50 Tickets to Brooklyn: #23

I’ll just say this: having Northville’s depth is intimidating enough, pairing that depth with two young, yet experienced frontrunners will be devastating to much of their competition
The numbers here have Ella and Cassie right next to each other, less than a second apart, and their accomplishments bear that out
During championship cross country races, their times were nearly identical
- Wayne County: 19:20 for Ella, 19:24 for Cassie
- KLAA: 18:51.8 for each
- State: 18:52 for Cassie, 18:54 for Ella
- Meet of Champions: 19:03 for Ella, 19:05 for Cassie
Ella didn’t show up in high school an absolute superstar, it’s taken some work to get there
- Prior to October of her freshman year, she hadn’t broken 20:00 in a race
- Since then, over 75% of her races have been sub-20
During track, she was able to show off some mid-distance ability, breaking 5:00 in the 1600m (which in our insane state environment, “only” placed 15^th), and sprinting to a 2:19.5 in the 800m
Despite the above talk of her teammates, don’t ignore her individual accomplishments, they will be plenty in the coming years

You could see the inklings during the 2021 track season, Braylon’s freshman year
- His 1600m ranked 6^th amongst all 9^th graders, his 3200, 12^th
Those rankings don’t mean squat when a new season comes along, unless you’re Mr. Petty, then they’re just an obvious part of the story
His coming out party on the cross course came at Huron Meadows in late August, where he ran 16:32, nearly a 20 second PR
That early season breakout gave way to a season where he was sub-17 in the rest of his races (after being below that mark once as a freshman)
- Those fast times led to numerous honors, top-10’s at every single race, up there in high-profile meets such as Cougar Falcon, Otsego Bulldog, along with all the championship competitions
And as he always does, cross was built on into track, where his 9:39 ranks 12^th for anyone that was a sophomore and younger
Just as Ella and Cassie for Northville, Braylon will join Aidan Smith as another pair of teammates as low sticks in the D2 ranks

Grade	Name	Rating	Meet	Course	Date
9	Braylon Petty	155.8	Adrian/Chelsea/Tecumseh Tri	Heritage Park (Adrian)	26-Aug
9	Braylon Petty	155.8	Adrian/Dexter/Tecumseh Tri	Heritage Park (Adrian)	4-Sep
9	Braylon Petty	160.5	Adrian/Hudson/Skyline/Tecumseh	Heritage Park (Adrian)	12-Sep
9	Braylon Petty	176.1	Jackson	Sharp Park	19-Sep
9	Braylon Petty	164.8	Adrian/Pinckney/Tecumseh	Heritage Park	26-Sep
9	Braylon Petty	168.6	Adrian/Bedford	Indian Creek Park	3-Oct
9	Braylon Petty	174.4	PR 35	Heritage Park (Adrian)	24-Oct
9	Braylon Petty	178.5	D2 Reg 18	Lake Erie	31-Oct
9	Braylon Petty	181.8	D2 State	MIS	6-Nov

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