The Pioneer girls’ track and field team sprinted past the 15-team field on Friday at the Division 1 Track & Field Regionals hosted by Lincoln. The Pioneers finished first with 132 points followed by Saline (96) and Huron (89). Belleville was fourth with 85 points, Woodhaven was fifth with 71.5 points and Skyline finished sixth with 57 points.
There were many impressive individual highlights on both the track and in the field events for local athletes. Pioneer senior Rachel Forsyth took first place in three individual events, Pioneer senior Maya Rollins won two events and Huron junior Aliyah Ferguson had a first place, second place and third place finish in her three events. Pioneer senior Natalie Mello was second in the pole vault and ran on a winning relay team and a third-place relay team. Pioneer won two of the four relays.
Starting out on the track, Ferguson took third in the 100 meters in 13.03 followed by Pioneer freshman Kalia Lawson (13.05). Rollins won the 200 meters in 25.18 for Pioneer with Skyline’s Alysia Townsend in second in 25.46. Huron sophomore Kate Huntzicker was fifth in 26.35.
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Huntzicker won the 400 meters for the River Rats with a time of 57.88 followed by Townsend in second in 59.20. Skyline freshman Isla Tharp was fifth (1:02.10) and Huron’s Laila McRae was sixth (1:03.26).
Forsyth began her strong run on the day with a first-place time of 2:11.26 in the 800 meters. Teammate Syliva Sanok Dufallo was fourth in 2:18.46.
Forsyth ran 4:54.92 to win the 1600 meters. Both Sanok Duffalo (second, 5:04.50) and Huron junior Lucinda Paliani (third, 5:07.75) qualified for the state finals.
Forsyth, who is headed to Michigan State next year, easily won the 3200 meters in 10:35.05. Saline’s Laney Alig was second in 11:09.87. Pioneer senior Katie Hume was fourth in 11:47.98.
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Rollins, the talented senior, won the 100 hurdles for Pioneer in 14.25. Ferguson was third for Huron with a state finals qualifying time of 15.11. Ferguson was second in the 300 hurdles with a finals qualifying time of 46.57. Pioneer’s Asiah Lee was fourth (48.51), Skyline’s Teagan McCallion was fifth (48.72), Huron’s Taylor Hayward was sixth (49.55) and Skyline’s Tynne Hannahs was seventh (49.60).
Pioneer was second in the 4×100 relay as the team of Lawson, Olivia Rollins, Valentina Carcassi and Rollins went 50.56.
Pioneer’s team of Lawson, Olivia Rollins, Lee and Maya Rollins won the 4×200 relay in 1:43.13. Huron’s team of Ferguson, Huntziker, Hayward and McRae was fourth with a finals qualifying time of 1:45.16.
Huron’s team of Paliani, Leena Shelgikar, Huntzicker and Taylor Howard was second in 4:03.07 in the 4×400 relay. Pioneer’s team of Sanok Dufallo, Lydia Bowman, Hana Boggess and Mello was third with a state cut time of 4:07.19.
In the 4×800 relay, Pioneer’s team of Sanok Dufallo, Bowman, Mello and Forsyth won easily in 9:09.35. Huron finished with a state-cut time of 9:36.51 as the team of Sarah Conley, Leena Shelgikar, Sonya Shelgikar and Paliani took third. Another highlight of the day came in this relay when the very young Skyline team of freshman Irie Scrase, junior Ayla Balazer, freshman Isla Tharp and freshman Becca Van Lent finished fourth with a state-cut time of 9:42.57.
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Pioneer senior Yeina Han was third in the shot put (35-10.25) and eighth in the discus (101-4).
In the high jump, Skyline’s Townsend took first at 5-4. Both Huron’s Alena Adams and Kennedy Hutchings went 5-0 to tie for third.
Two local athletes finished at the top of the pole vault. Skyline senior Bryn Christensen was first at 10-6 (a PR) while Pioneer’s Mello was second, also at 10-6.
In the long jump, Huron’s Maya Lobert, a sophomore, was third in 15-2.5 and teammate Aiko Motohara was fifth (14-10.5).
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