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Regional Previews

50 Tickets

Now we’re getting to the fun part!  In previous years, what I’ve done is list the top teams, top individuals. Prior to last summer, I’d write and write and write, then never finish my writings before the season started. In 2021, I made the decision to just list the top teams and not add any creative input. I’m going to bridge that gap this year. The best of the best are covered in the 50 Tickets, the fastest runners on the best teams will be covered in their Top 10s. In these previews, I want to write just a tiny bit about everyone else. Maybe it’s only a sentence, but y’all deserve even the tiniest bit of recognition.

These projections include incoming freshmen. This is a necessary step in the previews, however there are some unknown areas. A major example from this region are smaller, private middle schools. Obviously, kids going to Royal Oak Shrine MS will likely go to Royal Oak Shrine HS. But how about Southgate’s St. Pius? Their HS could be Cabrini, could be Gabriel Richard, maybe Divine Child? I’ll ignore those unknowns, process the ones that make sense, but as a result, there will be cases of freshmen that I miss, and that may skew the projections. If you know of a case outside of the traditional progression, let me know!

Where: Memorial Park, Royal Oak. This will definitely be the most “urban” regional. Located on the corner of 13 Mile and Woodward, miles away from the iconic Hans… I’ll just stop right there. As with anything in southern Oakland County, it’s fairly flat. The park itself does have a few rises, but nothing that I would consider a hill.

We have a course map! From their pre-regional in 2020:

2020 Boys: Riverview Gabriel Richard (State Place in 2021 – 5^th), Royal Oak Shrine (16^th), Lutheran Westland (23^rd)

2020 Girls: Rochester Hills Lutheran NW (3^rd), Allen Park Cabrini (13^th), Royal Oak Shrine (8^th)

Top 25 Boys Teams: Royal Oak Shrine (Top 10), Marine City Cardinal Mooney (Top 10), Lutheran Westland (22^nd), Allen Park Cabrini (24^th)

Top 25 Girls Teams: Auburn Hills Oakland Christian (Top 10), Rochester Hills Lutheran NW (Top 10), Royal Oak Shrine (17^th)

(As stated earlier, the shoutouts and anecdotes here will be anyone in the Top 15 isn’t on a top team)

Christopher Russelburg – Put it all together in track season, nailing PB’s at both the 1600m and 3200m at State (4:30/10:05).

Alex Meszaros – Defending CHSL C/D and Regional Champion. Russelburg has the times, Alex has the experience, we might see a great duel in four months.

Tom Shafer – Showed much promise as a freshman, breaking 18:00 at both Gabriel Richard and the MIAC Championship.

TJ Donnan – MIAC Champion in both the 1600m and 3200m. One of my favorite customers at the store, a humble man with a great attitude and burgeoning talent.

Merrick Michaelson – Frankel Jewish Academy doesn’t run much, but when they do, Merrick makes it count. Two consecutive state meet qualifications.

Isaac Zammit – Ran a massive PB to close last year, a 18:35 in the CHSL C/D meet at Willow.

Luke Douglas – Showed signs of breakthroughs last year, sub-19 at Spencer Park, Gabriel Richard, then nearly broke 18:00 at State.

Ava Teed – Junior has twice been All-State, twice Top-3 in this region. Will this be the year she breaks through? Had an astounding track season where she reached as low as 11:17 for the 3200m and finished Top-8 in both the 1600m and 3200m.

Erika Van Loton – Regional champ here in 2020, finished 2^nd in both 2019 and 2021. Is redemption a possibility?

Natalie Gibbs – Rounded into form last October, grabbed a medal at the Oakland County meet, then turned that into an All-State selection.

Helana Napiorkowski – It was a long road, but she finalllly broke 21:00 late last fall. Had many consistent performances in track, running multiple mid-12 times in the 3200m.

Michaela Kurth – We love the improvement throughout the year, as she started 2021 with multiple 24:00+ performances and closed it with an 11^th place finish here and a sub-22 at the MIAC Championship.

Natalie Malczyk – In the spring, she doubles as a sprinter/jumper. 15’4 was good enough to place 2^nd at the MIAC Championship.

Tess Tillman – As with Kurth, massive time drops late. 25:00+ at the Clawson Watermelon led to multiple sub-22’s in championship season.

These have been moving a little slower lately because I’m in the final stages of going through incoming freshmen, rounding out the Top 10s, and assembling the regions together. Later in the week, I’ll get cranking again.

The List

• A newcomer to the cross community, Mia made an immediate impact in her sophomore year
• One could see the talent in middle school, where she broke 13:00 late in her 8^th grade year, but a global pandemic and a broken foot led to zero results for a good 1.5 years
• During her freshman track season, it appeared she was putting that injury behind, continually dropping time in the 1600m until she reached 5:32 at season’s end
• Last fall is where Mia truly blossomed, and her progression throughout the season was palpable, major drop, plateau, major drop
• Many of those major dips coming late: Bluejay, OK White 4, and the State Meet
• Though her track times don’t jump off the page like some of the others, I think they speak to a greater strength, despite “only” running 5:26 (6 seconds faster than 2021), Mia can still run in the low-18’s

Grade	Name	Time	Rating	Meet	Course	Date
10	Mia Bateson	19:55.7	131.1	Under the Lights (GRSC)	South Christian HS	27-Aug
10	Mia Bateson	19:17.2	137.3	OK White 1	Gainey Fields	8-Sep
10	Mia Bateson	19:57.1	126.0	Bredeweg	Macatawa Bay MS	11-Sep
10	Mia Bateson	19:21.9	139.0	Ottawa Hills	Riverside Park	17-Sep
10	Mia Bateson	18:50.8	137.1	OK White 2	Riverside Park	22-Sep
10	Mia Bateson	18:54.4	143.2	Cougar Falcon	Gainey Fields	25-Sep
10	Mia Bateson	18:34.0	147.7	Bluejay	Shepherd HS	2-Oct
10	Mia Bateson	18:38.6	139.8	OK White 3	Brookside GC	6-Oct
10	Mia Bateson	18:49.4	147.5	Portage	Portage West MS	9-Oct
10	Mia Bateson	18:18.0	154.0	OK White 4	South Christian HS	20-Oct
10	Mia Bateson	18:32.7	143.1	1 Allendale	Allendale HS	30-Oct
10	Mia Bateson	18:19.3	150.6	D1 State	MIS	6-Nov

• Courtney, Ransom, and now Parks
• The Allens have been a great family to the mid-Michigan running community, contributing to state titles, All-Americans, academic All-Americans, and Parks is doing a great part of continuing that legacy
• As I’ve said before, living up to expectations has the risk of being devastating, but these kids I’m writing about have found a way to perform time and time again
• Parks stepped onto the Ithaca team and had an immediate impact, qualifying for State as a freshman, being a top-3 runner on a team that’s finished top-10 in the state the past two years
• He himself has a penchant for crushing that Shepherd course and coming through at MIS
  • His season best the past two years is at Shepherd
  • 11^th and 12^th place at MIS in those years
• I feel he really put it all together this spring, just look at these progressions: 1600m 4:39 > 4:23, 3200m 9:59 > 9:33
• In conclusion, he’s reaching even another level, I look forward to him and Coach Merchant having a fun fall on their hands

Grade	Name	Time	Rating	Meet	Course	Date
11	Parks Allen	17:13.6	187.1	Birch Run Early	Taymouth Township Park	26-Aug
11	Parks Allen	16:58.5	180.2	Yellowjacket	Ithaca HS	2-Sep
11	Parks Allen	16:43.1	187.6	John Bruder	Shepherd HS	8-Sep
11	Parks Allen	16:54.7	185.1	TVC West 1	Imerman Park	15-Sep
11	Parks Allen	16:49.3	191.6	Spartan	Forest Akers	17-Sep
11	Parks Allen	16:54.5	180.2	TVC West 2	Pine River GC	28-Sep
11	Parks Allen	16:18.7	192.8	Bluejay	Shepherd HS	2-Oct
11	Parks Allen	16:33.1	181.3	Apples 2 Apples	Uncle John’s	7-Oct
11	Parks Allen	16:56.2	183.3	TVC West 3	Hidden Oaks GC	12-Oct
11	Parks Allen	17:06.0	178.7	TVC Overall	Taymouth Township Park	19-Oct
11	Parks Allen	16:54.5	173.5	Scottie Classic	Shepherd HS	22-Oct
11	Parks Allen	17:27.6	189.8	24 SFRC	St. Francis Retreat Center	29-Oct
11	Parks Allen	16:19.4	188.2	D3 State	MIS	6-Nov
11	Parks Allen	16:27.1	190	MMOC	Shepherd HS	13-Nov

Grade	Name	Rating	Meet	Course	Date
10	Parks Allen	176.7	Ithaca Early	Ithaca HS	26-Aug
10	Parks Allen	180.1	Yellowjacket	Ithaca HS	2-Sep
10	Parks Allen	182.4	John Bruder	Shepherd HS	9-Sep
10	Parks Allen	185.5	TVC West 1	Stratford Woods	15-Sep
10	Parks Allen	193.6	OGTC	Allendale HS	19-Sep
10	Parks Allen	177.6	Ithaca	Hemlock HS	29-Sep
10	Parks Allen	191.8	Shepherd Bluejay	Shepherd HS	3-Oct
10	Parks Allen	189.6	Greater Lansing	Ledge Meadows	10-Oct
10	Parks Allen	179.4	TVC West 3	Carrollton HS	13-Oct
10	Parks Allen	181.7	PR 48	Ithaca HS	24-Oct
10	Parks Allen	189.1	D3 Reg 24	DeWitt HS	31-Oct
10	Parks Allen	190.1	D3 State	MIS	7-Nov

Grade	Name	Rating	Meet	Course
9	Parks Allen	190.5	Birch Run EB	Taymouth Twp. Park
9	Parks Allen	177.0	YellowJacket	Ithaca HS
9	Parks Allen	183.7	Marauder	Uncle John’s
9	Parks Allen	163.9	Spartan	Forest Akers
9	Parks Allen	173.1	BlueJay	Shepherd HS
9	Parks Allen	167.1	TVC	Rittmueller MS
9	Parks Allen	175.9	Scottie Classic	Shepherd HS
9	Parks Allen	173.7	24	Uncle John’s
9	Parks Allen	179.4	D3 State	MIS

The List

• Jordan just knows the podium at MIS
• In his two races there, Caledonia has finished 2^nd and he nabbed an All-State spot in 2020, placing 29^th
• Coinciding with the Scots rise in the past two years was Jordan’s entrance to the scene
• After running in the 17’s for much of his freshman year and the early part of his sophomore campaign, he bolted into the low-16’s with great performances at Cougar Falcon and OK Red
• Although there wasn’t a significant time drop in 2021, there also wasn’t a 17:00+ race either, reliability is vastly underrated
• This spring season was his first foray into track, Jordan also displayed the steadiness found in cross, and that 9:44 3200m gives a hint that the 16:00 barrier is in question

Grade	Name	Time	Rating	Meet	Course	Date
11	Jordan Domany	16:40.3	191.2	Coach B	Gun Lake State Park	13-Sep
11	Jordan Domany	16:36.0	196.0	Spartan	Forest Akers	17-Sep
11	Jordan Domany	16:20.3	186.9	OK Red 1	Grand Haven HS	21-Sep
11	Jordan Domany	16:16.6	196.5	Cougar Falcon	Gainey Fields	25-Sep
11	Jordan Domany	16:18.8	192.4	Otsego Bulldog	Otsego HS	2-Oct
11	Jordan Domany	16:25.5	193.2	OK Red 2	Macatawa Bay MS	5-Oct
11	Jordan Domany	16:21.7	195.4	Portage	Portage West MS	9-Oct
11	Jordan Domany	16:09.7	189.8	OK Red Conference	Riverside Park	21-Oct
11	Jordan Domany	16:20.8	190.1	3 Portage	Portage West MS	29-Oct
11	Jordan Domany	16:11.5	194.2	D1 State	MIS	6-Nov
11	Jordan Domany	16:09.0	196.0	MMOC	Shepherd HS	13-Nov

Grade	Name	Rating	Meet	Course	Date
10	Jordan Domany	166.7	Caledonia/Rockford	Caledonia HS	15-Sep
10	Jordan Domany	184.8	Caledonia/Jenison	Unity Christian HS	22-Sep
10	Jordan Domany	190.7	Cougar Falcon	Gainey Fields	26-Sep
10	Jordan Domany	166.4	Caledonia/Hudsonville	Caledonia HS	29-Sep
10	Jordan Domany	182.2	Caledonia/HWO	Caledonia HS	2-Oct
10	Jordan Domany	193.1	Bengals	Riverside Park	9-Oct
10	Jordan Domany	194.4	PR 5	Macatawa Bay MS	24-Oct
10	Jordan Domany	194.1	D1 Reg 3	Portage West MS	30-Oct
10	Jordan Domany	196.6	D1 State	MIS	6-Nov

Grade	Name	Rating	Meet	Course
9	Jordan Domany	168.5	Cougar Falcon	Gainey Fields
9	Jordan Domany	170.4	Otsego Bulldog	Otsego HS
9	Jordan Domany	174.9	Portage	Portage West MS
9	Jordan Domany	168.8	OK Red	Riverside Park

• Them soccer stars, always coming in and throwing off the pecking order
• Taylor came into the sport of distance running as a sophomore and she’s been at the front of races ever since
• As a sophomore in track, her first season as a Grand Ledge harrier, she excelled in championship races, getting under 2:20 for the 800m in major championship races: Greater Lansing, Region 8, and D1 State
• Her specialty is definitely the mid-distance races, as she was able to replicate that feat in 2022, winning at both Greater Lansing and Region 8, then placing 7^th at D1 State
• To my astonishment, she won her first race of her cross-country career, a 19:05 at Under the Lights, blowing away a quality field in the late stages of the race
• She had a few slower, sub-par races in there, but Taylor showed up when it mattered, placing 31^st in Brooklyn with a 10+ second personal best

Grade	Name	Time	Rating	Meet	Course	Date
11	Taylor Pangburn	19:05.7	147.1	Under the Lights (St. Johns)	St. Johns HS	20-Aug
11	Taylor Pangburn	20:00.9	135.7	A2 Fall Preview	Huron Meadows	26-Aug
11	Taylor Pangburn	19:07.8	139.1	Saranac	Saranac HS	1-Sep
11	Taylor Pangburn	19:32.4	144.2	Averill	Possum Hollow	11-Sep
11	Taylor Pangburn	19:04.3	148.6	Spartan	Forest Akers	17-Sep
11	Taylor Pangburn	18:54.1	143.3	CAAC Blue 1	DeWitt HS	23-Sep
11	Taylor Pangburn	18:51.4	141.9	Bluejay	Shepherd HS	2-Oct
11	Taylor Pangburn	20:08.4	120.5	Greater Lansing	Ledge Meadows GC	16-Oct
11	Taylor Pangburn	19:02.3	135.9	CAAC Blue 2	Ledge Meadows GC	21-Oct
11	Taylor Pangburn	19:11.8	136.4	4 Meadows	Huron Meadows	29-Oct
11	Taylor Pangburn	18:39.4	143.9	D1 State	MIS	6-Nov