Category: Uncategorized

Come down from the Boston high yet? What a day for distance running. Upsets, heartbreak, gutsy races. A few right off the top of my head in relation to Michigan cross country: Tarn Leach, former East Jordan star was (I believe) 3rd in the Masters. And of course Zach Ornelas, with his incredible balance of teaching, raising children, and competitively running, was 29th Overall and 16th American.

I’m actually feeling motivated to run again. But first, your best boys distance crews through four weeks of the 2023 season.

To review, these “best crews” were started last year to try to recognize the best teams in each event area, whether that’s the jumps here, or sprints or throws elsewhere. Last year’s version was more complex and relied on having three participants in each event. I’ve changed things a bit this year, mostly to ease the process on my end and have the ability to include more teams.

Here’s the process:

Over the winter, I created my own version of World Athletics Tables, but for Michigan athletes. These are based on times/marks from the 2022 Outdoor Season throughout the US. Their purpose is to compare similar marks across events. Here are the boys and girls tables:

BOYS TABLES

GIRLS TABLES

There are two guidelines for being included. Your mark has to be from this outdoor season and it has to be better than the Regional Additional Qualifying Mark. Marks from this season are taken from the athletic.net performance lists. There will likely be some instances where someone has run a time, but it’s not included on that list. I can’t help that! Please contact the necessary folks to get your name on there.

For each event, with a maximum of four athletes, those scores are added together. Then within a category, those events are added together. Relays are scaled to match their importance within a meet. Often, at the state level, teams score more points from a relay than they would with four individuals running that event (unless you’re elite, in that case you’re limited to 10 points from that event), so they’re given a bit more importance here.

Here’s an example of one of the better early season crews, the Northville milers. Always a deep team, it’s no shock the Mustangs have six(!!!) under 4:37 at this point in the year. I only take the top 4 from a school for each event – with one exception, if you can put 5 under the STATE qualifier, which for Division 1, which is 4:25. If anyone can do it, it’s these Northville boys:

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Score
11	Brendan Herger	4:19.7	Northville	432	1588
12	David Whitaker	4:22.9	Northville	408
12	Brady Heron	4:25.7	Northville	386
10	Ethan Powell	4:29.0	Northville	362
12	Raunak Chattopadhyay	4:36.5	Northville	304
11	Vincent Filipek	4:36.9	Northville	301

These rankings are composed of any time thrown on athleticnet through SUNDAY NIGHT.

Back to the 800m, this time a bit more gradual route that I’m hoping pays off come June. Jake Eagling has been a mainstay in the Adrian distance program. Has always contributed in cross country and has found his niche in the mid-distances on the track. He’s been a 2x state qualifier in the 800m, each time falling a little short of the podium. But he’s never opened his season like he did at the Lincoln Indoor Classic. His 1:57 was his second time under 2:00 and best opener by 8+ seconds.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points
		7:59.8	Northville	1316
11	Brendan Herger	1:53.6	Northville	482
11	Brendan Herger	4:19.7	Northville	432
12	Brandon Latta	1:58.0	Northville	411
12	David Whitaker	4:22.9	Northville	408
12	Brady Heron	9:34.0	Northville	404
10	Ethan Powell	9:36.9	Northville	395
12	David Whitaker	1:59.0	Northville	395
12	Brady Heron	4:25.7	Northville	386
12	Brady Heron	2:00.8	Northville	367
10	Ethan Powell	4:29.0	Northville	362
12	Raunak Chattopadhyay	4:36.5	Northville	304
11	Vincent Filipek	4:36.9	Northville	301

D1 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Northville	1655	1588	799	1316	5358
2	Plymouth	774	1520	348	1232	3874
3	Grand Haven	788	1228	492	1057	3565
4	Ann Arbor Skyline	0	1006	405	1155	2566
5	Saline	354	659	405	1117	2534
6	Zeeland West	694	698	0	889	2281
7	Battle Creek Lakeview	459	324	331	1158	2273
8	Rochester Adams	411	347	0	1007	1765
9	Fraser	0	730	0	1004	1733
10	Portage Central	349	398	0	914	1661
11	Traverse City West	411	689	366	0	1466
12	Ann Arbor Pioneer	733	726	0	0	1459
13	St. Joseph	363	0	0	1096	1459
14	Livonia Churchill	0	985	388	0	1373
15	East Kentwood	0	660	700	0	1360
16	Jenison	0	329	0	997	1326
17	Kalamazoo Loy Norrix	363	0	0	887	1250
18	Portage Northern	0	337	0	909	1246
19	East Lansing	0	321	0	866	1187
20	Oxford	0	306	0	865	1172
21	Rockford	408	705	0	0	1113
22	Brighton	331	367	350	0	1048
23	Port Huron Northern	0	317	730	0	1047
24	Traverse City Central	0	1044	0	0	1044
25	Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills	0	486	429	0	915

Back to the 800m, this time a bit more gradual route that I’m hoping pays off come June. Jake Eagling has been a mainstay in the Adrian distance program. Has always contributed in cross country and has found his niche in the mid-distances on the track. He’s been a 2x state qualifier in the 800m, each time falling a little short of the podium. But he’s never opened his season like he did at the Lincoln Indoor Classic. His 1:57 was his second time under 2:00 and best opener by 8+ seconds.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points
	4x800m	8:03.1	Adrian	1256
12	Jake Eagling	1:57.1	Adrian	425
11	Braylon Petty	9:37.3	Adrian	394
11	Braylon Petty	2:00.1	Adrian	378
12	Aiden Smith	4:27.0	Adrian	377
11	Matthew Canales	2:01.3	Adrian	359
9	Moises Salazar	2:05.9	Adrian	286
9	Moises Salazar	4:39.5	Adrian	281

D2 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Adrian	1448	658	394	1256	3757
2	Otsego	674	600	909	1050	3232
3	Chelsea	605	391	1220	911	3127
4	Pinckney	316	1172	663	963	3115
5	Clio	713	1013	344	905	2975
6	Freeland	411	697	464	1200	2772
7	Hamilton	1209	510	0	961	2680
8	Corunna	657	628	352	1001	2637
9	Forest Hills Eastern	599	1040	0	959	2598
10	Dearborn Divine Child	280	308	1090	661	2339
11	Whitehall	901	543	610	0	2054
12	East Grand Rapids	267	925	0	853	2045
13	Sparta	311	634	927	0	1872
14	Monroe Jefferson	661	410	0	787	1857
15	Marshall	295	541	266	746	1848
16	Grand Rapids Christian	315	528	0	843	1687
17	Alma	270	258	248	788	1564
18	Holland Christian	0	509	297	750	1557
19	Yale	0	255	292	878	1426
20	Linden	0	400	441	576	1417
21	Ionia	299	0	290	682	1271
22	St. Johns	315	0	0	945	1261
23	Spring Lake	363	759	0	0	1123
24	Paw Paw	0	596	519	0	1115
25	Mason	267	550	296	0	1114

Hunter Jones can do a lot, place at the State Finals in the 800m, 1600m, 3200m (and I’m sure if he wanted to do the 400m, he could compete there too). But are you used to seeing another Benzie name on the starting line with him? Pol Molins was a crucial addition to the Huskies cross country program, solidly in the 16’s for much of the fall. In 2023, he’s shown to be a competitor at the shorter distance events. His 4:22 at Nike Indoor Nationals was an eye opener, with 2-3 more months of Coach Kelly’s training, he could easily contend for the second spot at the D3 Finals.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points
	4x800m	8:32.3	Hart	779
12	Clayton Ackley	4:30.9	Hart	347
12	Wyatt Dean	2:04.0	Hart	315
12	Clayton Ackley	2:06.4	Hart	277
9	Jack Slotman	2:08.8	Hart	238
12	Seth Ackley	10:34.1	Hart	229
12	Easton Vander Zwaag	2:10.1	Hart	218
12	Caleb Bitely	2:10.2	Hart	217
12	Wyatt Dean	4:48.9	Hart	210
12	Seth Ackley	4:54.6	Hart	166
12	Josef Bromley	11:01.9	Hart	148

D3 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Hart	1049	723	378	779	2928
2	Clare	835	689	616	442	2582
3	Traverse City St. Francis	1076	732	473	0	2280
4	Pewamo-Westphalia	950	305	544	459	2258
5	Hanover-Horton	347	460	744	662	2213
6	Reed City	665	471	197	639	1972
7	Remus Chippewa Hills	487	240	311	539	1576
8	Benzie Central	361	773	368	0	1501
9	Caro	535	523	330	0	1388
10	Olivet	283	157	192	635	1268
11	Saranac	917	190	150	0	1257
12	Ottawa Lake-Whiteford	0	268	494	462	1224
13	Hillsdale	468	184	0	518	1171
14	Chesaning	357	320	0	415	1091
15	Constantine	219	306	142	404	1071
16	Adrian Madison	224	199	208	429	1061
17	Centreville	474	312	226	0	1012
18	Erie Mason	440	506	0	0	946
19	Grandville Calvin Christian	0	344	462	0	807
20	Parchment	397	407	0	0	804
21	Kent City	204	314	250	0	767
22	Hudson	0	0	345	412	757
23	Kalkaska	0	294	452	0	746
24	Leslie	219	166	0	329	715
25	Ithaca	0	157	534	0	691

I’ll let this excellent article do much of the talking, but just wanted to give a shoutout to Johannesburg-Lewiston’s Blake Fox. His 1:59.36 wasn’t only his first sub-2, it was his first sub-2:10, and it was also his first sub-2:15. Blake hadn’t run an official 800m since his sophomore year, but it appears he retained all the knowledge of how to handle the pain. Whereas Moses Osterink may control the 1600m and 3200m, the 800m could be up for grabs. Along with Fox, there are plenty of returners that will look to seize a state title.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points
	4x800m	8:17.4	The Potter’s House	1008
12	Lezawe Osterink	4:26.5	The Potter’s House	380
11	Jackson Rodriguez	4:39.0	The Potter’s House	286
12	Logan Swiney	4:42.4	The Potter’s House	260
9	Edward Mugisha	2:12.5	The Potter’s House	180
11	Ezra Hagedorn	5:02.0	The Potter’s House	110

D4 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	The Potter’s House	180	1036	0	1008	2224
2	Kalamazoo Hackett	226	504	312	596	1639
3	Mason County Eastern	479	404	265	182	1330
4	Three Oaks River Valley	148	394	284	408	1234
5	Johannesburg-Lewiston	389	745	0	0	1135
6	Hillsdale Academy	246	243	265	347	1100
7	East Jackson	0	310	400	314	1025
8	Petoskey St. Michael	219	437	252	0	908
9	Dansville	0	294	217	368	879
10	Buckley	447	0	0	412	860
11	Pentwater	188	274	352	0	814
12	Montabella	0	383	420	0	803
13	Reading	347	252	154	0	754
14	Frankfort	216	73	84	308	681
15	Carson City-Crystal	0	0	269	356	625
16	Petersburg-Summerfield	439	152	0	0	591
17	Vestaburg	379	0	207	0	587
18	Marine City Cardinal Mooney	179	387	0	0	566
19	Adrian Lenawee Christian	0	86	188	213	487
20	Fowler	0	53	198	233	484
21	Harbor Springs	0	299	174	0	473
22	Allen Park Cabrini	0	121	315	0	436
23	Beal City	185	224	0	0	409
24	Muskegon Western Mich. Christian	0	176	0	226	402
25	Genesee	0	133	226	0	359

And last but not least, the UP:

UP Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Sault Ste. Marie	411	585	609	0	1606
2	Gladstone	320	393	149	0	861

To review, these “best crews” were started last year to try to recognize the best teams in each event area, whether that’s the jumps here, or sprints or throws elsewhere. Last year’s version was more complex and relied on having three participants in each event. I’ve changed things a bit this year, mostly to ease the process on my end and have the ability to include more teams.

Here’s the process:

Over the winter, I created my own version of World Athletics Tables, but for Michigan athletes. These are based on times/marks from the 2022 Outdoor Season throughout the US. Their purpose is to compare similar marks across events. Here are the boys and girls tables:

BOYS TABLES

GIRLS TABLES

There are two guidelines for being included. Your mark has to be from this outdoor season and it has to be better than the Regional Additional Qualifying Mark. Marks from this season are taken from the athletic.net performance lists. There will likely be some instances where someone has run a time, but it’s not included on that list. I can’t help that! Please contact the necessary folks to get your name on there.

For each event, with a maximum of four athletes, those scores are added together. Then within a category, those events are added together. Relays are scaled to match their importance within a meet. Often, at the state level, teams score more points from a relay than they would with four individuals running that event (unless you’re elite, in that case you’re limited to 10 points from that event), so they’re given a bit more importance here.

Here’s an example of one of the better early season crews, the Pioneer milers, who’ve been the best in three of the four distance events thus far in 2022:

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event	Total
11	Rachel Forsyth	4:53.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	494	1600m	1747
12	Emily Cooper	5:00.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	463	1600m
11	Sylvia Sanok Dufallo	5:01.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	459	1600m
11	Lydia Bowman	5:31.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	330	1600m

The rankings are composed of results listed on athleticnet by 7pm SATURDAY NIGHT.

As Oak Park begins their quest for a 7^th State Title in the past 10 years, they’ll need contributors from all events. They’ve got the hurdlers to pick up the majority of points, but any other contributor will be helpful. Last June, Kylee King put it all on the line to try to regain some ground on Renaissance, running a gutsy 2^nd place effort in the 800m. Coach Jiles has a great track record of getting his mid-distance runners to peak at the right time and her 2:16 now is right on pace to put her in contention for a third straight podium finish.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
		9:11.3	Ann Arbor Pioneer	1608	4x800m
11	Rachel Forsyth	4:53.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	494	1600m
11	Rachel Forsyth	2:14.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	470	800m
12	Emily Cooper	5:00.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	463	1600m
11	Sylvia Sanok Dufallo	5:01.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	459	1600m
12	Emily Cooper	2:18.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	433	800m
11	Sylvia Sanok Dufallo	2:20.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	415	800m
11	Natalie Mello	11:25.4	Ann Arbor Pioneer	405	3200m
12	Allison Nutt	11:46.8	Ann Arbor Pioneer	369	3200m
11	Katie Hume	11:56.7	Ann Arbor Pioneer	352	3200m
11	Natalie Mello	2:27.6	Ann Arbor Pioneer	346	800m
11	Lydia Bowman	5:31.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	330	1600m
11	Lydia Bowman	12:09.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	330	3200m
12	Allison Nutt	5:34.0	Ann Arbor Pioneer	318	1600m

D1 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Ann Arbor Pioneer	1665	1747	1456	1608	6475
2	Saline	0	1087	1493	1273	3854
3	Northville	808	721	787	1192	3507
4	Romeo	348	742	1123	1112	3325
5	St. Joseph	762	773	729	873	3136
6	Traverse City West	760	416	419	970	2565
7	Highland-Milford	755	652	0	1146	2554
8	Lowell	787	862	872	0	2522
9	Zeeland East	373	718	415	1000	2506
10	Holland West Ottawa	1238	887	377	0	2502
11	Oxford	361	737	337	966	2401
12	Livonia Stevenson	362	705	370	848	2284
13	Howell	0	373	676	1192	2241
14	H.H. Dow	352	675	332	871	2229
15	Brighton	0	987	0	1208	2196
16	Jenison	353	352	367	1079	2151
17	Grand Haven	821	0	0	1134	1955
18	Ann Arbor Skyline	353	805	717	0	1875
19	Lake Orion	374	405	0	919	1699
20	Livonia Franklin	352	0	332	1008	1692
21	Walled Lake Western	352	318	0	960	1629
22	Macomb Dakota	0	318	346	940	1604
23	Kalamazoo Loy Norrix	0	322	342	853	1518
24	South Lyon East	361	710	342	0	1413
25	Grand Ledge	406	429	428	0	1263

The 1600m at the Lakewood Invite was loaded with familiar D2 names. Janesak, Germain, DeVries, Mitchell, Hoffman. But one old familiar name came through at the end: Meghan Ford. The Mason junior ran her fastest time she’s ever raced in the first half of April. Although her sophomore track season wasn’t the greatest, we should still remember she’s been 3x All-State in cross and was 3^rd in the 3200m as a freshman.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
		10:18.6	Otsego	865	4x800m
11	Megan Germain	11:18.3	Otsego	418	3200m
9	Emma Hoffman	11:24.3	Otsego	407	3200m
11	Megan Germain	5:14.0	Otsego	403	1600m
9	Emma Hoffman	5:23.9	Otsego	361	1600m
11	Megan Germain	2:27.6	Otsego	346	800m
9	Emma Hoffman	2:32.1	Otsego	306	800m
11	Logan Brazee	2:33.5	Otsego	293	800m
10	Taylor Mitchell	5:40.9	Otsego	288	1600m
11	Logan Brazee	5:45.0	Otsego	270	1600m

D2 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Otsego	944	1323	825	865	3957
2	East Grand Rapids	1064	1055	673	1102	3893
3	Grand Rapids Christian	707	765	1038	1050	3560
4	Spring Lake	732	682	311	897	2622
5	Monroe Jefferson	346	616	658	956	2576
6	Shepherd	324	578	313	1041	2255
7	Tecumseh	352	344	374	1022	2092
8	Freeland	291	287	630	865	2073
9	Goodrich	370	590	320	767	2047
10	Ludington	281	292	610	821	2005
11	Petoskey	306	592	363	733	1995
12	Adrian	287	326	290	873	1777
13	Whitehall	649	629	339	0	1617
14	St. Johns	0	331	354	877	1563
15	Mason	352	408	0	691	1451
16	Sparta	370	391	650	0	1411
17	Sturgis	645	356	304	0	1305
18	GR West Michigan Aviation	0	399	0	825	1224
19	Forest Hills Eastern	0	313	0	892	1205
20	Alma	354	336	379	0	1069
21	Stevensville Lakeshore	353	0	0	712	1065
22	Dearborn Divine Child	288	0	0	746	1034
23	Chelsea	300	352	345	0	997
24	Grand Rapids South Christian	0	0	315	655	969
25	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	343	313	289	0	945

Did we get an early state finals preview in the 800m? I think we did. Sadly, it doesn’t appear that Emmry Ross and Madison Osterberg will face again until June, but this matchup contained all the drama. Ross came off her 400m win, Osterberg off her 1600m win. Ross came back in the final 10m to snatch a victory. What’s impressive to me is that she showed she can pull off this difficult double, coming back from sprinting a 57.7. What intrigues me is the confidence gained from doing so and the thorn placed in Madison’s side that will surely be motivation for revenge come June.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
		10:26.3	Hart	794	4x800m
10	Jessica Jazwinski	4:57.0	Hart	476	1600m
10	Jessica Jazwinski	10:47.0	Hart	472	3200m
10	Jessica Jazwinski	2:19.0	Hart	424	800m
11	Alyson Enns	5:17.0	Hart	390	1600m
11	Alyson Enns	2:24.0	Hart	379	800m
11	Alyson Enns	11:42.0	Hart	377	3200m

D3 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Hart	803	867	849	794	3313
2	Pewamo-Westphalia	1261	575	0	763	2599
3	Jackson Lumen Christi	479	689	280	1022	2470
4	Onsted	481	395	362	955	2193
5	Stanton Central Montcalm	487	680	524	459	2151
6	Caro	320	592	285	661	1858
7	Lansing Catholic	694	768	356	0	1819
8	Kent City	297	584	304	436	1621
9	Reese	263	438	234	681	1615
10	St. Louis	314	320	513	456	1604
11	Elk Rapids	292	286	338	678	1594
12	Ida	361	438	246	533	1578
13	Boyne City	386	389	266	481	1522
14	Remus Chippewa Hills	260	266	276	669	1471
15	Hanover-Horton	533	280	0	593	1406
16	Benzie Central	0	352	349	590	1291
17	Lawton	713	401	0	0	1114
18	Ithaca	0	227	251	627	1105
19	Erie Mason	244	195	0	615	1055
20	Morley-Stanwood	297	328	353	0	978
21	Grand Traverse Academy	0	266	242	447	956
22	Bridgman	0	250	240	451	942
23	Olivet	243	0	0	531	774
24	Saranac	370	378	0	0	747
25	Charlevoix	232	236	273	0	741

Her freshman year openers were 2:33/5:32. Her sophomore year openers were 2:30/5:28. Her junior year openers blow those two out of the water: 2:16/5:05. Considering she ended her freshman year with one state title, her sophomore year with two state titles, D4 is likely in for more of the same result. Aiden Harrand is back, this time with her merry band of Buckley Bears. Can she pull off the distance triple? That’s not my decision, but definitely within her wheelhouse. One thing for sure, their 4×4 might be able to score points. Their 4:18 now ranks 3^rd in D4, if placed in the 2022 Finals, that time is on the medal stand. We saw last year how Western Michigan Christian won a title largely from their distance folks, perhaps Buckley can do the same.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
		10:24.6	Fowler	810	4x800m
12	Grace Epkey	2:32.0	Fowler	306	800m
10	Kelcie Pung	2:36.4	Fowler	266	800m
10	Kelcie Pung	12:55.2	Fowler	250	3200m
10	Kelcie Pung	5:52.0	Fowler	240	1600m
10	Ella Hufnagel	2:41.0	Fowler	224	800m

D4 Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Fowler	797	240	250	810	2097
2	Muskegon Western Mich. Christian	750	366	0	685	1801
3	Hillsdale Academy	645	440	370	264	1719
4	Pittsford	485	163	277	612	1537
5	Petoskey St. Michael	468	435	554	0	1457
6	Adrian Lenawee Christian	545	300	0	495	1341
7	Portland St. Patrick	664	0	0	569	1233
8	Breckenridge	187	269	0	589	1046
9	Brown City	233	197	205	302	937
10	St. Joseph Our Lady of the Lake Catholic	0	267	289	373	928
11	Buckley	448	442	0	0	890
12	Kalamazoo Hackett	243	236	0	364	843
13	Genesee	217	297	278	0	791
14	Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart	357	204	216	0	777
15	Libertas Christian	163	132	0	425	720
16	The Potter’s House	0	193	0	509	702
17	Addison	449	229	0	0	677
18	Allen Park Cabrini	0	300	373	0	674
19	Morenci	0	0	0	631	631
20	Ubly	188	0	208	233	629
21	Marcellus	215	167	234	0	616
22	Big Rapids Crossroads Academy	215	202	197	0	614
23	Leland	0	0	253	335	588
24	Kingston	0	214	0	364	578
25	Deckerville	179	227	166	0	572

And of course, the UP:

UP Rank	Team	800m	1600m	3200m	4×8	Total
1	Sault Ste. Marie	422	129	209	357	1117
2	Manistique	0	0	0	330	330

And now we’re done. All events, both genders are covered. It’ll be such a fast weekend and there’s plenty of meets to lay down some blazin’ marks.

To review, these “best crews” were started last year to try to recognize the best teams in each event area, whether that’s the jumps here, or sprints or throws elsewhere. Last year’s version was more complex and relied on having three participants in each event. I’ve changed things a bit this year, mostly to ease the process on my end and have the ability to include more teams.

Here’s the process:

Over the winter, I created my own version of World Athletics Tables, but for Michigan athletes. These are based on times/marks from the 2022 Outdoor Season throughout the US. Their purpose is to compare across events. Here are the boys tables:

BOYS TABLES

GIRLS TABLES

There are two guidelines for being included. Your mark has to be from this outdoor season and it has to be better than the Regional Additional Qualifying Mark. Marks from this season are taken from the athletic.net performance lists. There will likely be some instances where someone has run a time, but it’s not included on that list. I can’t help that! Please contact the necessary folks to get your name on there.

For each event, with a maximum of four athletes, those scores are added together. Then within a category, those events are added together. Relays are scaled to match their importance within a meet. Often, at the state level, teams score more points from a relay than they would with four individuals running that event, so they’re given a bit more importance here.

Here’s an example of one of the better early season crews, the Traverse City West high hurdlers, with their varied mix of seniors and freshmen:

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Score
11	Wally Tupper	15.41	Traverse City West	402	1096
11	Parker Kirschner	16.00	Traverse City West	356
9	Aaryn Stallworth	16.23	Traverse City West	338

These three combined for 14 points in the 110s at Davison’s Shake off the Rust Invite and on Wednesday, swept Gaylord.

The times and results for these rankings are anything that was on athleticnet before THURSDAY NIGHT.

Whichever event he lays his hands on, he finds success. Beyond his two All-State finishes in the short sprints at the 2022 D1 State Finals, Braxton Brann also flashed some hurdling magnificence. He placed 2^nd in the SEC Red with a 14.70 in the 110s and went undefeated in three duals in the 300s. His first meet out in 2023, a tri against Lincoln and Monroe, showed even more explosion than last year. Personal bests in both events, including a 14.15 in the high hurdles. The 60h work over the winter has certainly paid off, leading to great accomplishments indoors (MITS title) and a high possibility of great accomplishments outdoors.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
12	Joshua Hurt	15.01	East Kentwood	432	110h
12	Nakia Willis	41.00	East Kentwood	404	300h
12	Nakia Willis	15.47	East Kentwood	397	110h
12	Joshua Hurt	41.23	East Kentwood	397	300h

D1 Rank	Team	110h	300h	Total
1	East Kentwood	829	801	1630
2	Traverse City West	1096	397	1493
3	Rochester Adams	1055	389	1444
4	Detroit Cass Tech	868	459	1327
5	Ann Arbor Huron	498	449	948
6	Kalamazoo Central	446	418	864
7	Holt	429	417	846
8	Kalamazoo Loy Norrix	437	401	838
9	Detroit U-D Jesuit	827	0	827
10	Walled Lake Northern	382	421	803
11	West Bloomfield	361	403	764
12	Grandville	354	369	723
13	Zeeland West	333	380	713
14	Temperance Bedford	699	0	699
15	Caledonia	422	0	422
16	Belleville	415	0	415
17	Brighton	408	0	408
18	Detroit Catholic Central	407	0	407
19	Beverly Hills Groves	0	404	404
20	Rockford	0	383	383

Coming in first for my 2022 D2 All Around Athlete was Spring Lake’s Jaxson Tober. He attained that honor largely thanks to his hurdling prowess, and it appears he’s improved from last year. At this date in 2022, he had season bests of 15.68 and 43.57. As of now, he’s at 15.42 and 41.31. Don’t be shocked if he busts through some major barriers in the coming months and scores considerable points at the state level.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
12	Tyler Hufnagel	16.06	Owosso	352	110h
12	Tyler Hufnagel	43.29	Owosso	332	300h
11	Gavin Mecomber	16.42	Owosso	324	110h

D2 Rank	Team	110h	300h	Total
1	Owosso	675	332	1007
2	Hamilton	645	343	988
3	Spring Lake	401	394	795
4	Grand Rapids Catholic Central	701	0	701
5	Adrian	687	0	687
6	Monroe Jefferson	307	359	666
7	Whitehall	665	0	665
8	Paw Paw	308	348	657
9	Battle Creek Harper Creek	316	330	646
10	Fremont	292	342	634
11	Gladwin	292	340	631
12	Goodrich	307	310	617
13	Mason	383	0	383
14	Charlotte	343	0	343
15	Kingsley	0	338	338
16	Macomb Lutheran North	338	0	338
17	Frankenmuth	332	0	332
18	Ludington	326	0	326
19	Allendale	324	0	324
20	Vicksburg	0	321	321

His freshman year was the standard for any freshman. Throw them in a ton of events, a few relays, show some potential, and then… win a dang conference title. Caleb Walker has taken his high hurdle conference title and ran with it. His first two 110h efforts of the year were both victories and both considerable personal bests. It’s not as if this is a one off thing, his 200m/400m races also produced 2-3 second bests.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
12	Riley Parker	43.47	Caro	326	300h
11	Trace Englemann	16.57	Caro	312	110h
12	John Reyes	44.27	Caro	301	300h
11	Trace Englemann	44.62	Caro	290	300h
12	Riley Parker	17.14	Caro	268	110h
12	John Reyes	17.41	Caro	248	110h

D3 Rank	Team	110h	300h	Total
1	Caro	828	918	1746
2	Chesaning	898	626	1523
3	Clare	535	696	1231
4	Napoleon	928	0	928
5	Hillsdale	568	319	888
6	Olivet	553	311	864
7	Erie Mason	538	279	817
8	Delton-Kellogg	375	373	748
9	Lakeview	334	328	662
10	Warren Michigan Collegiate	636	0	636
11	Almont	325	309	635
12	Hart	306	322	628
13	Pewamo-Westphalia	276	339	615
14	Bangor	299	315	614
15	Burton Atherton	611	0	611
16	Hemlock	265	335	600
17	Montague	236	331	568
18	Bath	269	295	564
19	Ottawa Lake-Whiteford	224	308	532
20	Saugatuck	213	288	501

There are names you see over and over. Mid-Michigan has a ton of Feldpausch’s, and it seems every last one runs track or cross country. Brady Feldpausch is one of many with that surname and one of many in the Fowler tradition. His sophomore year has seen quite a leap, progressing from 17.7 to 16.3 in the high hurdles and 45.3 to 42.6 in the 300s. Both times would’ve ranked in the top-20 in 2022 and we still have six+ weeks left. I’m excited to see how he builds upon the gains he’s already made.

Grade	Name	Time	Team	Points	Event
10	Brady Feldpausch	42.65	Fowler	352	300h
10	Brady Feldpausch	16.39	Fowler	326	110h
11	Tristan Smith	45.44	Fowler	264	300h
11	Tristan Smith	17.56	Fowler	236	110h

D4 Rank	Team	110h	300h	Total
1	Fowler	562	617	1179
2	Marion	418	326	744
3	Morrice	451	283	733
4	Portland St. Patrick	189	472	661
5	Beal City	250	295	545
6	Dansville	277	259	536
7	International Academy of Flint	225	290	514
8	Concord	238	222	460
9	Mio Ausable	236	222	458
10	Martin	137	317	454
11	Marcellus	192	255	447
12	Morenci	138	268	405
13	Onaway	0	261	261
14	Birmingham Roeper	0	232	232
15	Fairview	0	229	229
16	Bellaire	222	0	222
17	Brethren	207	0	207
18	Mason County Eastern	177	0	177
19	Kingston	169	0	169
20	Petersburg-Summerfield	167	0	167

And look at this – TWO Upper Peninsula teams, getting work in before another snow storm hits early next week.

UP Rank	Team	110h	300h	Total
1	Gladstone	491	340	831
2	Sault Ste. Marie	119	0	119