Best Hurdle Crews: Boys Week Three

And now we’re done. All events, both genders are covered. It’ll be such a fast weekend and there’s plenty of meets to lay down some blazin’ marks.

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

GIRLS 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 Traverse City West high hurdlers, with their varied mix of seniors and freshmen:

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Score
11	Wally Tupper	15.41	Traverse City West	402	1096
11	Parker Kirschner	16.00	Traverse City West	356
9	Aaryn Stallworth	16.23	Traverse City West	338

These three combined for 14 points in the 110s at Davison’s Shake off the Rust Invite and on Wednesday, swept Gaylord.

The times and results for these rankings are anything that was on athleticnet before THURSDAY NIGHT.

Whichever event he lays his hands on, he finds success. Beyond his two All-State finishes in the short sprints at the 2022 D1 State Finals, Braxton Brann also flashed some hurdling magnificence. He placed 2^nd in the SEC Red with a 14.70 in the 110s and went undefeated in three duals in the 300s. His first meet out in 2023, a tri against Lincoln and Monroe, showed even more explosion than last year. Personal bests in both events, including a 14.15 in the high hurdles. The 60h work over the winter has certainly paid off, leading to great accomplishments indoors (MITS title) and a high possibility of great accomplishments outdoors.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
12	Joshua Hurt	15.01	East Kentwood	432	110h
12	Nakia Willis	41.00	East Kentwood	404	300h
12	Nakia Willis	15.47	East Kentwood	397	110h
12	Joshua Hurt	41.23	East Kentwood	397	300h

D1 Rank	Team	110h	300h	Total
1	East Kentwood	829	801	1630
2	Traverse City West	1096	397	1493
3	Rochester Adams	1055	389	1444
4	Detroit Cass Tech	868	459	1327
5	Ann Arbor Huron	498	449	948
6	Kalamazoo Central	446	418	864
7	Holt	429	417	846
8	Kalamazoo Loy Norrix	437	401	838
9	Detroit U-D Jesuit	827	0	827
10	Walled Lake Northern	382	421	803
11	West Bloomfield	361	403	764
12	Grandville	354	369	723
13	Zeeland West	333	380	713
14	Temperance Bedford	699	0	699
15	Caledonia	422	0	422
16	Belleville	415	0	415
17	Brighton	408	0	408
18	Detroit Catholic Central	407	0	407
19	Beverly Hills Groves	0	404	404
20	Rockford	0	383	383

Coming in first for my 2022 D2 All Around Athlete was Spring Lake’s Jaxson Tober. He attained that honor largely thanks to his hurdling prowess, and it appears he’s improved from last year. At this date in 2022, he had season bests of 15.68 and 43.57. As of now, he’s at 15.42 and 41.31. Don’t be shocked if he busts through some major barriers in the coming months and scores considerable points at the state level.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
12	Tyler Hufnagel	16.06	Owosso	352	110h
12	Tyler Hufnagel	43.29	Owosso	332	300h
11	Gavin Mecomber	16.42	Owosso	324	110h

D2 Rank	Team	110h	300h	Total
1	Owosso	675	332	1007
2	Hamilton	645	343	988
3	Spring Lake	401	394	795
4	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	701	0	701
5	Adrian	687	0	687
6	Monroe Jefferson	307	359	666
7	Whitehall	665	0	665
8	Paw Paw	308	348	657
9	Battle Creek Harper Creek	316	330	646
10	Fremont	292	342	634
11	Gladwin	292	340	631
12	Goodrich	307	310	617
13	Mason	383	0	383
14	Charlotte	343	0	343
15	Kingsley	0	338	338
16	Macomb Lutheran North	338	0	338
17	Frankenmuth	332	0	332
18	Ludington	326	0	326
19	Allendale	324	0	324
20	Vicksburg	0	321	321

His freshman year was the standard for any freshman. Throw them in a ton of events, a few relays, show some potential, and then… win a dang conference title. Caleb Walker has taken his high hurdle conference title and ran with it. His first two 110h efforts of the year were both victories and both considerable personal bests. It’s not as if this is a one off thing, his 200m/400m races also produced 2-3 second bests.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
12	Riley Parker	43.47	Caro	326	300h
11	Trace Englemann	16.57	Caro	312	110h
12	John Reyes	44.27	Caro	301	300h
11	Trace Englemann	44.62	Caro	290	300h
12	Riley Parker	17.14	Caro	268	110h
12	John Reyes	17.41	Caro	248	110h

D3 Rank	Team	110h	300h	Total
1	Caro	828	918	1746
2	Chesaning	898	626	1523
3	Clare	535	696	1231
4	Napoleon	928	0	928
5	Hillsdale	568	319	888
6	Olivet	553	311	864
7	Erie Mason	538	279	817
8	Delton-Kellogg	375	373	748
9	Lakeview	334	328	662
10	Warren Michigan Collegiate	636	0	636
11	Almont	325	309	635
12	Hart	306	322	628
13	Pewamo-Westphalia	276	339	615
14	Bangor	299	315	614
15	Burton Atherton	611	0	611
16	Hemlock	265	335	600
17	Montague	236	331	568
18	Bath	269	295	564
19	Ottawa Lake-Whiteford	224	308	532
20	Saugatuck	213	288	501

There are names you see over and over. Mid-Michigan has a ton of Feldpausch’s, and it seems every last one runs track or cross country. Brady Feldpausch is one of many with that surname and one of many in the Fowler tradition. His sophomore year has seen quite a leap, progressing from 17.7 to 16.3 in the high hurdles and 45.3 to 42.6 in the 300s. Both times would’ve ranked in the top-20 in 2022 and we still have six+ weeks left. I’m excited to see how he builds upon the gains he’s already made.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
10	Brady Feldpausch	42.65	Fowler	352	300h
10	Brady Feldpausch	16.39	Fowler	326	110h
11	Tristan Smith	45.44	Fowler	264	300h
11	Tristan Smith	17.56	Fowler	236	110h

D4 Rank	Team	110h	300h	Total
1	Fowler	562	617	1179
2	Marion	418	326	744
3	Morrice	451	283	733
4	Portland St. Patrick	189	472	661
5	Beal City	250	295	545
6	Dansville	277	259	536
7	International Academy of Flint	225	290	514
8	Concord	238	222	460
9	Mio Ausable	236	222	458
10	Martin	137	317	454
11	Marcellus	192	255	447
12	Morenci	138	268	405
13	Onaway	0	261	261
14	Birmingham Roeper	0	232	232
15	Fairview	0	229	229
16	Bellaire	222	0	222
17	Brethren	207	0	207
18	Mason County Eastern	177	0	177
19	Kingston	169	0	169
20	Petersburg-Summerfield	167	0	167

And look at this – TWO Upper Peninsula teams, getting work in before another snow storm hits early next week.

UP Rank	Team	110h	300h	Total
1	Gladstone	491	340	831
2	Sault Ste. Marie	119	0	119