Best Distance Crews: Girls Week One

For this week’s version of the distance crews, I only included the 800m and 1600m. The next iteration will bring in the 3200m and 4x800m. The majority of meets thus far this season have been indoors, and they’ve either not featured the relay, not had a 3200m, or had a 3000m instead. Then half of the invitationals are listed as “indoor” for athleticnet lists (or just not listed at all), making my task more difficult, but I won’t complain too much.

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. Here are those qualifiers for the individual events. Obviously, every team can run a relay at Regionals. For the 4×800, this standard is my own (not MHSAA’s) and the equivalent of if there was a standard.

Event	D1 Girls	D2 Girls	D3 Girls	D4 Girls
800m	2:28	2:35	2:41.2	2:48
1600m	5:35	5:45	6:03	6:20
3200m	12:10	12:35	13:10	14:00
4x800m	10:21	10:44	11:22	11:49

Event	D1 Boys	D2 Boys	D3 Boys	D4 Boys
800m	2:03	2:07	2:12	2:15
1600m	4:38	4:47	5:00	5:10
3200m	10:00	10:30	11:05	11:30
4x800m	8:28	8:48	9:12	9:28

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. For example, Ann Arbor Pioneer’s 1600m girls:

Grade	Name	Time	Seconds	Team	Division	Points
11	Rachel Forsyth	4:53.0	293.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	1	494
12	Emily Cooper	5:00.0	300.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	1	463
11	Sylvia Sanok Dufallo	5:01.0	301.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	1	459

They received 1416 points, the most dominant of any squad in any event, boys or girls, thus far.

I’ll try to give a shoutout or mention for each division (and when our friends north of the bridge start competin’, do the same for their divisions). We also have the Michtrack Newsletter and Jacob Tanner’s Three Stars mentioning outstanding performances. I’ll do my best to mention athletes not previously written about.

Also would like to give thanks to Miles Postema for use of his photo galleries. His photos are the backgrounds for many of my edits. In our Michigan Track/XC Coaches facebook group, Miles has given us free access to download and use these. As someone who is doing this for free and not looking to profit off high schoolers, a cost-effective way to promote our sport is invaluable.

These lists are comprised of meets through Monday.

In order to keep the tradition going, you have to add talent and you have to bring improvement in the talent that you have. West Ottawa has been at or near the top of the heap the past few years and with freshman additions such as Addie Birkholz, the Panthers should be to retain that position. In the fall, she progressed from a 22+ girl to a valuable contributor, sub-20 on a state title winning squad. On the track, she’s found her home in mid-distance. Her 2:18 opener was 2^nd in the Laker Challenge and would’ve placed in the top-10 of all freshman girls in the 2022 season. Of course, this is just the start and who knows how many seconds will be dropped over the course of the season.

D1 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	Score
1	Ann Arbor Pioneer	470	1416	1886
2	Holland West Ottawa	850	889	1739
3	Lowell	787	862	1649
4	Grand Haven	819	0	819
5	Walled Lake Northern	401	377	778
6	Traverse City West	743	0	743
7	Zeeland East	373	345	718
8	Saline	0	708	708
9	Bay City Western	367	337	704
10	Grandville	0	467	467

Always a solid contributor, always a bit unheralded, Lily Parker seems primed to have her best track season yet. Her 800m opener was a personal best, her 1600m nearly the same. The longer distance appears to be more of her thing, evidenced by her two All-State honors on the grass. Those faster times at the shorter distances often lead to big gains at the longer ones, I wouldn’t be shocked if she’s on the medal stand come early June.

D2 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	Score
1	Spring Lake	732	358	1091
2	Monroe Jefferson	333	309	642
3	Whitehall	339	289	628
4	Otsego	293	288	580
5	Chelsea	0	352	352
6	Williamston	343	0	343
7	Sparta	0	339	339
8	Cadillac	339	0	339
9	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	297	0	297
10	Freeland	291	0	291

A major reason for Lawton’s inclusion on this early list is Kendra Koster. She’s coming off an outstanding indoor season where she set PB’s in the range of distance events. From 2:20 to 11:14, she established herself as someone that can be in the conversation when June rolls around. Although the State Finals haven’t been kind to her in November or June, I think her experience from the MITS meet will pay dividends down the line.

D3 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	Score
1	Hart	406	867	1273
2	Lawton	590	347	936
3	Lansing Catholic	349	442	791
4	Kent City	297	352	649
5	St. Louis	314	320	635
6	Morley-Stanwood	297	316	613
7	Caro	320	256	576
8	Grandville Calvin Christian	0	511	511
9	Ovid-Elsie	346	0	346
10	Parchment	279	0	279

The Division 4 State Finals likely should bend to the will of Aiden Harrand. Whichever individual events she chooses to run, she’ll be the favorite. I think her past two outdoor seasons and this indoor season and cross-country campaign give her that honor. But in the relay, the distance girls of Rochester Hills Lutheran NW have already made a statement. Abby Rice opened with a solid 2:32. Just behind Abby, Madeleine Barge knocked out a PR in her first race of the season. Mackenzie Lemke won the 1600m in 5:30. The Crusaders also return Julia Troxel as the final component of their title defense.

D4 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	Score
1	Rochester Hills Lutheran NW	603	333	936
2	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	357	169	526
3	Marcellus	215	167	383
4	Kalamazoo Hackett	188	176	364
5	Harbor Beach	220	0	220
6	Breckenridge	187	0	187
7	Vestaburg	178	0	178