TEAM TITLES
Yeah, this boys meet is wide open. I count SIX teams with legitimate shots of taking home the championship trophy and with numbers that large, there’s likely a chance someone outside of those listed brings home the runner-up hardware. Among the contenders
Ann Arbor Greenhills – strong in relays, especially of the longer distance variety. Will need individuals to find points, strong candidates being Sebastian Dickinson, Henry Beck, Naveen Kulkarni, and Royal Seale.
Hanover-Horton – another team that will feature in relays. Austyn Hocter has the hurdling prowess necessary for major points.
Reed City – led by strong individuals such as Jack Deitsch and Tyler Woodside.
Lansing Catholic – will lean on athletes such as Leland VanAlstine and Lucas Gates.
Hart – Chase Lorenz will do serious work, as he has all season. On regional day, he earned 30 points on his own and 10 as a part of the 4×4, surely in practice for this coming Saturday.
Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central – yet another squad with high relay ranks. The venerable and always ready Christian Craanen will look to supplement the Kestrel baton points.
Relay, relay, relay. The folk that think track ain’t a team sport surely won’t like this title race. As the day wears on, look for the teams that perform above expectation to have a chance. Coming out of the 4×1, the standings from relay races *should* look like this:
SMCC: 20
H-H: 20
Greenhills: 12
Lansing Catholic: 7
If a team is above expectation, good news for them. If all are at or slightly below expectation, odds increase for Reed City and Hart.
Whereas the boys trophy race brings everyone into the fold, the girls are centered between two teams: Lansing Catholic and Olivet. Both teams will rely on multi-event athletes, such as Grace Wonch and Josie Bishop for Lansing Catholic and Celina Sinclair, Emily Peters, and Tiya Feldpausch for Olivet. Relays are covered, Lansing Catholic more centered on distance and Olivet capable of points in all. Both are more track-based, with Olivet’s concentration a bit more wide-ranging and Lansing Catholic’s sea of baby blue felt in everything a lap and above.
You’ll have to excuse me if I bring cross country into this, but I can’t help to think of the effect of breaking up a pack. The Cougars will have a team-like presence in the 1600m and 800m, and it’ll be imperative that Feldpausch and Lily Britton break up the blue & black pack in the scoring slots. That works two-fold, gaining points for the Olivet squad and lessening those for LC. Working against the Eagles, however, will be the issue of the event maximum. Peters, Feldpausch, and Sinclair can’t run in everything, so how do you manage their entries without a hit on potential points?
INTRIGUING BATTLES
Boys Long Jump – where Jack Deitsch and Gavin Lewis own the two top marks in Division 3, separated by a mere 1.25”. Deitsch is undefeated on the year, besting Lewis in Region 21 just the other week. But Lewis took that defeat and turned it into something greater, popping a 22’ 9” on the same board at Manton. Now he gets another crack at the Reed City Coyote, who will be looking to defend his 2025 title.
Boys 4×8 – two heads standing above the rest – Jonesville and Ann Arbor Greenhills. As is normally the case with the 4×8, teams concentrate on it late in the year, and thus common matchups tend to not be a thing. But the time speak for themselves, each squad on the cusp of a sub-8. It’s been two years since we’ve seen a 7:xx from a D3 4×8 and I’d expect one (or two) on Saturday.
Boys 400m – where you have three boys hurtling into the 48’s and below. Dennis Jackson, the defending D3 champion, hit that sub-48 barrier in his win last year and holds the #2 time in D3 thus far in 2026. He just baaarely trails Hart’s Chase Lorenz, a sprinter who can handle all events, ranked #1 in D3 in everything under a lap. The wild card is Elk Rapids freshman Garrett Godden, who has subtracted nearly two seconds in his two months of his freshman year, a 9th grade campaign that’s featured wins in the NSC, Region 21, and at D3 Team State.
Girls 800m – all year it had been appearing that this was a wide open battle (and it still may be!). Then two girls have separated over the past week – Josie Bishop and Violet Tetil. Following a spring of 2:20ish performances and regional victories, each 800m star dropped a 2:15 over the past week, both asserting themselves as candidates for the crown.
Girls 200m – with a trio of girls in close proximity. Giuliana Nastale has been here before, won here before, capturing the short sprint double last year. The Wayne State commit hasn’t been defeated in the half-lap in 2026 and is looking to keep it that way. But she’s got challengers such as Peyton Grant, who owns the best time in D3 (albeit wind-aided) and Celina Sinclair, who was 4th here in 2025.
STATE RECORD BREAKERS?
Does this count if they’ve broken the state record? Then bested their own record, over and over. Of course it does. Over the past two years, Addyson Stiverson has held a hold over the Girls Shot Put record. Prior to 2021, no Michigan girl had ever thrown above 50’. During that first post-pandemic season, Opal Jackson and Sarah Marvin each threw above the barrier, with Marvin setting the record of 51’ 11” that’d stand for a short while until Stiverson came along.
Stiverson set the stage and thought toward her record-breaking behavior early in her career, going undefeated in Michigan as a freshman, winning the D3 title, placing 5th in the COUNTRY at NBON, and throwing the best shot put marks a 9th grade girl had ever thrown. One year ago, Stiverson graduated from phenom freshman to a sophomore etching her name in history, eclipsing the previous best with a 52’ 10.75” at Frankenmuth. Since then, she’s rewritten and edited her own book, throwing 53’ 3’.5” and 53’ 7.5” in consecutive weeks at Grand Valley, then jumping a whole 2 feet with her 55’ 7.5” in late April. In each season, Stiverson has shown growth, so certainly we can expect more, either here, in the summer, or during her senior year.
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
- Jonesville
- Ann Arbor Greenhills
- Pewamo-Westphalia
- Hanover-Horton
- The Potter’s House
- Ithaca
- Chesaning
- Lansing Catholic
Boys 1600m
- Landon Rogers
- Hunter Eaton
- Clint Couchman
- Lucas Gates
- Nole Lorenzen
- Christian Craanen
- John Kowatch
- Chad Tyson
Boys 800m
- Landon Rogers
- Caleb Blonde
- Barrett Nance
- Henry Beck
- Jacob Mankey
- Edward Mugisha
- Emmanuel Mehari
- Grant Rehkopf
Boys 3200m
- Hunter Eaton
- Nole Lorenzen
- Christian Craanen
- Logan Youngman
- Will Hulin
- Landon Rogers
- Mason Rogers
- Owen Poppema
Girls 4×8
- Lansing Catholic
- Saugatuck
- Pewamo-Westphalia
- Benzie Central
- Newaygo
- Olivet
- LeRoy Pine River
- Traverse City St. Francis
Girls 1600m
- Grace Wonch
- Josie Bishop
- Hope Miller
- Tiya Feldpausch
- Hailey Creisher
- Violet Tetil
- Samantha Schroeder
- Alaina Civinskas
Girls 800m
- Violet Tetil
- Josie Bishop
- Frances Melinn
- Tiya Feldpausch
- Grace Wonch
- Hope Miller
- Maisey Toteff
- Bella LaFountain
Girls 3200m
- Grace Wonch
- Samantha Schroeder
- Alyssa Kramer
- Hailey Creisher
- Emma Pinkowski
- Alaina Civinskas
- Elliana Max
- Marlowe Walcott
Michigan XC Speed Ratings 