Cardinal Mooney's Lenn Runs Solid 1600, Dryden's Reynolds Cracks the Minute Mark in the 400
While the warm, sunny weather from Tuesday’s meets didn’t last through the rest of the week for league match-ups, that didn’t stop local Blue Water Area runners and field event athletes from starting the season with strong performances, and the sun made a reappearance by the weekend for Saturday invitationals. Here are some highlights from various meets around the area.
Macomb Lutheran North ran against Austin Catholic and Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest on their home track on Tuesday, April 9. Lutheran North’s Brewer Snay won the boys’ 1600/3200 double in 4:43 and 10:50, respectively (Snay also won the 3200 at the Detroit Divine Child All-Comers Meet on Saturday, April 6 in 10:07). His teammate Jack May was three-for-three, winning the 400 (56.46) and joining the 4x100 relay (45.78) and 4x200 relay (1:35.86) for victories. One of May’s teammates on the 4x100 relay, Isaac Miller, also won the long jump in 19-2.5, a personal best by almost a foot. Jack McMahon won the 800 (2:08) and was also part of the winning 4x400-meter relay (4:00.17). Andrew Starrs won both the shot put (43-4.5) and discus (127-6).
At the first Catholic High School Intersectional League Jamboree of the outdoor season on Wednesday, April 10, Marine City Cardinal Mooney's Tyler Lenn made a statement in the 1600 meters, running 4:25.15 to beat the second-place finisher by 15 seconds. That puts him on pace with his time progression last year, where he ended the 2023 season by winning the Division 4 state meet. Isaac Zammit dipped his toes into the 3200 for the first time in a few years, winning in 10:26, a huge improvement by over a minute since he last raced this event in 2021. Lenn and Zammit also teamed up to win the 4x800-meter relay in 8:53, along with Evan Jacobs and Jack Luzynski. On the girls’ side, Giana Gashaj was sixth in the 100-meter dash (14.55) and fifth in the 200 (30.35).
At Macomb Dakota High School, the Anchor Bay Tars went head-to-head with the Cougars in a MAC Red match-up on Thursday, April 11. Gerry Hanson claimed both the 100 and 200-meter dashes (11.51; 23.24 PR) and Aiden Champagne was runner-up in the 400-meter dash in his personal best of 52.71. Jonah Konarz was first in the 110-meter hurdles (16.33) and second in the 300s (42.43), his fastest 300-meter hurdles time ever. Luke Bowman raced in the 100-meter wheelchair (20.78 PR), 200-meter wheelchair (36.97 PR), and 400-meter wheelchair (1:13.58 PR) and threw in the wheelchair shot put (13', another personal best).
In the distance events, Thomas Westphal easily won the 800 (2:01) and 1600 (4:31) and teamed up with cross country members Zachary Rubicz, Greg Vogt, and Aaron Osterman to run 8:37.82 in the 4x800 meter relay to claim first. Greg Vogt won the 3200 in 10:18, as well. For the Lady Tars, Heaven Mitchell-Parker was first in the 200 (28.19 PR), second in the 100-meter hurdles (18.24 PR), then teamed up with Kendall Ahern, Karissa Lewis, and Brooklyn Shadley to win the 4x100 relay (53.57). Lauren Thomas was second in the 1600 (5:52), helped win the 4x400 relay (4:47; Zhenya Knowlin, Aubri Baciorowski, Karissa Lewis), and ran on the 4x800-meter relay (11:10; Kayla Lange, Maddie Leslie, Mary Wright).
Anchor Bay T&F Facebook Meet Album (courtesy of Rick Leslie): https://www.facebook.com/share/p/wkLATLvKquARBJ3T/?mibextid=WC7FNe
Armada, North Branch, and Yale competed in a variety of unique formats at the Lapeer Lightning Co-Ed Relays on Thursday. Relay teams were divided into equal sets of male/female athletes and there were event distances not typically seen in a high school meet, such as a mixed 110-meter shuttle hurdle relay and mixed 2400/3600-meter distance medley relays. A team made of all freshmen claimed the 2400-meter DMR victory for Yale: Julia Ferguson, Lillian Bender, Mikey Cowhy, and Logan Rhodes won in 7:26. Cecilia Ford, Sadie Dykstra, Giovanni Pardo-Keegan, and Acer Campbell took another relay win for the Bulldogs in the 3600-meter DMR (11:33). With several hurdlers atop the Blue Water Area Top-10 performance lists, the 4x110-meter shuttle hurdle relay of Dykstra, Keirra Taube, Leo Bearrs, and David Bianchini were dominant, winning by six seconds in 1:11.61. Wyatt Murtos won the mile in 5:00 for Yale, while his teammate Teddy Rutkofske was second in 5:03. Luke Nawrocki of Armada was fourth in 5:16. For the Lady Tigers of Armada, Darrah Mackenzie won the mile in 6:13 and Rowan Conley of North Branch was second in 6:16. Freshman Helena Reiff (Armada) rounded out the top three finishers in 6:23.
In the throwing circle, Eli Bickel of North Branch took first in shot put (43-11) and second in discus (115-06) for the boys. Freshman Riley Agee of Armada won the shot put on the ladies’ side, throwing 28-07, her best thus far. Another freshman, Liam McIntyre cleared an impressive six feet in the high jump for the North Branch Broncos, his personal best, which tied with first height-wise but took second due to the number of misses: he sits atop the performer's list for the Blue Water Area in this event. Yale’s Keirra Taube once again dominated the ladies’ high jump, winning in 5-4. The long jump was well-represented by Yale, with Sadie Dykstra taking first (17’) for the girls and Ty Laforest taking second in the boys’ jump (19-01).
Quite a few athletes were “shaking off the rust” at Saturday’s meet named for just that: the Shake Off the Rust Invitational at Davison. Ethan Dinanath was back in action for the Broncos. He placed fourth in the 100 (11.69), sixth in the 200 (23.87), third in the 400 (53.13), and joined Bryce Barkowska, Valentino Castaneda, and Thomas Kann, who took fifth in the 4x400-meter relay in 3:45. Kann was also second in the 800 (2:05). Port Huron Northern’s Grant Gonser was right behind Dinanath in the 400, taking fourth in 53.32. Gonser joined Luke VanderHeuvel, Talon Schott, and Kenny Thomas in the 4x400 relay (8th; 3:49) and Carson Prone, Grant Davis, and VanderHeuvel in the 4x800 relay, in which they took ninth in 9:07. Isaiah Lopez was 12th in the 100, running 11.96 for the Huskies, and had a big win in the high jump, taking first by three inches at 5-9. Lopez was also fifth in the long jump with a leap of 19 feet. In a very closely contested 4x100-meter relay race with finish places separated only by tenths of a second, Lopez and Vasili Kasparian, Andrew Hang, and Collin Landschoot finished fifth in 45.98.
For the ladies, North Branch’s Grace Clemens won the 100 in 12.9. Her fellow Bronco Clara Gyomory was fourth in the long jump (15-4.5), seventh in the high jump (4-3), and sixth in the 300-meter hurdles (54.16). Emma Sauer was fourth in the high jump with a PR of 4-9. Dryden’s Olivia Reynolds was third in the 200 (27.32) and second in the 400 in a HUGE personal best of 59.67: she dipped under the one-minute mark for the first time, which is a faster time than she ran at the D4 state finals to place third last June. This places her atop our Blue Water Area Top-10 performance list. Reynolds helped her team to a 1:52.79 in the 4x100-meter relay with Delaney Wolle, Sophia Peter, and Keira Miller, earning the Cardinals a third-place finish. She wrapped up her day with a fifth-place finish in the 4x400, joining Wolle, Peter, and Caila Fitchett (4:29).
New Haven’s Christian Lacy (senior) was third in the 100-meter dash (12.05) and sixth in the 200 (24.74) at Saturday’s Grosse Pointe North Invitational. Freshman Emma Reimer was second in the 400 (67) and sixth in the 1600 (6:16).
SEVERAL LOCAL TEAMS WERE SCHEDULED TO COMPETE AT THE ALGONAC RICHARDSON RELAYS ON FRIDAY, APRIL 12, BUT AT THE TIME OF THIS ARTICLE, NO RESULTS WERE AVAILABLE.