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- #111 - Regionals Fireworks
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Regionals Recap
If you were hoping for an in-depth summary of regionals action, we were too! Unfortunately we got slammed with other commitments this week. The best way to boil it down—a very elitist top 10 performances. In order? I’m not quite sure. I keep having second thoughts and rearranging them!
Zacchaeus Brocks (Catholic Central) 36.23 — The No. 2 race ever over 300 hurdles, it raised the possibility that perhaps we may finally have someone capable of taking down the legendary state record of 35.90 set by Mumford’s Kenneth Ferguson in 2002. His last chance will be the state finals, as the distance is not run at the national meets. Note Brocks also ran 13.57 legal at regionals, for the best 110/300 hurdle double ever.
Lorelai Zielinski (Traverse City Central) 50-4.5 - It’s not her PR, and it’s not within 5 feet of the state leader, but don’t let that blind you to the fact that 50 feet for a high school girl is mind-boggling. Only 8 girls in the United States have done it this year. She also threw 161-9 in the discus at Mt Pleasant.
Peyton Trammer (Belleville) 10.31-wind-aided — Just because it was windy (a 2.1 mps reading put it a notch above the allowable for records) doesn’t mean it wasn’t impressive. In any conditions, it was the second-fastest dash ever run by a Michigan high schooler. Video
Cayla Hawkins (East Lansing) 54.25 - The frosh sprint star is good in whatever she tries, it seems. That she can run this fast solo (she won by more than 3.5 seconds) indicates she might have something much faster in her legs.
Ben Goran (Spring Lake) 16-5 — Another sophomore record in the pole vault for the phenom. He is now No 9 all-time. Video
Aubrey Wilson (Divine Child) 11.55 wind-aided — Like Trammer’s blinder, this one was just barely above the allowable. But it shows that Wilson is getting sharper and sharper. It almost doesn’t matter where coaches put her in the state finals—she will be a scoring machine for DDC.
Declin Doroh (Stevensville Lakeshore) 7-0 — Getting over the 7-foot barrier is still a big thing in Michigan even if it’s been done by 24 athletes over the years. Video
Colette Wierks (West Ottawa) 2:11.31- It’s hard not to notice that Wierks, one of an ultra-fast set of twins, has been steadily improving. With consistency like that she will very likely be a big factor in the D1 Finals.
Walled Lake Western vs Farmington 4 × 200 — A mind-blowing relay at the Milford regional. Farmington led till the final inches, when WLW’s Rodney Endsley flew past to hit the finish first, 1:26.52 to 1:26.55.
Payton Gee (Oak Park) 14.28 — Wait a second… that’s not even very fast compared to her 13.88 state leader. But Gee was running into a 3.0 headwind, far ahead of the competition. It will be a different story at the D1 Finals with rival Laila Hawkins of Cass Tech in the race. Gee also ran on 47.63 and 1:39.69 relays at regionals, plus ran 2nd in the 300 hurdles. She will be a major part of Oak Park’s scoring juggernaut in Rockford.
More Big Things
Mathis clearing 13-7. (Instagram)
Katie Blue: The Grand Ledge senior topped 13-10 at the CAAC Red, White & Blue Showcase (5/19) to set a State Record in the vault. She has a higher 14-0.5 from the indoor season. Check out the height of her clearance on the video.
Grand Haven keeps turning out young milers who become very good older milers. Note that just behind Luka Hammond’s 4:18.15 at the Zeeland regional was 9th grader Archer Verhage in 4:18.37.
Addy Stiverson: The Montrose junior scared her state record by a half inch with her 55-7 to win the Krupp-Long MMAC Championship (5/19). She had a foul measured at 55-9 and given the way she was throwing, it’s a crime that throwers were restricted to four attempts. Can you imagine the nation’s best 3200 runners ever being told they can only run 2/3 of the distance in a championship?
Jackson Hutchings: There are a lot of promising 9th graders showing up in the results, but here’s another that caught our eye. Jackson Hutchings of Ann Arbor Huron chopped 0.61 off his 300H PR to win the event at the Saline regional in 39.03. Last year as a middle schooler he ran 8.28 for the 55H and covered 400 in 54.52.
Charlotte Martin: The Warren Cousino senior is part of a big throws year in Michigan, blasting a 46-4 PR at the Macomb County Championships (5/20).
Evie Mathis: The Wayland senior, bound for the University of Alabama at Birmingham, cleared a big 13-7 in the vault at the University of Michigan Health-West Scholarship Invite (5/19). That makes her No. 3 in state history outdoors. Video
Sadie Dykstra: The Yale senior, all-state in 4 events last year in D2, is coming into great late-season shape. At the Bluewater Meet of Champions (5/21), she PR in both hurdles (14.86 & 44.94) and won the long jump at 17-6.5.
Cayla Hawkins: The East Lansing frosh won the 100 (11.85) and 200 (24.23) at the CAAC Red, White & Blue meet (5/19).
College Conference Highlights
Big 10 hurdle champion Braxton Brann.
A selection of top finishes in the D1 conference meets:
MEN
Miles Brown (Novi/UM) placed 4th in the Big 10 800 in 1:47.94.
Trent McFarland (Utica/UM) placed 2nd in the Big 10 1500 in 4:01.49. That’s not a typo. It was the ultimate kickers race. His last lap took 51.15.
Brendan Herger (Northville/UM) placed 3rd in that Big 10 1500 in 4:01.84. His last lap was 51.44.
Evan Bishop (EGR/Oregon) placed 7th in the Big 10 5000 in 14:12.66 and 3rd in the 10,000 (29:50.63).
Riley Hough (Hartland/MSU) was 4th in the Big 10 10K in 29:52.02.
Braxton Brann (AA Huron/Ohio St) won the Big 10 hurdles in 13.18, assisted by a big 4.5 wind. He also ran on the winning 4×4 and anchored the 3rd-place 4×1.
Tamaal Myers II (Cass Tech/UCLA) placed 4th in the Big 10 400H in 51.35.
Quincy Isaac (Canton/UM) jumped a PR 25-10.75 to take 2nd in the Big 10. Only three Michiganders have ever jumped farther. Can any historians out there guess who? (answers below)
Dalton DeBeau (Frankenmuth/MSU) threw the disc 189-5 to place 7th in the Big 10.
Dylan Terryberry (Onsted/MSU) scored 7076 for 5th in the Big 10 decathlon.
Hunter Jones (Benzie/Wake Forest) steepled 8:50.05 for 7th in the ACC.
Benne Anderson (Ottawa Hills/Syracuse) ran 3:41.07 for 3rd in the ACC 1500.
Kellen Kimes (Hart/Liberty) threw the hammer 204-1 for 2nd in Conference USA.
Kayenn Mabin (Kalamazoo Central/EMU) hurdled 14.23 for a MAC 2nd.
Leo Ignacio (Saline/EMU) hurdled 14.24 for 3rd in the MAC.
Michael Hawkins (Cass/EMU) placed 3rd in the MAC 400H at 53.13.
DeMarrio Roetherford (Wyandotte/EMU) was 3rd in the MAC discus at 175-10.
WOMEN
Emmry Ross (Onsted/UM) ran 2:04.80 for 4th in the Big 10 800.
Hannah Pricco (Lansing Catholic/UM) ran 10:14.87 in the steeple for 4th in the Big 10.
Elle Adrian (Standish Sterling/MSU) hammered 192-4 for 8th in the Big 10.
Sophie Novak (Lake Orion/Notre Dame) ran 9:34.46 to win the ACC steeple; that’s the fastest American collegian time of the year.
Morgan Roundtree (Oak Park/Miami) ran a PR 58.32 in the heats at the ACC before finishing 7th in the final in 58.92.
Maya Rollins (Pioneer/Virginia) hurdled a PR 13.24 for 3rd in the ACC.
Kaila Jackson (Renaissance/Georgia) sprinted 22.75 (6th) and 11.20 (8th) at the SEC.
Ava Kurczewski (Walled Lake Northern/WMU) won the MAC steeple at 10:08.12.
Emily McLean (Sault/CMU) threw 49-5.5 for 2nd in the MAC.
Other Things
John Lober (left) with his brother Bob.
John Lober: One of our legendary coaches in Michigan has been honored by the Traverse City Area Public Schools board, which voted unanimously to name its track facility after Lober. He coached there for over 50 years and is still involved in the program. A fitting tribute!
Sam Allen alert: Grand Valley has posted that it is the only track program in the nation with three distinct Sam Allens competing at the D2 nationals this weekend. They include Sam Allen (800); Sam Allen Coyle (200) and Sam Allen Mitas (4×1).
Nonah Waldron: The former star hurdler for Oak Park has graduated from USC after three years and is now in the transfer portal at age 21, shopping for a school to to her grad work at. As part of the Trojans, Waldron clocked 12.98 and 58.20 for the hurdles. She was 4th in the ‘24 World U20 Championships and 3rd in the Big 10 last year.
“Jeff” — I actually took it as a great compliment to my years of railing about wind gauges that when Saline bought one of the fancy ones and the coaches told me they named it “Jeff”, in jest of course. Jeff did his job Friday, even the painful part. In the boys 100 final, state indoor 60 record holder Peyton Trammer of Belleville blasted a 10.31, a time that would have made him the No. 2 dashman ever in Michigan history, and the fastest ever during the MHSAA season. Alas, Jeff showed a wind reading of 2.1. The maximum allowable for records (and the all-time list) is, of course, 2.0. So wind-aided it is. (We realize that most HS coaches in this state would gladly call it a school record and if they voted on it at a convention, they’d probably get rid of the rule altogether. But 100 years of rules in the sport matter, and we’re fine with that 10.31 being in the wind-aided column. World-class sprinters don’t need to fudge the rules, and neither does Trammer, who will surely run faster on the right day.)
Elite Lists for the Outdoor Season: Boys - Girls (still working to catch up here)
Charitable Giving: Keep in mind that Michtrack is a federally approved 501c3 and that donations to keep our historical work going, as well as this newsletter, are tax deductible. For how to give, visit here.
Trivia Answer: Those three long jumpers who went farther than Quincy Isaac? How about Dennis Holland (Detroit Redford/WMU—26-2.5 in 1965), Okie Giwa-Agbomeirele (Midland/Shore AC—26-0.75 in 2007) and Lorenzo Wright (Detroit Miller/Wayne—25-11 in 1948).
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