*For clarification, this is for the 2022 outdoor season only. I realize many have vaulted higher during indoor, but with clubs and not official school teams, it’s quite impossible to parse out the school they’ll be competing for.*

In past years, I’ve ranked programs by the number of sub-5/sub-6 milers, but that just concentrates on the distance folks. There are ten other individual events and three more relays. Michigan schools have traditions in jumps, throws, hurdles, sprints, and the vault. We have outstanding individuals who attain national glory both at this level and later in life. It’s my mission here to recognize and rank the teams that excel in the specialized events that make track and field, TRACK AND FIELD.

Over the winter, I ranked college distance programs, and I did an okay job, though I wasn’t impressed with the way I presented the rankings. USTFCCCA does their #eventsquad rankings for each individual event for collegiate teams. I thought I’d blend what they do and what I intend to do, to produce these “best crews”. Prep coaches typically wear many hats, but often you’ll have a throws coach, a hurdles coach, etc. If you have a girl that throws Shot, she’ll typically throw Discus. Instead of dissecting each individual event, I’ll attempt to rank the best hurdle crew (100/110h, 300h), the best throws crew (Disc, Shot), distance (800, 1600, 3200), sprint (100, 200, 400), jumps (HJ, LJ), and finally, Pole Vault getting their own, special category.

The method for the rankings is such:

• Top 3 athletes from each team with their best times/jumps/tosses averaged out
• The highest rank is given to the team with the highest average in that event
• Combining events to form a crew, teams will be ranked by their average rank between events (with ties going to teams with the teams with the higher rank of their worst category)
• For tiebreakers here in the vaults, I went with the higher height on the 3rd vaulter, and then if that was a tie, the higher of the 2nd vaulter
• These are from any results uploaded to athletic.net by midnight the previous night

I will release these on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with new rankings for each crew coming out every two weeks. The order will likely be Jumps, Distance, Vault, Sprints, Throws, Hurdles. Jumps are here first because many of these indoor meets were able to host both high jump and long jump, but obviously no 300h, 100m, or Discus.

These are NOT intended to be predictive or an overall rank of one’s T&F team. If you’re wondering why a team isn’t ranked, they likely haven’t competed yet or perhaps they don’t have the numbers to qualify. While my cross rankings attempt to project future performance, these are just a show what has already occurred. And maybe for myself, learn a little more of the names and individuals in those “other” events.

For this initial ranking, I combined all divisions. In future weeks, with a greater volume of athletes, I’ll rank by division. Message me if you need further explanation. I’m not burning the candle at both ends like the end of October, so I might be nice to you!

BOYS

Rank	Team	Height
1	Dexter	12′ 9″
2	Spring Lake	11′ 1″
3	Temperance Bedford	10′ 10″
4	Lake City	9′ 8″
5	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	9′ 2″
6	Adrian	8′ 8″
7	Hillsdale	8′ 8″
8	Morenci	8′ 8″
9	Portage Central	7′ 2″

Grade	Name	Team	Height	Avg. Height
12	Cole Sheldon	Dexter	15′ 3″
10	Clark Sheldon	Dexter	12′ 0″
11	Barrett Keller	Dexter	11′ 0″	12′ 9″
12	James Handrich	Spring Lake	13′ 0″
12	Mason Pomeroy	Spring Lake	11′ 0″
12	Wit Miller	Spring Lake	9′ 3″	11′ 1″
12	Ethan Lingle	Temperance Bedford	13′ 0″
11	Nathan Dotson	Temperance Bedford	10′ 6″
9	Alexander Beck	Temperance Bedford	9′ 0″	10′ 10″
12	Connery Urie	Lake City	10′ 0″
12	Caleb Doe	Lake City	10′ 0″
11	Marcus Booms	Lake City	9′ 0″	9′ 8″
12	Joseph Farage	GR_Catholic Central	9′ 6″
12	Gerard Farage	GR_Catholic Central	9′ 0″
12	Hunter Lincoln	GR_Catholic Central	9′ 0″	9′ 2″
9	Chase Henline	Adrian	9′ 0″
9	Aaron Miller	Adrian	9′ 0″
9	William Winckles	Adrian	8′ 0″	8′ 8″
12	Logan Benner	Morenci	9′ 6″
11	Bowen Baumgartner	Morenci	8′ 6″
9	Kevin Kaufman	Morenci	8′ 0″	8′ 8″
10	Dawson Adams	Hillsdale	10′ 6″
12	Dorian Roberts	Hillsdale	8′ 0″
9	Alan Torres	Hillsdale	7′ 6″	8′ 8″
11	Ryan Ernest	Portage Central	7′ 6″
10	Parker Root	Portage Central	7′ 6″
10	Grant Thompson	Portage Central	6′ 6″	7′ 2″

GIRLS

Rank	Team	Avg. Height
1	Dexter	9′ 11″
2	East Kentwood	9′ 2″
3	Zeeland East	8′ 6″
4	Rockford	8′ 4″
5	Midland	7′ 8″
6	Ann Arbor Skyline	7′ 8″
7	Grand Rapids West Catholic	7′ 6″
8	Montague	7′ 5″
9	Zeeland West	7′ 4″
10	Portage Central	6′ 10″
11	Spring Lake	6′ 10″
12	Otsego	6′ 8″

Grade	Name	Team	Height	Avg. Height
12	Sophia Mettes	Dexter	12′ 3″
12	Ella Gasiorek	Dexter	9′ 0″
12	Ellie Manly	Dexter	8′ 6″	9′ 11″
11	Cassidy Bowden	East Kentwood	10′ 0″
12	Macey Emeott	East Kentwood	9′ 6″
12	Chloe Fornetti	East Kentwood	8′ 0″	9′ 2″
12	Hannah Nienhuis	Zeeland East	9′ 6″
11	Rylee Sluiter	Zeeland East	9′ 0″
11	Sadie Huizenga	Zeeland East	7′ 0″	8′ 6″
10	Maija Carlson	Rockford	9′ 0″
12	Natalie Barr	Rockford	9′ 0″
12	Alaina Geisel	Rockford	7′ 0″	8′ 4″
–	Liv Rohr	Midland	8′ 0″
11	Olivia McMath	Midland	8′ 0″
12	Erin Quinn	Midland	7′ 0″	7′ 8″
11	Natalie Kessler	Ann Arbor Skyline	9′ 0″
10	Bryn Christensen	Ann Arbor Skyline	7′ 6″
10	Emily Greene	Ann Arbor Skyline	6′ 6″	7′ 8″
11	Ally Olszewski	GR_West Catholic	8′ 6″
10	Heidi Schulten	GR_West Catholic	7′ 6″
9	Emma Arsulowicz	GR_West Catholic	6′ 6″	7′ 6″
12	Orianna Blysma	Montague	7′ 9″
10	Emma Pendell	Montague	7′ 9″
11	Haylee Schwarz	Montague	6′ 9″	7′ 5″
11	Lindsey Peterson	Zeeland West	8′ 0″
11	Stephanie Dodd	Zeeland West	7′ 0″
11	Ella Smith	Zeeland West	7′ 0″	7′ 4″
11	Alyisa Eberhard	Portage Central	7′ 0″
11	Claire Arkinstall	Portage Central	7′ 0″
9	Kiara Olmstead	Portage Central	6′ 6″	6′ 10″
11	Catherine Vandergriff	Spring Lake	8′ 0″
12	Gabby Geneva	Spring Lake	6′ 3″
11	Lexi Vandonkelaar	Spring Lake	6′ 3″	6′ 10″
10	Olivia Dennis	Otsego	7′ 6″
12	Emma Conniff	Otsego	6′ 6″
11	Eleanor Bush	Otsego	6′ 0″	6′ 8″