TEAM TITLES
A tough one to project, but I’ll do my best. In XC, it’s a much easier task, I can just grab results from invite after invite, create course adjustments, and roll out some simulations. In track, with many events and a painstaking process to convert athletic.net results into spreadsheet form, it’s an impossible ask. As a result, these guesses are formulated from the seed times, then analyzed a little deeper through my own lens.
The boys favorite is probably Kalamazoo Hackett. The Irish throw tons of strength at you in a variety of events. Marek Butkiewicz, a D4 legend, and Sean Siems should anchor the distance events, each capable of placing high in the 1600m. Siems’ specialty is more mid-distance, so expect him to be a factor in the 800m, where Butkiewicz will surely go for his third consecutive crown in the 3200m. Then you’ve got a hurdler in Ezra Rowekamp-Ambs, a high jumper in Lukas Husovsky, and relay combos featuring the former three and a few others. All told, Hackett has 10 entries within the top-8, then Rowekamp-Ambs who could definitely pick up points in the 300h.
The boys runner-up trophy appears to be between three squads: Hillsdale Academy, Royal Oak Shrine, and Eau Claire. Hillsdale Academy is fresh off a team state win and their depth features heavily here, 10+ individuals earning qualifiers. But it’s not just depth, as Grayson Rorick and Dawson Scharer are dependable figures. Shrine’s boys were third there and have a stud of their own, Abenezer Cerone. Eau Claire is a sprint-heavy outfit (ranked #1 in D4’s sprint crews!), with range from the 100m to 400m and all the relays. By the time the 1600m rolls around, we should be clued in on in who’s the favorite to take home a trophy. Elijah Marlowe and Dawson Scharer will be looking to claim 10 points in the 100m and 110h, respectively. The 1600m will likely have Butkiewicz, Siems, Rorick, and Cerone as point scorers. And the 4×2 features all four teams in medal contention.
Three teams seem to stand above all on the girls’ side – Kalamazoo Hackett, Frankfort, and Fowler. Fowler is the most well-rounded of the bunch, featuring medal contenders in the vault, high jump, hurdles, sprints, and relays. Frankfort owns the top seed in ALL of the sprint relays, and with their past winning experience, can you really doubt the Panthers? Kalamazoo Hackett may feature the best athlete in the division, Clara Slattery, who earned 7(!) qualifiers over the course of the season.
Of course, one can’t compete in seven events, so strategy in scratching will be paramount. Points subtracted from running four events can also be gained by underdogs such as Emma Riker in the 1600m, Kiera Piper in the 3200m, and Bethany Carpenter in the 400m. Frankfort also has a minor bit of the same problem, with Sofia Alaimo Schindler occupying five spots as of now. But with Frankfort’s relay-leading presence, the scratching of one individual may not be much of a dent in their potential points.
It’s looking like the relays will be the main separator. Each of the 4×1, 4×2, and 4×4 has all three teams in the fast section.
INTRIGUING BATTLES
Boys 110h – And it’s two Southern Michigan boys, Grant Johnson and Dawson Scharer. Both have been names for years, Scharer primarily featured in the hurdles and Johnson spreading his wings into whichever event he typically dominates. Scharer placed 2nd here last year and Johnson 3rd. Each has found themselves sub-15 twice, the most recently being a head-to-head matchup at D4 Team State, where Scharer prevailed, 14.71 to 14.85.
Girls 100h – where Clara Slattery and Lucy Cote appear to be the two prominent candidates. Slattery was 2nd here last year and finds herself with the #1 mark in D4, 15.09. Cote was 4th and occupies the next slot at 15.18. For much of the spring, Cote has been the more consistent performer, though Slattery has turned it on as of late, blasting a 15.09 to win their only matchup thus far.
Boys 100m – D4’s fab five in the top slots really haven’t been on this stage before. Of the athletes with the five fastest marks thus far in 2026, only two appeared in last year’s 100m finals – Landon Davis (18th) and Kylan Lester (23rd). From last spring to now, James Rodriguez has chiseled half a second off his personal best, Elijah Marlow and Brayden Wright a little more subtle with their nearly third of a second improvements. On Regional Day, we did have two matchups between the five, with Brayden Wright eking out a close win over Lester in Region 35 and James Rodriguez pulling away from Davis (and Jacob Morrison) in Region 37.
Boys 4×1 – two squads stand out above the rest, Reading and Eau Claire. Each have studs who will score points individually, Brayden Wright (Reading), Melvin Davis and Elijah Marlowe (Eau Claire). And each have only occasionally thrown this relay together. Eau Claire has four meets under their belt, the latest one in Region 34, where the quartet dropped over 0.7 seconds from their previous best. The Rangers have gotten much practice recently, with three wins from May 8th to May 15th, the fastest of which coming in their debut at Chuck King.
Girls 800m – three underclasswomen from different backgrounds. Two come from Metro Detroit, Ella Foley and Ella Lamb. One comes from way up north, Callie Sinke. Their residence may be different, their success is strong across the board. Foley was MIAC Champion in the event and 2nd in Region 40, narrowly losing to Lamb. Lamb was All-State in cross and found the podium here last year, as did Sinke. Both Sinke and Foley have the speed, spitting out 60.x’s in the 400m. But Lamb has the fastest mark in all of D4, her 2:19.2 placing 3rd at the illustrious Golden Triangle Invite.
Boys 3200m – a culmination for two names we’ve seemingly always seen in the D4 world. Brody Karg has hit the podium seven times over the course of his Harbor Beach career. Marek Butkiewicz has won a D4 title on eight occasions. Each are long-distance kids, earning their 3200m personal bests at Bluejay, 9:05 for Butkiewicz and 9:09 for Karg. That 9:05 from Marek matched his best from the tail end of ’25, while Karg has dropped considerable time, over 15 sec. from his junior peak.
STATE RECORD BREAKERS?
Likely zero candidates from Division 4. On average, around 150 kids populate each D4 school, compared to ~350 from D3, ~650 from D2, and ~1400 from D1. So, if there’s any potential record buster, they have about a 6% chance of being from D4. And those record setters only come so often. That said, we do have a bevy of outstanding athletes that’ll be competing on Saturday, many of which will be moving onto the D1 college level next spring.
DISTANCE PREDICTIONS
Come on, you knew I had to impart some of my own guesses for my distance kids. I’ve been making those early qualifier posts, calculating rankings, announcing meets, but I haven’t had the chance to predict and project. These are purely vibes-based, no complex formulae like in XC. And with the caveat that I really appreciate you all – none of this is personal. I’ll be hopping around from Kent City to Rockford to Hudsonville to Hamilton, but if you do prove these wrong and respectively want to let me have it, you know where to find me.
Boys 4×8
- Kalamazoo Hackett
- Maple City Glen Lake
- Holland Calvary Christian
- Decatur
- Hillsdale Academy
- Petoskey St. Michael
- Portland St. Patrick
- Breckenridge
Boys 1600m
- Marek Butkiewicz
- Brody Karg
- Abenezer Cerone
- Grayson Rorick
- Lincoln Laansma
- Sean Siems
- Anthony Rowe
- Joel Johnson
Boys 800m
- Abenezer Cerone
- Anthony Rowe
- Sean Siems
- Aaron Locke
- Elias Baldwin
- Luke Molenkamp
- Marek Butkiewicz
- Grayson Rorick
Boys 3200m
- Marek Butkiewicz
- Brody Karg
- Grayson Rorick
- Lincoln Laansma
- Landen Livingston
- Carson Burgess
- Daniel Chaney
- Noah SChipper
Girls 4×8
- Whitmore Lake
- Kingston
- Gobles
- Kalamazoo Hackett
- Concord
- Hillsdale Academy
- Martin
- Grand Traverse Academy
Girls 1600m
- Kaylie Livingston
- Callie Sinke
- Libby Smith
- Veyda Conley
- Ella Lamb
- Emma Riker
- Norah Kiley
- Carina Burchi
Girls 800m
- Ella Lamb
- Callie Sinke
- Ella Foley
- Lilah Kiley
- Norah Kiley
- Madison Cooley
- Taylor Wills
- Lauren Shaffer
Girls 3200m
- Kaylie Livingston
- Libby Smith
- Veyda Conley
- Ryleigh Alderink
- Emma Riker
- Sophie Grinage
- Cara Prusakiewicz
- Evelyn Meyer
Michigan XC Speed Ratings 