National Scholastic Athletics Foundation

MHSAA Michigan Div.-I State Championships at Rockford HS, May 31

Thanks to Jeff Hollobaugh's yearly and all-time Michigan lists to give context of great performances!

Top-10 national class performances and state records

• US#3 7:40.54 boys’ 4x800m relay by the Saline team of Ryan Wilkie, Ryan Gauche, John Davis and Logan Wetzel – an all-class state meet record and #4 in overall state history, just ahead of the 2004 Saline squad.  Wetzel smoked a 1:50.5 anchor as Saline defended its title and pulled away from Okemos at 7:45.16 (#9 all-time MI), Traverse City Central at 7:49.15 and Saginaw Heritage at 7:49.65 – tying the all-time state best of four sub-7:50 teams in one race.
• US#5 1:50.24 boys’ 800m run for Donovan Brazier (Kenowa Hills junior), an all-class state meet record and #6 in Michigan history (#2 non-senior).  It was a 2-second PR for Brazier, who improved from 2nd last year and beat Brennan Munley (Waterford Mott senior) at 1:51.79.  A super deep race saw eight run sub-1:54, with Brian Kettle (Highland Milford senior) taking 3rd at 1:52.39.
• US#6 53.50 girls’ 400m dash by Anna Jefferson (Oak Park sophomore), an all-class state meet record and making her #3 in overall state history.  She won by more than two seconds in defending her 2013 crown, with Nicole VacaGuzman (Grandville junior) 2nd with 55.60.  Jefferson also ran on both of Oak Park’s winning 4x100 and 4x200 relays and was 2nd in the 200 with a 24.03.
• US#6 8:59.08 girls’ 4x800m relay for Birmingham Seaholm, becoming the 3rd school in state history to break 9:00 after Grosse Pointe South (2012) and Rockford (2001, 2002).  And Seaholm needed just about all of it, including a 2:08 anchor by eventual 3,200 champ Audrey Belf to pull away from Northville at US#7 9:01.99 (#4 school state history) – whose own quartet included eventual 1,600 champ Rachel Coleman.  Saline completed a top three of unprecedented depth with a 9:04.26 – nipping their own school mark from 2004 by less than a second as the #5 school in state history.
• US#8 2:07.63 girls’ 800m run for Ersula Farrow (Grosse Pointe South junior), a state leader and winning by more than three seconds after taking 2nd in 2013 and 4th in 2012.  Only Farrow’s former teammate, 4-time champ Hannah Meier (2010-13), has ever run faster in state meet competition.  A World Youth finalist last year, Farrow already stood #4 in state history overall with her 2:06.75 PR and had been on four state championship relay teams her first two years.  Kennedy Beazley (Saline senior) was a solitary 2nd in 2:10.96.
• US#10 1:38.15 4x200m relay, 47.35 4x100m and 3:49.88 4x400m girls’ relay triple by Oak Park.  Only the 4x100 was reasonably close, as the team of Kailsi Latta-Thompson, 400 champ Anna Jefferson, Johnyce Powell and Tamea McKelvy prevailed over East Kentwood at 47.79 and Ann Arbor Pioneer at 47.96.  In the 4x2, the team of Carlita Taylor, Brianna Holloway, McKelvy and Jefferson won by more than two seconds over Ann Arbor Pioneer at 1:40.41.  Both squads ran the #2 times in state history (trailing only Detroit Mumford’s title crews of 2005) and the 4x2 is the fastest in the nation this year outside the Sun Belt.  In the 4x4, the quartet of Holloway, Powell, Drew Coleman and Jayla Fleming was off their seasonal best of 3:46.63 (also MI #2 all-time and #2 non-Sun Belt), but still prevailed by 4-plus seconds over Northville’s 3:54.49.

More great doubles and triples

• 11.88(+0.5w) 100m dash, 23.98(+0.5w) 200m and 18-7.25(+0.7w) long jump girls’ triple by Sekayi Bracey (East Kentwood soph), duplicating 100/200 double from last year and adding the LJ.  Both dashes were state leaders for Bracey, with the 200 matching her #5-in-state-history PR from 2013 and the 100 coming close.  She also leads the 2014 LJ list with previous 19-1 and 19-6.5w marks.  Bracey’s toughest test was the 200, where she used a state soph-class record to beat Anna Jefferson (Oak Park soph), a close 2nd at 24.03.  In the 100, she was well ahead of Jasmine Brathwaite (Grosse Pointe South senior) at 12.18, while in the long jump she had three inches on Endia Francois (Ypsilanti senior) at 18-4.25(+1.2w).
• 4:10.82 1600m run, 9:07.11 3200m distance double by Grant Fisher (Grand Blanc junior).  Fisher, the New Balance Nationals Indoor mile champ indoors, with his state-leading 1,600 moved up one spot from last year, when he was beaten by three-thousandths of a second.  He defended his 3,200 title in a time only he has beaten this year, negative splitting about 4:40-4:27.  In that 3,200, Ben Hill (Royal Oak junior) at 9:09.34 repeated his runner-up finish of last year as the two were more than 10 seconds clear of the field.  In the 1,600, Fisher closed in 62-58 after the field went out at a modest pace.  Five broke 4:14, with Anthony Berry (Traverse City Central soph) 2nd at 4:12.64 – second fastest by a soph in state history.
• 48.17 400m dash, 21.36(-0.2w) 200m boys’ sprint double by Maurice Allen (Oak Park senior), both state leaders.  Allen prevailed over Antonio Clarke (East Lansing senior) at 48.67 in the former, then defeated Jordan Love (Novi senior) at 21.68 in the latter.  The 21.36 moved Allen into a tie for #7 in overall state history and improved his 2013 placing by two spots.  He also ran on Oak Park’s relays, including the runner-up 4x200.
• 60-4.5 shot put, 176-5 discus boys’ throws double by Kevin Weiler (Swartz Creek senior).  Weiler’s shot won by more than four feet and was a state leader, topping his previous PR, 59-3.75 from 2013.  He was also 3rd at 2013 state (59-1), but had hit just 57-5 this year before Saturday.  Weiler won the discus by more than 14 feet with another PR, moving up from 6th in 2013.

More MI all-time list making champs

• 41.47 boys’ 4x100m relay by Oak Park (team unlisted), just .01 off East Kentwood’s all-class state meet record and becoming the #2 team in overall state history.  Grand Ledge was 2nd in a blazing 41.64, #3 all-time MI, and East Kentwood – whose 2010 squad had six of the previous nine sub-42 performances in state history – was 3rd at 41.97.  Never had more than one Michigan team broken 42 in a single season, let alone a single race.
• 12-7 girls’ pole vault by Mackenzie Shell (Port Huron Northern junior), who had 11 days earlier hit the highest vault in state history at 13-2.  After her winning clearance Saturday, Shell tried and missed an all-class state meet mark of 13-1 – leaving Sarah Birkmeier (Rockford, 2010) with the meet mark of 13-0 after she lost her overall mark of 13-1.  Two others cleared 12-0, with Madison Pierce (Ortonville junior) and Landon Kemp (Greenville frosh) taking 2nd and 3rd.  Kemp is the first freshman in state history over that barrier.
• US#13 4:45.76 girls’ 1600m run by Rachel Coleman (Northville senior), a state leader and #6 in overall state history.  Coleman improved from 8th in 2013 and only sub-4:40 performers Hannah Meier and Laura Matson have ever won MI state meets with faster times.  She also ran a fast anchor on Northville’s runner-up 4x800 and was 2nd in the 3,200 at 10:24.58.  In 2nd and 3rd were Jordann McDermitt (Davison senior) at 4:48.43 and Rachel Barrett (Highland Milford senior) at 4:49.38, making it the 3rd time in four years that three girls have broken 4:50 in the D1 race.  Nine ran 4:55 or faster.
• 13.80(+0.0w) girls’ 100m hurdles for Allyson Goff (Walled Lake Northern senior), good for #6 in overall state history and bettered by only two other runners ever in MI state meet competition.  She rebounded from a disappointing 8th last year.  McKenna Mattson (Jenison senior) at 14.12 and Maya Roberts (Farmington Hills Harrison junior) at 14.26 were 2nd and 3rd.
• 10:17.08 girls’ 3,200m run by Audrey Belf (Birmingham Seaholm senior), just short of her 10:16.06 national top-15 PR (#3 overall state history) and giving her four performances at 10:20 or better this spring.  Belf also anchored her team’s winning 4x800 with a 2:08 leg.  Four in the 32 ran 10:30 or faster (two was the previous best at a state meet), with 1,600 champ Rachel Coleman (Northville senior) at 10:24.58, 1,600 runner-up Jordann McDermitt (Davison senior) at 10:28.58 and Lauren Brasure (Rockford senior) at 10:30.66 following. 
• 16-2 boys’ pole vault for Noah Gary (Dexter senior), a D1 state meet record.  Having won by 17 inches, Gary – who came in with a state-leading 16-4.75 – then unsuccessfully went for an all-class state meet record 16-7 (which would have tied him for MI #2 all-time overall).  He moved up from 4th last year.
• US#11 13.95(+0.2w) boys’ 110m hurdles by Antoine Lloyd (East Kentwood senior), a state leader and improving to #10 in overall state history.  He was followed by Ross Williams (Birmingham Groves senior) at 14.21 and his Kentwood teammate senior Devin McKinney – also 3rd last year – at 14.27.  Lloyd was also a close 2nd in the 300H at 38.14, 6th in the HJ and ran on the 4th-place 4x400.
• 43.09 girls’ 300 hurdles by Ashlynn Schiro (Okemos senior), a state leader and #9 overall in state history.  In rising from 2nd last year, she won a close battle with Brianna Holloway (Oak Park soph) at 43.16 and defending champ Breanna Luba (Southgate senior) at 43.37.  Schiro was also 5th in the 100H.
• 3:16.56 boys’ 4x400 relay for East Lansing team of Lawrence Davis, Jared Howenstein, Marq Adams and Antonio Clarke.  While they were just outside the all-time state top 10, EL became the fastest team ever outside of Detroit and Flint, and one of only two to break 3:17 in the last 11 years.  Four teams went under 3:20, with Warren DeLaSalle taking 2nd with 3:18.09.
• 5-9.25 girls’ high jump by Jailah Mason (Sterling Heights Stevenson senior), setting a D1 meet record and winning by more than four inches.  She tried and missed 5-11.5, which would have set an all-class state meet record and beaten her 5-11.25 PR (=MI #2 all-time) from the Macomb County meet. 
• 6-10 boys’ high jump by Brandon Piwinski (Warren DeLaSalle junior), who then missed a D1 meet record 7-0.  Piwinski, who had a state-leading 7-0.25 (#4 overall state history) coming in, is the son of Paul Piwinski – a former state champ and two-time All-American at Michigan State.  Cody Semple (White Lake Lakeland senior) was 2nd at 6-9, while 7-footer and defending champ Robert Atwater (Lincoln Park senior) could only manage 6-3.

The best of the rest

• 1:27.09 boys’ 4x200 relay by East Kentwood team of Ashley Bailey, Kevin Smith, Devin McKinney and Michael Catching – defending their 2013 title and winning for the 5th time in six years.  They outran runner-up Oak Park at 1:27.39 in the final stretch as the two squads were more than a second ahead of anyone else.
• 10.81(+1.6w) boys’ 100m dash by Eli Minor (Oak Park senior) to lead prelims, with a winning 10.88(-1.1w) in the final.  Minor also anchored Oak Park’s winning 4x1 and ran on their 2nd-place 4x2.  Brandon Mitchell (Detroit Southeastern junior) was 2nd in the final at 10.95 after a 10.88(+1.6w) prelim.
• 22-11(+0.6w) boys’ long jump for Austin Edwards (Grand Ledge soph) – the state leader coming in at 23-2.  Edwards moved up from 3rd last year and, with Andre Welch (East Kentwood frosh) taking 2nd at 22-7(+0.0w), led an unprecedented 1-2 finish for underclassmen.  Nicholas Herbert (Portage Northern junior) at 22-6(+1.4w) and Robert Atwater (Lincoln Park senior) at 22-5.5(+0.6w) made it a very close 2-3-4 finish.
• 38.07 boys’ 300m hurdles by Mike Carey (Birmingham Brother Rice senior), a state leader and a narrow victory over 110H champ Antoine Lloyd (East Kentwood senior) at 38.14.  Defending champ Ross Williams (Birmingham Groves senior), #2 in the state coming in, suffered a fall and finished 8th in the fast section.  Carey was also 5th in the 110H.
• 140-5 girls’ discus throw by Jaevyn Wortham (L’Anse Creuse senior), winning her 3rd straight crown, even if she was a little short of her seasonal (141-4) and career (144-5) best marks.  She won by more than three feet over shot put runner-up Maegan McCarthy (Rockford junior) at 137-0.
• 42-6.25 girls’ shot put by Charde Madoula-Bey (Ann Arbor Skyline soph), winning by more than a foot over discus runner-up Maegan McCarthy (Rockford junior) at 41-1.75.