Best Throws Crews: Girls Week One

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 Zeeland East’s already dominant girls:

Grade	Name	Feet	Inches	Total	Team	Division	Score
12	Mariah Sackett	111	9	1341.0	Zeeland East	1	409
12	Kallie Taylor	104	6	1254.0	Zeeland East	1	389
11	Anna Tilden	98	5	1181.0	Zeeland East	1	372
Grade	Name	Feet	Inches	Total	Team	Division	Score
12	Faith Bonnema	35	11	431	Zeeland East	1	410
12	Mariah Sackett	35	0.75	420.75	Zeeland East	1	401
11	Anna Tilden	34	7	415	Zeeland East	1	396

These are from this season only, containing meets up until Tuesday. They do contain shot AND disc, I know many of the indoor meets didn’t contain the discus, but I felt it necessary to reward those that have braved the outdoors.

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the defending D1 State Champ in the Shot and Disc. As an Allen Park alum, I’m afforded that fandom! One must pay attention to potential competitors, and Royal Oak’s Elly Finch is on the rise yet again. Last May, she was able to dramatically improve, adding 5’ to her SP and 15’ to her Discs in the final month of the season. At Indoor State, she was able to crack 40’ for the first time ever, then she one upped that with a 41’0 toss at the Macomb Indoor Meet.

D1 Rank	Team	Shot	Disc	Team Score
1	Zeeland East	1207	1170	2377
2	East Kentwood	852	0	852
3	Port Huron Northern	755	0	755
4	Midland	749	0	749
5	Royal Oak	466	0	466
6	Traverse City West	447	0	447
7	Livonia Stevenson	415	0	415
8	East Lansing	410	0	410
9	Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills	408	0	408
10	Chippewa Valley	402	0	402

With seven of the top eight finishers graduating, the D2 Girl’s Shot Put is completely up for grabs. Janae Hudson finished outside of that top eight, but has made marked improvement in the year since. A 6^th place finish at Indoor State showed she can compete in championships, a 39’2 toss to open the year shows she’s gained the distance to push towards 40’ and beyond.

D2 Rank	Team	Shot	Disc	Team Score
1	Otsego	449	422	871
2	Niles	370	358	728
3	Marysville	446	0	446
4	Whitehall	425	0	425
5	Cadillac	405	0	405
6	Monroe Jefferson	397	0	397
7	Portland	0	394	394
8	Paw Paw	0	380	380
9	Dearborn Divine Child	375	0	375
10	GR Catholic Central	375	0	375

With many of the top returners yet to throw, one must look for potential newcomers. Clare’s well-rounded program (pound for pound, among the best hurdle schools in the state) extends to their throwers. Kadence Zelinski has made a marked improvement from last year, punching into the 30’s for the first time ever in her Shot Put opener.

D3 Rank	Team	Shot	Disc	Team Score
1	Chesaning	723	0	723
2	Clare	718	0	718
3	Caro	380	0	380
4	Constantine	360	0	360
5	Manistee	360	0	360

Portland St. Patrick’s Isabella Russman is off to a start that could lead to her first ever state qualifier. Despite throwing over 30’ as a freshman, she still finished 5^th in a tough regional last year. This time around, she’s started above 30’ and that could very well progress toward throws over the additional qualifying mark.

D4 Rank	Team	Shot	Disc	Team Score
1	Saginaw Valley Lutheran	384	0	384
2	Portland St. Patrick	349	0	349
3	Kalamazoo Hackett	341	0	341
4	Austin Catholic	340	0	340
5	Manistee Catholic	338	0	338