Best Jump Crews: Girls Week One

You know, I could wait until mid-April to release these. Nearly all teams would have a meet or three under their belt, they’d be an accurate representation of the entire state. But who wants to wait that long? Surely not myself. This extended rest period is good for the soul, but I’ve laid dormant for too long.

To review, these “best crews” were started last year to try to recognize the best teams in each event area, whether that’s the jumps here, or sprints or throws elsewhere. Last year’s version was more complex and relied on having three participants in each event. I’ve changed things a bit this year, mostly to ease the process on my end and have the ability to include more teams.

Here’s the process:

Over the winter, I created my own version of World Athletics Tables, but for Michigan athletes. These are based on times/marks from the 2022 Outdoor Season throughout the US.

GIRLS TABLES

BOYS TABLES

There are two guidelines for being included. Your mark has to be from this outdoor season and it has to be better than the Regional Additional Qualifying Mark. Marks from this season are taken from the athletic.net performance lists. There will likely be some instances where someone has run a time, but it’s not included on that list. I can’t help that! Please contact the necessary folks to get your name on there.

For each event, with a maximum of four athletes, those scores are added together. Then within a category, those events are added together. There is some scaling done for relays and more than four athletes included if you’re especially dominant in an event, but we’ll get to those in time.

Here’s an example of Rockford:

Grade	Name	Feet	In.	Total	Team	Points	Event
10	Ashley Williams	15	7.5	187.5	Rockford	339.98	Long
10	Greta Caprathe-Buczek	5	7	67	Rockford	497.37	High

As girls run first in 2023, our women get the first post:

Rockford is headed by the great Greta Caprathe-Buczek. Greta had an outstanding freshman year, finishing 10^th in the Division 1 Long Jump and winning the High Jump at MITCA. Unfortunately, she placed 5^th at Regionals in the HJ, unable to qualify in both events. But it appears she’s improved a ton from her already impressive freshman best. She was consistently a 5’2 high jumper in 2022, even reaching up to 5’5. In her first official competition of her sophomore year, 5’7 to capture the crown at the Laker Challenge.

D1 Rank	Team	High	Long	Score
1	Rockford	497	340	837
2	Zeeland East	401	340	741
3	Macomb Dakota	0	711	711
4	Grandville	440	0	440
5	Woodhaven-Brownstown	0	418	418
6	Salem	401	0	401
7	Grand Ledge	0	387	387
8	Zeeland West	0	364	364
9	Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills	363	0	363
10	Port Huron Northern	0	349	349

Yale’s Sadie Dykstra was a middle school standout, losing one event (the 200 hurdles at Megastar) over the course of her season. She was unbeaten in the long jump, leaping to a 17’2 PR, which she already expanded upon by an inch in this freshman campaign.

D2 Rank	Team	High	Long	Score
1	Charlotte	649	317	966
2	Saginaw Swan Valley	954	0	954
3	Hastings	0	713	713
4	Allendale	363	349	711
5	Gladwin	324	371	696
6	Orchard Lake St. Mary’s	286	328	614
7	Otsego	572	0	572
8	Spring Lake	572	0	572
9	Yale	0	408	408
10	Owosso	382	0	382

The top four finishers from Division 3’s High Jump all return. So it’s necessary that the winner, Lawton’s Heidi Newhouse, rise to a height to put a statement towards her competition. Her 5’6 opener matched her best from last year.

D3 Rank	Team	High	Long	Score
1	Lawton	802	0	802
2	Grand Rapids West Catholic	324	332	656
3	Ann Arbor Greenhills	0	586	586
4	Bath	0	335	335
5	Saugatuck	324	0	324
6	Saginaw Valley Lutheran	0	303	303
7	Ithaca	0	300	300
8	Hillsdale	0	298	298
9	Almont	0	286	286
10	Chesaning	286	0	286

Last spring, New Buffalo’s Eva Bauer placed 20^th in the Long Jump at Division 4 State. She’s done early work that shows her quest to improve upon that place. In March of ’22, her opener in the sand was a 13’3. On Friday, she gained over 2.5 feet, a performance that establishes herself as a contender for the D4 crown.

D4 Rank	Team	High	Long	Score
1	Breckenridge	344	331	675
2	New Buffalo	0	347	347
3	Marine City Cardinal Mooney	0	331	331
4	Vestaburg	0	286	286
5	Holland Calvary Christian	286	0	286
5	Marcellus	286	0	286
7	Montabella	0	262	262