The Regional Previews: Division 1, Region 3

Last Year

SUMMER PREVIEW

MID-SEASON

REGIONAL PROJECTIONS

THE RESULT

Girls

1. Lowell (20^th)
2. Portage Central (25^th)
3. Forest Hills Central (22^nd)

Boys

1. Kalamazoo Central (10^th)
2. Portage Central (16^th)
3. Forest Hills Central (12^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

Forest Hills Central (15^th), Portage Northern (24^th)

Boys

Kalamazoo Central (3^rd), Forest Hills Central (8^th), Portage Central (10^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	Forest Hills Central	67
2	Portage Central	94
3	Portage Northern	105
4	Byron Center	106
5	Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills	162
6	Kalamazoo Central	170
7	Kalamazoo Loy Norrix	194
8	Caledonia	202
9	East Kentwood	222
10	Battle Creek Lakeview	235
11	Forest Hills Northern	241
12	Lowell	257
13	Mattawan	363

Place	Boys Team	Score
1	Kalamazoo Central	61
2	Forest Hills Central	76
3	Portage Central	84
4	Byron Center	149
5	Battle Creek Lakeview	159
6	Forest Hills Northern	171
7	Caledonia	171
8	Kalamazoo Loy Norrix	181
9	East Kentwood	185
10	Portage Northern	278
11	Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills	288
12	Lowell	317
13	Mattawan	334

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 Thursday for those.

Olivia Stacy, Portage Northern

Truly hit her stride come October, notching four PB’s to close her final five races. Among those were a 5^th place SMAC finish and an 8^th place here.

Sydney Law, Byron Center

After not getting a chance to race at the regional or stage in ’21, Sydney made the most of her opportunity – knocking down a 10 spot and a personal best of 19:18 (over a minute quicker than her freshman era).

Ava Lawrence, East Kentwood

Nine of her final ten freshman races were of the sub-20 variety, including top-15 performances here and in the OK Red.

Anna Sybenga, Forest Hills Central

A few months back, tried her hand at the 3200m, which I’m sure will help her fall. Her spring endeavors included a 4^th place in the OK White in the event.

Amanda Williams, Portage Central

Has spent all three of her high school seasons in the 19’s. But the most important of her sub-20’s was likely last fall’s regional, grabbing 16^th place, and helping her Mustangs live another week.

Andrew Wright, Kalamazoo Central

Past his quickly progressing fall, Andrew turned into quite the eight-lapper come spring. His fastest effort was his last one, a 9:25 for the full 2 miles at NBON, winning the freshman heat.

Evan Nickoles, East Kentwood

In the OK Red Championship, moved up from 44^th to 12^th (!). His 40 spot drop at the regional level sadly wasn’t enough to extend his season, but after his freshman year, I’m sure he cherished having a fighting chance.

Isaac Tanis, East Kentwood

Whatever work was done last summer needs to be bottled up and stored in a museum, studied for centuries. Isaac graduated from a 10:30 3200m runner to a kid nearly breaking 16:00. That 16:12 in the OK Red earned him a 6^th place finish in one of the tougher conferences in the state.

Jackson Lam, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix

The Kalamazoo area is filled to the brim with young talent, Jackson the last of which to mention. His 4:25 at Region 3 was just on the outside of a qualifying spot, but it did earn him the 2^nd fastest four lap time of any 9^th grader in the state.

Levi Green, Byron Center

Has always operated as a longer distance guy, though this spring, he expanded his repertoire. Getting that 800m down to 2:03 undoubtedly helped his 1600m (4:29, nearly 30 sec. drop) and 3200m (9:41, almost a minute drop).