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50 Tickets to Brooklyn: Girls #16

SUMMER PREVIEW

Accomplishments & Accolades

  • Division 4 State Champion (XC)
  • 3x Top-5 Division 4 State (XC)
  • 2x Region 29 Champion (XC)
  • Distance Triple – Division 4 State Track
  • 6x Track State Champion
  • 12x All-State (XC & Track)



Ratings Throughout the Years

GradeNameTimeTeamRatingMeetDate
11Aiden Harrand19:38.1Buckley131.0Pete Moss27-Aug
11Aiden Harrand19:37.8Buckley133.4Buckley10-Sep
11Aiden Harrand18:41.8Buckley147.1Sparta17-Sep
11Aiden Harrand18:30.1Buckley142.3Cadillac24-Sep
11Aiden Harrand18:33.2Buckley144.6Bluejay1-Oct
11Aiden Harrand19:10.2Buckley132.9Portage8-Oct
11Aiden Harrand18:59.4Buckley135.5Class D22-Oct
11Aiden Harrand18:11.0Buckley140.7Region 2929-Oct
11Aiden Harrand19:05.9Buckley136.4Division 4 State5-Nov
11Aiden Harrand18:10.6Buckley147.8MITCA12-Nov
GradeNameTimeTeamRatingMeetDate
10Aiden Harrand18:55.1Buckley145.3Pete Moss28-Aug
10Aiden Harrand19:11.6Buckley142.8Buckley11-Sep
10Aiden Harrand19:15.8Buckley131.1NWC 114-Sep
10Aiden Harrand18:28.5Buckley145.5Cadillac25-Sep
10Aiden Harrand19:44.0Buckley132.0NWC 228-Sep
10Aiden Harrand18:17.9Buckley139.4NWC Benzie12-Oct
10Aiden Harrand18:37.0Buckley140.0Class D23-Oct
10Aiden Harrand18:08.8Buckley140.4Region 2930-Oct
10Aiden Harrand18:30.6Buckley141.5Division 4 State6-Nov
10Aiden Harrand18:41.0Buckley144.0MITCA13-Nov
GradeNameTeamRatingMeetDate
9Aiden HarrandBuckley116.3Pete Moss29-Aug
9Aiden HarrandBuckley127.0Buckley12-Sep
9Aiden HarrandBuckley126.0Buckley Bear26-Sep
9Aiden HarrandBuckley127.8NWC Jamboree 229-Sep
9Aiden HarrandBuckley126.5Cecil Burch3-Oct
9Aiden HarrandBuckley118.3Pre-Region 5824-Oct
9Aiden HarrandBuckley136.5Region 2931-Oct
9Aiden HarrandBuckley121.7Division 4 State7-Nov

The Rundown

Someone may have to count those All-States and State Titles again. With the rate Aiden gains them, it’s hard to keep track. Anyhow, her and I go way back. Let’s take a trip back to 2020, when I had no clue how to use Photoshop and still included incoming freshmen in these tickets. Based off her middle school profile of 5:14 7th grade miles and battling with Alyson Enns at Portage, Aiden made her way onto here. Three years later, she’s back again.

Her and I can joke about it now, but she should’ve been on here last year. As a sophomore, she placed 2nd at the Division 4 XC Finals, then came back and showcased her speed on the track. She was aided by winter training from the Up North Elite crew, having training partners near her speed, relays to put her in competitive spots, leading to new worlds of pace she may have not thought possible. Her sophomore season ended with a sub-5 in the 1600m, a 2:19 in the 800m, both winning the Division 4 Finals. I screwed up (it happens!) and for some reason didn’t match her track times to her cross ratings, and she was left out. If it had been done correctly, she’d have come in the 30’s last summer.

With her old friendly rival Makenna Scott moving onto Oakland, Abby VanderKooi taking her talents to Grand Valley, the door was open for Aiden to claim her first title in Brooklyn. She left little doubt throughout the year, winning all but one of her pre-State races. Then she left little doubt at the Speedway, opening up a 10 second gap in the first mile that only grew as the race progressed. Come spring, it was more of the same title-winning, but in even more impressive fashions. She perfected the distance triple, first running for time at Reed City, blasting personal best after personal best (4:53, 2:11, 10:54). Then for place at State, outlasting all the other Division 4 girls en route to wins in all three events.

That distance triple paved the way for her little Buckley team to win the Division 4 track title. She’ll be leading them again in these next few months, hoping to make it back down south. Aiden, I hope this makes up for last year!

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The Regional Previews: Division 1, Region 7

Last Year

SUMMER PREVIEW

MID-SEASON

REGIONAL PROJECTIONS

THE RESULT

Girls

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

Boys

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

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 (14th), Highland-Milford (22nd)

Boys

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

(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

PlaceGirls TeamScore
1Walled Lake Northern52
2Highland-Milford98
3Royal Oak149
4Novi153
5White Lake Lakeland153
6South Lyon East163
7South Lyon180
8Walled Lake Western222
9Birmingham Seaholm244
10Berkley288
11West Bloomfield350
12North Farmington368
13Beverly Hills Groves378
14Walled Lake Central378

PlaceBoys TeamScore
1Walled Lake Northern48
2White Lake Lakeland60
3Highland-Milford79
4Detroit Catholic Central129
5Royal Oak177
6Berkley179
7South Lyon187
8Novi207
9Brother Rice288
10Birmingham Seaholm300
11Walled Lake Western334
12Walled Lake Central337
13South Lyon East339
14North Farmington346
15Beverly Hills Groves372
16West Bloomfield450

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 3rd 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. 3rd in the LVC, 5th 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 20th.  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 18th spot at County was 23 places better than his sophomore version and the 4th 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 91st.

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The Top Tens: Division 2 Boys #3

THE SUMMER PREVIEW





2022 Results

MeetDivisionPlace
Under the Lights v2Sunset1st of 14
SpartaGold1st of 6
Otsego BulldogD23rd of 30
PortageD26th of 43
OK Gold Championship1st of 8
Region 122nd of 16
Division 2 State5th of 27



Top Returners

Henry Dixon

For comparison’s sake, one could look to:

Place – moved from 23rd at Regionals to 7th
Races Run – on the varsity State squad as a sophomore after sitting out State as a freshman
Time – from 17:39 to 16:21 at the MITCA meet

Brendan Hoving

Stupendous growth not only in cross but in track too. Brendan went from 4:49 to 4:24 in the 1600m and 10:21 to 9:39 in the 3200m, qualifying for State in the latter.

Liam Hinman

Word on the street is that he may be THEEEE Division 2 sleeper. After summoning a 1:55 split at State, he’s been leading the team over the summer, setting camp records, knocking down marks from some illustrious names.

Cooper Jacobsen

Showed promise in the spring of ’22, pulling off a 2:07 in the 800m as a sophomore. Extended that up to all distance events, grinding his way to 4:39 and 10:05 this spring.

Tate Miller

A quick learner to the cross scene. Opened his career with a mid-19 effort at Under the Lights, then ripped off seven consecutive 17-min. efforts.

Tyler Endres

Didn’t get to run many four-lappers during track, though I think his 4:49 to close (and win the OK Gold JV race) may show something for cross. Past that 4:49, he was able to compete in a few 800m’s as well, dropping down to 2:03, ranking 20th in Division 2 amongst 9th and 10th graders.

Potential Newcomers

Hayden Deckrow

Sub-12 in five of his six 8th grade races, including top-10’s at Zone 6 and in the WMMSC.