The Regional Previews: Division 1, Region 7

Last Year

SUMMER PREVIEW

MID-SEASON

REGIONAL PROJECTIONS

THE RESULT

Girls

1. Walled Lake Northern (8^th)
2. Highland-Milford (15^th)
3. White Lake Lakeland (26^th)

Boys

1. Highland-Milford (14^th)
2. Detroit Catholic Central (17^th)
3. White Lake Lakeland (20^th)

Top 27 Teams

Previous years had top-25 teams, but there’s 27 (and sometimes more) team qualifiers and what does it hurt to add another two?

Girls

Walled Lake Northern (14^th), Highland-Milford (22^nd)

Boys

Walled Lake Northern (7^th), White Lake Lakeland (12^th), Highland-Milford (17^th)

(If your team isn’t listed in the images above or the scores below, you probably don’t have five returners, at least on ol’ athletic.net. I’m sure many of these teams will fill out their rosters by late October)

Projected Scores

Place	Girls Team	Score
1	Walled Lake Northern	52
2	Highland-Milford	98
3	Royal Oak	149
4	Novi	153
5	White Lake Lakeland	153
6	South Lyon East	163
7	South Lyon	180
8	Walled Lake Western	222
9	Birmingham Seaholm	244
10	Berkley	288
11	West Bloomfield	350
12	North Farmington	368
13	Beverly Hills Groves	378
14	Walled Lake Central	378

Place	Boys Team	Score
1	Walled Lake Northern	48
2	White Lake Lakeland	60
3	Highland-Milford	79
4	Detroit Catholic Central	129
5	Royal Oak	177
6	Berkley	179
7	South Lyon	187
8	Novi	207
9	Brother Rice	288
10	Birmingham Seaholm	300
11	Walled Lake Western	334
12	Walled Lake Central	337
13	South Lyon East	339
14	North Farmington	346
15	Beverly Hills Groves	372
16	West Bloomfield	450

Top Runners

I’m making a slight change for the Division 1 folks. Previous regional writeups had the top finishers, even if they were mentioned in the Top 10’s or 50 Tickets. Because so many Division 1 kids make up the top 50 returners (which makes sense, since D1 covers about 60% of the state), I’ll write about a few returners beyond those 50. This will hopefully extend a bit more coverage towards more deserving athletes. Some of the 50 have been covered, others will get their own post. Check the Summer Preview page or keep checking back until next Thursday for those.

Alisia Olteanu, Walled Lake Western

Began to become herself during her freshman year of track, placing 3^rd in the freshmen County 800m, punching her way down to 2:27 twice. Since then, she’s been in the 19’s for much of her cross seasons (even closing 2022 with a monstrous PB at MITCA, 18:34). Racing the ovals, she’s made it to the Division 1 Finals twice, running 4:58 there as a sophomore.

Ava Kurczewski, Walled Lake Northern

Found her way into the 19’s for the first time since her freshman year. With that return to quicker times came the honors – All-County, top-100 at State, amongst others. I can’t help but think that the confidence gained from cross was a major impetus behind her outstanding track season, where she knocked off 15+ seconds from her 800m and almost 45 sec. from her 1600m.

Madelyn Gordon, Walled Lake Northern

For years, she’s been a reliable contributor for the Knights, making it to the State Finals all three years of her career. But she never ended her season with a hot streak such as last year. 3^rd in the LVC, 5^th at this Region, and then nearly getting under 19:00 at State.

Kayla Ward, South Lyon

Freshman year ended with four consecutive sub-20’s, including a top-10 finish over in Region 4.

Pierce Gryzmkowski, White Lake Lakeland

Dropped below 2:00 multiple times during the track season. First was at Indoor State, where he placed 20^th.  Turned that indoor breakthrough into a championship season streak – 1:56, 1:56, 1:54 at Regionals, States, and New Balance.

Oliver Moss, Berkley

Regional race set up perfectly for them, the pack of four ahead of Oliver conserving their energy and holding steady 71’s. They hung right in there, knocking 8 seconds off their time at Farmington, qualifying for State with a 9:30.

Lucas Karbel, Walled Lake Northern

Moving from 9:49 to 9:38 earned him a top-5 finish in the Oakland County 3200m.

Evan Rice, Walled Lake Northern

Championship season had a few attention-grabbing races. His 18^th spot at County was 23 places better than his sophomore version and the 4^th finish in the LVC Championship was 12 place improvement from the past year as well.

Ryan Ilikman, Detroit Catholic Central

Junior year contained nearly a minute drop from his sophomore season and his first race at MIS, where he placed 91^st.