Groves Beats Southfield in Thrilling 1,600-Meter Relay at Regionals

senior Dominic Morris came into this year's track and field season looking to make "one last hurrah" after never running at the high school level before, according to his coach, Othamian Peterson.

After pacing the Falcons to a victory in the 1,600-meter relay at Division 1 Regionals at West Bloomfield High School Saturday with a time of 3:27.87, just .02 seconds faster than Southfield High, Peterson said that Morris deserved a lot of credit. Morris had big shoes to fill after Justin Perry, who placed second in the 200-meter dash in regionals last year, graduated. Perry is currently running at the Indiana Institute of Technology.

"Our strategy last year was to jump out ahead early on, and we used Perry for that. This year, we thought we didn't have that kind of guy, so Morris really stepped up," Peterson said.

Blake Jackson, Phillip Johnson and Ross Williams also competed on the 1,600-meter team, which qualified for the state championship. Williams also qualified in the 110-meter hurdles, where he finished second with a time of 15:01 and in the 300-meter hurdles, where he finished second with a time of 39.85.

"(Williams) a great athlete, but as any coach will say, great athleticism doesn’t mean much without hard work and focus, and he showed it," said Peterson. "He was the last leg of the relay team, and our strategy coming into that final leg was that Ross would have the lead. He’s such a competitor, and although he’s not the fastest leg, Ross is a lot more gritty than others and he doesn’t like to lose."

The sophomore Johnson also qualified for the state championship in the 400-meter dash, where he finished fourth with a time of 50.16. The Groves girls team finished seventh with a score of 40, led by Morgan Pullins, who ran a time of 15:13 in the 100-meter hurdles to finish second.

Carey's hard work pays off for Marian girls team

According to Bloomfield Marian High School coach Ovi Olteanu, senior Dana Carey faced a tough decision two years ago. Thanks to what she chose, it paid off with a third-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles and a second-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles.

“Two years ago, she was a basketball player and she joined track for conditioning. I remember thinking she had huge potential, if she could focus on track,” said Olteanu. “I told her, do whatever you want to do, so, she joined at 100 percent and broke the school record in the 100 and 300 hurdles, by more than a second. I admire her work ethic.”

Carey qualified for the state championship in both events, while the 3,200-meter relay team placed third with a time of 9:52.30, but did not qualify. Ashley Wile finished third in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:28.47, but also did not qualify.

Howard finishes first in 1,600-meter run for Seaholm

The boys team finished eighth with a score of 34, while the girls team finished eighth with a score of 38.5. Jack Howard led the way with a time of 4:31.07 in the 1,600-meter run, good for first ahead of teammate Max Gomez, who finished at 4:35.26.

The Brother Rice High School boys team finished second with a score of 78, led by Joseph Kraus, Pat Nodland, Thomas Girardot, and Torin Wile, who ran to a first-place finish in the 3,200-meter relay with a time of 8:11.64, as well as Girardot’s performance in the 3,200-meter run, which gave him second place at 10:07.88.

Detroit Country Day sets meet records

Detroit Country Day made a strong showing at the Division 2 regional track meet at Andover High School Saturday, with both the boys and girls teams coming in first place.

The boys team bested its opponents by wide margins, finishing with 145.5 points. Second place finisher Ferndale had 117 points while third place winner, Avondale, had 102 points. Country Day runners came in first in several events, including: the shot put, high jump, long jump, discus, 110-meter hurdles and 300-meter interim hurdles.

Several meet records were also set by the boys from Country Day. Dartis Williams set records in the high jump (6-10) and long jump (22-11.25). Hassan Fadel set the record when he came in first in the 300-meter hurdles, with a time of 40.76 seconds. And finally, David Brown set two meet records as well with the shot put (50-9) and discuss (162-9.5).

The lady Yellowjackets also defeated their nearest opponent by more than 30 points, finishing with 127 points while the second plance winner, Renaissance, finished with 97 points. The third place winner, Notre Dame Prep, had 92 points.

Brittney Mann and Kendall Baisden led the Yellowjackets in besting several meet records. Mann took first in discus (149-7.5) and shot put (41-4), setting records in both. But it was Baisden who led the evening, setting records in the 100-meter dash (11.65 seconds), 400-meter dash (55.6 seconds) and 200-meter dash (24.8 seconds).

For complete results, visit mhsaa.com.