Category: Uncategorized

SUMMER PREVIEW

Accomplishments & Accolades

• 5^th Place – Division 2 State (XC)
• 2x All-State (XC)
• 3^rd Place – OK Gold (XC)
• 3^rd Place – Region 11 (XC)
• 2^nd Place – Division 2 State 1600m
• 2^nd Place – OK Gold 800/1600m
• 13^th Place – Division 2 State 3200m



Ratings Throughout the Years

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Rating	Meet	Date
11	Emily Tomes	21:23.2	GR Catholic Central	99.6	OK Gold 1	7-Sep
11	Emily Tomes	20:27.0	GR Catholic Central	109.0	Ottawa Hills	16-Sep
11	Emily Tomes	19:19.4	GR Catholic Central	127.2	Cougar Falcon	24-Sep
11	Emily Tomes	19:28.3	GR Catholic Central	127.9	OK Gold 2	27-Sep
11	Emily Tomes	19:27.6	GR Catholic Central	126.5	Bluejay	1-Oct
11	Emily Tomes	18:39.5	GR Catholic Central	135.8	East Lansing	6-Oct
11	Emily Tomes	19:26.1	GR Catholic Central	133.6	OK Gold Championship	18-Oct
11	Emily Tomes	18:26.0	GR Catholic Central	149.3	Region 11	29-Oct
11	Emily Tomes	18:39.8	GR Catholic Central	145.1	Division 2 State	5-Nov
11	Emily Tomes	17:52.7	GR Catholic Central	153.8	MITCA	12-Nov
Grade	Name	Time	Team	Rating	Meet	Date
10	Emily Tomes	20:34.9	GR Catholic Central	132.4	Michigan Catholic	28-Aug
10	Emily Tomes	19:43.3	GR Catholic Central	123.9	OK Gold 1 (Cedar Springs)	8-Sep
10	Emily Tomes	19:40.8	GR Catholic Central	132.7	Ottawa Hills	17-Sep
10	Emily Tomes	20:55.5	GR Catholic Central	102.8	Cougar Falcon	25-Sep
10	Emily Tomes	19:33.5	GR Catholic Central	117.5	OK Gold 2	28-Sep
10	Emily Tomes	19:56.0	GR Catholic Central	120.3	Bluejay	2-Oct
10	Emily Tomes	20:07.9	GR Catholic Central	112.4	East Lansing	7-Oct
10	Emily Tomes	19:12.6	GR Catholic Central	131.1	OK Gold Conference	19-Oct
10	Emily Tomes	19:36.7	GR Catholic Central	120.1	Region 11	30-Oct
10	Emily Tomes	19:35.0	GR Catholic Central	125.0	Division 2 State	6-Nov
10	Emily Tomes	19:27.6	GR Catholic Central	128.5	MITCA	13-Nov
Grade	Name		Team	Rating	Meet	Date
9	Emily Tomes		GR Catholic Central	117.0	Michigan Catholic	29-Aug
9	Emily Tomes		GR Catholic Central	120.3	OK Gold 1	8-Sep
9	Emily Tomes		GR Catholic Central	106.6	Cougar Falcon	26-Sep
9	Emily Tomes		GR Catholic Central	129.8	OK Gold 2	29-Sep
9	Emily Tomes		GR Catholic Central	137.8	Allendale Falcon	2-Oct
9	Emily Tomes		GR Catholic Central	128.6	Pre-Region 22	23-Oct
9	Emily Tomes		GR Catholic Central	124.0	Region 11	31-Oct
9	Emily Tomes		GR Catholic Central	146.3	Division 2 State	6-Nov

The Rundown

Emily’s rebirth and regrowth has been a joy to see. She kicked off her career as a freshman, gradually improving with each race before she unleashed the surprise performance of the year, placing 8^th in 2020’s State Finals, running a personal best on an unseasonably warm day. That personal best stood for the longest time, and to outsiders such as myself, it appeared it may stand forever. But pundits and analysts such as myself aren’t out there training, we’re not out there motivating and encouraging, we just see times and occasionally get a glimpse into an athlete’s thoughts.

So when an Emily, after a careful start to her junior year, runs a 19:19 at Cougar Falcon, some heads turn. When she solos an 18:39 at East Lansing, even more heads turn. And you wonder, can she recapture that freshman form? Well, girl went and tossed that freshman form out the window, unleashing a beast in her late season. Following East Lansing was another personal best, then kicking down three girls in the final 173m at State to place 5^th, then shredding the 18:00 barrier at Shepherd. Come track, the #ShepherdMagic came through for her again with a 3200m personal best, then that tendency to bring her best at State resulted in her first sub-5 ever.

Start to pay attention come October. If Emily’s on a roll, watch out.

Last Year

SUMMER PREVIEW

MID-SEASON

FINAL PROJECTIONS

THE RESULT

Girls

1. Saline (4^th)
2. Ann Arbor Pioneer (3^rd)
3. Temperance Bedford (28^th)

Boys

1. Saline (7^th)
2. Ann Arbor Pioneer (5^th)
3. Monroe (27^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

Saline (Top 2), Ann Arbor Pioneer (3^rd)

Boys

Ann Arbor Pioneer (11^th), Saline (18^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	Saline	30
2	Ann Arbor Pioneer	33
3	Brownstown Woodhaven	101
4	Temperance Bedford	129
5	Wyandotte Roosevelt	174
6	Monroe	182
7	Allen Park	184
8	Dearborn Heights Crestwood	248
9	Dearborn	255
10	Gibraltar Carlson	259
11	Detroit Cass Tech	281
12	Belleville	357
13	Dearborn Fordson	402
14	Detroit Martin Luther King	428

Place	Boys Team	Score
1	Ann Arbor Pioneer	35
2	Saline	54
3	Temperance Bedford	95
4	Allen Park	99
5	Brownstown Woodhaven	157
6	Monroe	158
7	Gibraltar Carlson	198
8	Dearborn	260
9	Wyandotte Roosevelt	267
10	Dearborn Edsel Ford	317
11	Belleville	324
12	Ypsilanti Lincoln	348
13	Dearborn Heights Crestwood	349
14	Lincoln Park	432
15	Dearborn Fordson	485

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.

Payton Scheffler, Brownstown-Woodhaven

Has excelled on the track these past few years. Payton has smashed through the 5 min. barrier both as a sophomore and junior, and this year nabbed her first individual medal at Division 1’s State Finals, running 2:13 in the 800m. On top of all this, she ain’t bad at cross either, grabbing a state qualifier in each of the past three years.

Sylvia Sanok Dufallo, Ann Arbor Pioneer

Beyond the cross course and into spring is where Sylvia truly shines. Three years of high school racin’ have led to three years of sub-2:20 efforts in the 800m. During her sophomore spring, that led to an All-State finish, and throughout many of the seasons, she’s been a part of Pioneer/Purple TC championship relays.

Corynn Gady, Saline

Viewing paces, viewing races, you look at two different girls between her 9^th and 10^th grade years. An 8^th place over here in Region 5 was a solid 16 spots lower than what she achieved in 2021, a 9^th place in the SEC Red wasn’t even possible the previous year, as she was winning the JV race. I have a feeling we’ll come back to this in a few months claiming that she was underrated, as her 5:06 and 11:27 point to someone capable of individual glory come November.

Eric Overdier, Ann Arbor Pioneer

Another one who transformed where and when he’s stepping on the line. During his first two Octobers, Eric hadn’t experienced a varsity regional race. In the three races prior to last October’s regional, Eric had busted out a slew of sub-17’s. Much pressure on his shoulders, to which he responded in a major way.

Vincent Peterson Sand, Ann Arbor Pioneer

Each of the past two years, he’s reliably been in the mid-16’s come championship season. Both years have emitted 6^th place finishes over here in Region 5, though in 2022, he was able to improve on his State Finals finish by 30 places. Track may have not been there in terms of individual honors, but he was a valuable team member in a sub-8 4x800m outfit.

Caleb Wynn, Allen Park

On a few occasions, I’ll bend the rules to praise those Jaguars, but no rules needed breaking this time. Caleb closed his junior season with a bevy of 16-min. efforts, including a 16:34 here to grab 13^th. Expect even more of the same after his 9:57 on the track.

THE SUMMER PREVIEW





2022 Results

Meet	Division	Place
Bridgman		1st of 10
New Buffalo		2nd of 7
Bangor		5th of 17
Berrien County		3rd of 12
Portage	D4	4th of 18
Bloomingdale		1st of 6
Class D		1st of 16
Region 31		2nd of 9
Division 4 State		5th of 27



Top Returners

Landon Rogers

Turned his 17^th place cross country finish into a track season where he captured BCS titles in the 1600m and 3200m. His 4:46 in the 16 ranked him 5^th across all Division 4’s freshmen.

Charlie Gibson

Solid across the board during his freshman track campaign. 2:14, 4:53, 10:50. Placed in the top-8 of both the 1600m and 3200m over in Region 34.

Adam Slavens

Always finds a way into the 17’s late in the year. All-Region in his first two seasons and moved into the top-50 at State this past fall.

Austin York

Dig a bit deeper into his stats and you’ll be wowed by the strength. This spring, Austin powered his way through a multitude of 2:0x 800m efforts, eventually ending just north of 2-flat. But what stands out to me was his ability to double back a few minutes later, often running the 3200m in the low-11’s.  

Sean Driscoll

Started his sophomore campaign much like his freshman year, opening with a 23+ minute performance at Bridgman. But then his season took a wild turn, accelerating toward the 18’s. As a freshman, he wasn’t included on the Mustangs’ regional squad, as a sophomore he was the important 5^th man in a state qualifying performance.

Owen Slavens

Cross strength goes hand in hand with the ability to cruise at the long sprints. Regional champion in the 400m, 8^th place in the State Finals in the 200m.

Braiden Brooks

Braiden’s first two years of competing featured 20+ races, all of which above 20:00 and most of those above 22:00. Drastic change between that form and his junior era, especially from October on, where he was sub-20 on six of his final seven efforts.