City - 43.42 Grant Westrick, Austin Brown, Bodie Ramsey, Parker Atkinson 3. Macomb Lutheran North - 44.36 Jack May, Hudson McDonald, Will Haskins, Isaac Miller | 1. North Branch - 51.09 Sarah Munro, Aubree Deshetsky, Rowan Conley, Grace Clemens |
4x200 | 2. Macomb Lutheran North - 1:31.15 Jack May, Hudson McDonald, Will Haskins, Isaac Miller | |
4x400 | 2. Macomb Lutheran North - 3:32.81 Marino Martoni, Jack May, Will Haskins, Roman Cody | 1. Yale - 4:07.16 Keirra Taube, Julia Ferguson, Madeline Sepsey, Sadie Dykstra |
4x800 | 1. Yale - 8:03.66 Gio Pardo-Keegan, Acer Campbell, Wyatt Murtos, Blake Ferguson 2. St. Clair - 8:15.94 Dylan Distelrath, Vinny Schweihofer, Jack Howell, Jerry Westrick | 2. Cros-Lex - 9:46.38 Morgan Newton, Abagayle Barkley, Brynn Hurley, Eva Thompson 4. Armada - 10:01.38 Darrah Mackenzie, Claire Sniesak, Brooklyn Khon, Ava Baltierra |
Shot Put | 1. Eli Bickel - North Branch. 47-11.50 PR 2. Andrew Starrs - MLN. 47-02.75 | 1. Janae Hudson - Marysville. 43-03.00 2. Aubree Deshetsky - North Branch. 40-08.5 PR 3. Alyssa Thomas - Marysville. 36-03.00SR |
Discus | 1. Andrew Starrs - MLN. 146-06 PR 2. Eli Bickel - North Branch. 143-08 | 1. Janae Hudson - Marysville. 146-10 PR 2. Aubree Deshetsky - North Branch. 121-06 |
High Jump | 1. John Coverdill - Marine City. 6’ 2. Brennan Francek - Marysville. 6’ | 1. Keirra Taube - Yale. 5-1. |
Pole Vault | 1. Kieran Whitlam - MLN. 12-08 PR 2. Leyton Hutchins - North Branch. 12-02 | 2. Christina Seghi - Cros-Lex. 8-6. |
Long Jump | 1. Sadie Dykstra - Yale. 17-07 2. Grace Clemens - North Branch. 16-08 |
The Division 2 state finals will be held June 1 at Hamilton High School.
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