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Sunday, May 20, 2012

Weekend Winners - Raising the Bar


With regional track meets all wrapped up, here's a look at some of the top performances from the weekend and how they stack up against the top athletes from around the state as the state meets are less than two weeks away.

Lakeland’s Garret Zuk put on a show on Friday at Milford that won’t be forgotten any time soon. Zuk dominated the 3200 meter run from start to finish as he crossed the finish line with a time of 9:00.9 and beat the second place runner by exactly 20 seconds. With his time in the 3200 meter run, Zuk is now the top ranked athlete in the event in the state.

Even though Auburn Hills Avondale’s Kyle Redwine was disqualified in the 200 meter dash, the senior still won the 100 meter dash with a red-hot time of 10.40 and ran legs on the first place 400 meter and 1600 meter relay teams. Redwine is the fourth ranked sprinter in the 100 and No. 1 in the state with a top time of 10.34.

Redwine isn’t the only Avondale runner that heads into the Division 2 state meet as he will be joined by Nate Chapman who clocked a 48.5 400 meter dash time which ranks him third in the state and first in Division 2. Chapman also won the 800 meter run, and joined Redwine on the 1600 meter relay team.

Birmingham Detroit Country Day looks like it is in a great spot to be in contention for a state title on the girls side, as Brittney Mann won both the shot put and the discus with ease. The Yellowjackets also have Kendall Baisden back from injury as the junior took home the regional title in the 400 dash and ran legs on the first place 400 meter and 800 meter relay teams.
Country Day also has 100 meter dash regional champion Sydney Cureton who also anchored the 400 relay team for the Yellowjackets on Friday.
Mann is the top ranked thrower in the state in both throwing events, while Baisden is already the No. 1 400 runner in the state for Division 2 and is fourth overall.

Ortonville Brandon’s Tiffani Owens matched the 11.94 time of Cureton on Friday in the 100 dash as the two sprinters are tied for the top spot in the event.
Owens also went on to win the 200 dash with a time of 25.04 which ranks her as the second best athlete and the top runner in Division 1 for the 200.

On Saturday, Farmington’s Aaron Howell put together an impressive performance of her own as Howell won the long jump with an impressive leap of 19 feet and later picked up a regional title in the 300 meter hurdles. Howell’s jump ranks her second in the state, less than two inches off of the state’s best mark this year.

West Bloomfield’s Erin Finn was her usual dominant self on Saturday at Farmington as Finn won regional titles in the 1600 meter run as well as the 3200 meter run where she beat the rest of the field by nearly a full minute. Finn’s time in the 3200 is tops in the state and fifth in the nation and fourth in the state in the 1600.

Pontiac Notre Dame Prep’s Sarah Barron won the 1600 run at Bloomfield Hills Lahser, blowing away the redt of the field in the 1600 run as well as the 800 run and was on the first place 1600 relay team. Barron is currently the No. 1 1600 and 800 runner in Division 2 (No. 2 overall).

To the surprise of nobody, Walled Lake Central’s Cullen Prena continued to shatter records as he set a Milford regional record in the discus event with a toss of 182-11 while also grabbing a win in the shot put. Prena currently ranks No. 1 in Division 1 in the state for both shot put and discus.
Staying on the topic of Walled Lake Central throwing, junior Josephine Jackson won the shot put with a toss of 35-2.5 and took second place in the discus event. Jackson is tied for sixth in the state in discus with a throw over 128 feet last week.

Walled Lake Western’s pole vaulting trio of Connor Westphal, Jacob Janke and Parin Kothari continued their remarkable seasons as they finished in first, third and fourth on Friday at Milford.
Western’s Devin Reed won the 100 meter dash and was also on the first place 800 meter relay team for the Warriors.

Lake Orion’s Alex Roberts won both hurdle events and the long jumpat the Ortonville Brandon regional while Cory Ester won the 100 meter dash and was on the 1600 relay team. Roberts ranks fifth in the 300 hurdles and the 110’s while Ester also finds himself in the top 10 for the 100 dash.

Milford’s Brandon Wallace and Brian Kettle both put together strong showing on their home track as Wallace dominated the rest of the field in the 800 while Kettle outkicked everyone to win the 1600 run. Kettle is the No. 2 ranked runner in Michigan in the 1600.
Holly’s Luke Schwerin won the 800 in the Brandon regional, crossing the finish line in under 1:55 and is in the top five in the state in the event.

Jeff Aririguzo has flown under the radar for much of the season, but once again ran away with wins in the 100 and 200 meter dashes and ran a leg on the first place 400 relay team for West Bloomfield. The senior sprinter is now in the top five in Division 1 and is ranked 10th overall in the 200.

Walled Lake Northern’s Ryan Smitt won the 400 meter dash by a full second at Milford, and also ran a leg on the first place 1600 meter relay team. Smitt now ranks eighth in the 400 run in the state for Division 1.

Novi’s Kerri McMahon ranks second overall in the state in the high jump after her jump of 5-6 at the Farmington regional on Saturday.

The Pavlika sisters, Sam and Taylor, continued their strong seasons in the throwing events as Sam took first in both the shot put and the discus while Taylor placed second in the discus and fourth in the shot put. Sam is the No. 1 thrower in Division 1 in shot put and is in the top 10 in the discus. Taylor ranks 16th overall in discus.

Oxford’s Brooke Kovacic won the 1600 run as well as the 3200 at Brandon on Friday and is in the top 10 for the 3200 and finds herself just outside the top 10 in the 1600.


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