Best Sprint Crews: Boys Week Two

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. Their purpose is to compare across events. Here are the boys 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. Relays are scaled to match their importance within a meet. Often, at the state level, teams score more points from a relay than they would with four individuals running that event, so they’re given a bit more importance here.

Here’s an example of one of the better early season crews, the Spring Lake 400m bunch, which includes one of the better overall athletes in the State, Jaxson Tober:

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Division	Points	Team Score
12	Tanner Guczwa	50.86	Spring Lake	2	388
12	Jaxson Tober	50.94	Spring Lake	2	385
12	Caden Kyser	51.61	Spring Lake	2	361	1134

These are from this season only, containing meets up until TUESDAY. Since the early season meets omit a few events, what I did was take a team’s best three event scores. Future versions will include all events.

The two crews I’ve neglected to rank have been the pole vaulters and hurdlers. Hurdles, because there have been very few opportunities at the 100/110/300m distances, vaulters because it’ll take a bit for them to hit the regional qualifying height. I plan to kick those off next week and settle into a consistent rhythm and schedule.

Third fastest 400m mark as a freshman doesn’t mean much unless it translates to quicker times as an upperclassman. Ahmad Ameen has definitely accelerated in terms of speed and growth, throwing down a 49.46 in his opener. Running that indoors shows Ahmad can definitely be in the discussion come June and perhaps be a challenger to defending champ Malachi Mosley.

D1 Rank	Team	Score	100m	200m	400m	4×1	4×2	4×4
1	Byron Center	2285	319	542	659	0	1084	0
2	Saline	1669	0	294	324	0	1050	0
3	Caledonia	1382	319	0	345	718	0	0
4	Detroit U-D Jesuit	1162	0	309	0	0	853	0
5	Detroit Cass Tech	1154	0	0	402	0	752	0
6	Ann Arbor Pioneer	1108	0	0	368	0	0	740
7	Holland West Ottawa	1010	313	306	391	0	0	0
8	Rockford	920	0	580	340	0	0	0
9	Lansing Waverly	658	658	0	0	0	0	0
10	Holt	529	0	529	0	0	0	0
11	Jackson	438	0	0	438	0	0	0
12	Ann Arbor Skyline	411	0	0	411	0	0	0
13	Zeeland West	387	0	0	387	0	0	0
14	Hudsonville	337	0	0	337	0	0	0
15	Detroit Catholic Central	330	0	0	330	0	0	0
16	Warren DeLaSalle	313	313	0	0	0	0	0
17	East Kentwood	308	0	308	0	0	0	0
18	Grand Blanc	294	0	294	0	0	0	0
19	Grand Haven	282	0	282	0	0	0	0
20	Warren Mott	269	0	269	0	0	0	0

Wrote a bit about his sister on Tuesday, thought I’d return the favor today. They’re both 100m studs, and Rasean O’Tey has kicked off his season in unfamiliar territory. His previous two openers have been of the 11.8 variety, now he’s closing in on sub-11 with an 11.12. Last spring, he was able to nab his first State Qualifier in the 200m, can he double that up with a 100m berth as well?

D2 Rank	Team	Score	100m	200m	400m	4×1	4×2	4×4
1	Spring Lake	2438	279	241	1134	0	624	679
2	Forest Hills Eastern	1269	0	0	0	0	608	661
3	Sturgis	1073	369	0	0	0	704	0
4	Orchard Lake St. Mary’s	897	260	0	0	0	638	0
5	Detroit Country Day	704	0	0	0	0	704	0
6	Tecumseh	661	0	0	0	0	661	0
7	Pontiac Notre Dame Prep	616	0	295	321	0	0	0
8	Clio	596	0	0	0	0	0	596
9	Hastings	592	0	0	0	0	0	592
10	Mattawan	505	0	209	296	0	0	0
11	Fowlerville	482	0	482	0	0	0	0
12	Charlotte	471	0	471	0	0	0	0
13	Linden	375	0	0	375	0	0	0
14	Yale	374	0	0	374	0	0	0
15	Pinckney	336	0	0	336	0	0	0
16	Summit Academy North	326	0	0	326	0	0	0
17	North Branch	306	0	0	306	0	0	0
18	Chelsea	303	0	0	303	0	0	0
19	Remus Chippewa Hills	295	0	0	295	0	0	0
20	Riverview	295	0	0	295	0	0	0

As a team, Constantine probably doesn’t get the attention from me as they deserve. In 2022, the Falcons closed the season as runner-ups in Region 24 and the SAC, 5^th at MITCA, and 16^th in the State Finals. A large part of that was Dean Topoloski’s sprinting. He was a consistent contributor at the 200m and 400m. He specialized in the 400m, finally nailing a sub-51 at the D3 Finals, good enough for a 5^th place finish. He opened this year with a 51.48, almost a second quicker than his 2022 opener, which makes one wonder how low he can go in 2023.

D3 Rank	Team	Score	100m	200m	400m	4×1	4×2	4×4
1	Lansing Catholic	1172	0	170	0	406	596	0
2	Saginaw Valley Lutheran	1059	0	247	346	0	466	0
3	Delton-Kellogg	1020	254	244	0	0	522	0
4	Burton Atherton	856	0	339	0	0	517	0
5	Montague	519	0	263	256	0	0	0
6	Chesaning	456	0	456	0	0	0	0
7	Lawton	443	250	193	0	0	0	0
8	Almont	415	0	155	261	0	0	0
9	Ithaca	411	0	411	0	0	0	0
10	Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard	385	225	160	0	0	0	0
11	Constantine	366	0	0	366	0	0	0
12	Centreville	357	0	0	357	0	0	0
13	Kent City	351	0	351	0	0	0	0
14	Dearborn Advanced Technology	286	286	0	0	0	0	0
15	Caro	276	0	0	276	0	0	0
16	Grandville Calvin Christian	259	0	0	259	0	0	0
17	Ovid-Elsie	253	0	0	253	0	0	0
18	Hart	229	0	229	0	0	0	0
19	Reed City	194	0	194	0	0	0	0
20	Holland Black River	194	0	194	0	0	0	0

Jack of all trades, master of all, Northwood commit and Petersburg point getter is back again for his senior campaign. In Tuesday’s Tri meet between Dundee, Dearborn ATA, and P-S, Brandon Thompson finished first in the 400m, 800m, AND long jump. None of his marks were especially outstanding, but the mere fact that he’s out there means trouble for any D4 competition. After all, last June, he pulled off one of the harder doubles possible, placing 2^nd in the 400m and then doubling back with a 3spot in the 800m. I have no doubt this competitive beast will pull off something similarly spectacular in a few months.

D4 Rank	Team	Score	100m	200m	400m	4×1	4×2	4×4
1	Detroit Frederick Douglass	1010	0	0	243	0	428	340
2	Kalamazoo Hackett	984	471	253	0	220	260	0
3	Muskegon Heights	450	0	0	0	139	311	0
4	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	354	0	142	211	0	0	0
5	Mt Clemens	332	0	332	0	0	0	0
6	Vestaburg	314	0	0	314	0	0	0
7	Petersburg-Summerfield	268	0	0	268	0	0	0
8	Manistee Catholic	188	0	0	188	0	0	0
9	Novi Christian Academy	187	0	0	187	0	0	0
10	The Potter’s House	187	0	0	0	187	0	0