Oak Park dominated the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 State Finals at East Kentwood on June 1 with 88 points while Pioneer ran second with 42 points. Detroit Renaissance was third (35 points), East Kentwood fourth (34) and Saginaw Heritage fifth (30).
Skyline picked up 5 points to finish 37th, Dexter scored 3.25 points to take 43rd and Huron had 3 points to land 44th.
Pioneer’s Rachel Forsyth of Ann Arbor Pioneer capped off her brilliant high school career with two wins on the day. The senior won the 1600 (4:38.28) and 3200 (10:15.57) for the Pioneers. A two-time cross country Finals champ, Forsyth was coming off a trip to the Trial of Miles meet in New York a couple of weeks before the finals. And on June 8 she took first place in the 800 meters at the MITCA Champions of Champions Track & Field Festival in Davison with a PR time of 2:03.87.
At the state finals, Forsyth beat out Selma Anderson of GR Ottawa Hills, who was second in 4:40.54 in the 1600. And in the 3200, she beat out Midland Dow’s Victoria Garces, who was runner-up in 10:21.85.
SEE WLAA REGIONAL PHOTOGALLERY – OVER 150 PHOTOS
Forsyth wasn’t the only state champion wearing purple and white. Teammate Maya Rollins ran a time of 13.86 to win the 100 hurdles in a close race to the finish line. Oak Park’s Morgan Roundtree was second in 13.89 – doesn’t get much closer than that.
Two local runners landed in the top 10 in the 200 meters. Pioneer senior Maya Rollins was fifth in 25.50 and Skyline senior Alysia Townsend ran nine in 26.05.
Huron’s Kate Huntzicker had a strong showing in the 400 meters. Only a sophomore, Huntzicker ran a PR time of 56.91 to finish in sixth place. Both earned All-State honors with their performances. Townsend was 27th in 1:02.42 for the Eagles.
Along with Forsyth’s win in the 1600, teammate Sylvia Sanok Dufallo, a senior, was 13th in 5:06.86. Huron junior Lucinda Paliani was 20th in 5:16.67.
Pioneer’s team of Kalia Lawson, Olivia Rollins, Valentina Carcassi and Rollins took 17th with a time of 49.70 in the 4×100 relay. Lawson and Rollins are both freshmen. The same group (except for Asiah Lee instead of Carcassi) took 20th in 1:45.55 in the 4×200 relay. Huron’s team of Ferguson, Huntzicker, Taylor Hayward and Aiko Motohara took 23rd 1:45.87.
In the 4×400 relay, Huron’s team of Paliani, Leena Shelgikar, Huntzicker and Hayward ran 18th in 4:07.35. Pioneer’s team of Sanok Dufallo, Lydia Bowman, Hana Boggess and Natalie Mello was 26th in 58.9.
SEE WLAA REGIONAL PHOTOGALLERY – OVER 150 PHOTOS
Pioneer ran second in the 4×800 relay as the team of Sanok Dufallo, Bowman, Mello and Forsyth finished in 9:03.18. Holland West Ottawa was first in 9:00.27.
Two other local teams had strong showings in the 4×800 relay. Skyline’s young team of freshmen Irie Scrase, Isla Tharp and Becca Van Lent along with junior Alya Balazer ran 14th in 9:38.21. Dexter’s team of Kodie Snyder, Lillian Mitchell, Kate Varitek and Annabel O’Haver took 19th place in 9:43.98. Huron’s team of Sarah Conley, Leena Shelgikar, Sonya Shelgikar and Paliani took 29th in 9:58.38.
In the shot put, Dexter senior Lily Burns took 14th with a throw of 37 feet.
Skyline senior Alysia Townsend jumped a PR 5-5 to take fourth in the high jump.
Dexter had two athletes land in the top 10 in the pole vault. Sophomore Raiden Kipfmiller was sixth (11-6) and fellow sophomore Debbie McCoy was eighth (11-0). Mello, a senior, was 16th (10-6) for Pioneer.
