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Posted on Fri, May 17, 2013 : 10:28 p.m.

Saline takes boys and girls track regional titles, Pioneer finishes runner-up

By Kyle Austin

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That Tre Brown was yelling in frustration after a being edged out at the finish line of Friday's Division 1 track and field regional is a testament to just how far he’s come.

The Pioneer senior was running neck-and-neck with Lincoln’s Robie Webster in the 110-meter hurdles final when his knee clipped the ninth hurdle. That threw his timing off, and caused him to crash into the final hurdle and settle for a close second at followed by a loud yell.

“It was just so frustrating because the whole race I was just like ‘I got him, I got him, I got him’, and then he got me right at the finish line,” Brown said. “It was a yell like ‘What did I just do to myself?”

But a half hour later, Brown was happy once again. He took the 300-meter hurdles by more than seven tenths of a second. And that runner-up 100 hurdles finish was still good enough to qualify for the state meet.

Before this year, Brown had only qualified for the regional meet once before, and hadn’t finished higher than fifth. If it wasn't for that ninth hurdle, he would have been the only male athlete Friday at Saline to take two individual regional titles.

It's been a season Brown can’t quite explain it. He’s shaved a half second from the 110 hurdles and three seconds from his 300 hurdles.

“I have no idea,” Brown said of his time dropping. “Honestly it’s been like that for all of my races this year.”

Brown’s was one of many standout performances Friday afternoon. Saline took both the boys and girls team titles --The girls scored 190 points while the boys scored 122. Pioneer finished runner-up on both the boys and the girls sides.

The state qualifiers now advance to the Division 1 state meet June 1 at East Kentwood High School.

For the Saline girls, Randi Bennett won both throwing events and Quenee Dale won the 100-meter hurdles and was runner-up in the 100 dash.

And the Hornets won the three longest races of the day with three different runners. Elianna Schwayder won the 1,600, narrowly beating out Huron’s Kennedy Beazley, who stumbled in the last 10 meters.

Hornets freshmen won the other two, with Hannah Cummings taking the 800 and Gillian Walter taking the 3,200.

“They were great in middle school and we knew what we were getting, some really top-quality people coming,” Saline distance coach Mike Smith said of his freshmen.

The Saline boys managed to take the team title without a 3,200-meter relay event win. The rest of its points came through a multitude of finishers in the 2-8 spots, including John Smutny, second in the shot put and third in the discus, and Andrew Kitto, the 800 runner-up

Pioneer, meanwhile, won a pair of individual regional titles: they finished first and second in the 1,600, with Costa Willets taking a regional title, along with Brown’s hurdles title.

“We did fantastic, it was the best overall team performance we’ve had all year, the guys really responded well to the pressure of being at the regional,” Pioneer coach Don Sleeman said.

The best individual performance of the day went to Ypsilanti’s Endia Francois, who won three regional titles: the 200, 400 and the high jump.

Other area standout performances included Ypsilanti's Malik Peacock, who won the 100-meter dash and was runner-up in the 200.

One of the largest margins of victory of the way was by Lincoln’s Tyree Waller, who won the long jump by nearly a foot. That jump that was still 10 inches shorter than his best of the year.

At last year’s state meet, Waller jumped a 23-4, but was beat on the last jump of the day when Saline’s Steven Bastien jumped two inches longer.

This year, he’s not leaving anything to chance.

“I’m hoping to jump in the 24 range at states,” Waller said.

Dexter’s Noah Gary also took the pole vault with a big win, clearing 15-7, nearly two feet more than any other competitor.

Kyle Austin covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kyleaustin@annarbor.com or 734-623-2535. Follow him on Twitter @KAustin_AA.

Comments

Kyle Austin

Sat, May 18, 2013 : 10:49 a.m.

Yes, I attended the meet and I'm sorry to hear a few of you were disappointed with the coverage. Track always poses challenges because it includes hundreds of local athletes and a slew of noteworthy performances. I try to highlight what I can, keeping in mind what I've highlighted previously in coverage this season and the fact that I'll be writing about many of the same athletes again two weeks from now at the state meet.

Kyle Austin

Sat, May 18, 2013 : 10:45 a.m.

Full results are here for boys: http://www.salinesports.org/track/regionals/downloads/13boysresults.txt And here for girls: http://www.salinesports.org/track/regionals/downloads/13girlsresults.txt

Kyle Austin

Sat, May 18, 2013 : 10:46 a.m.

Those URls got cut off, but they both finish with results.txt

Jeff Punch

Sat, May 18, 2013 : 10:25 a.m.

I'm not one to put down coverage I'm reading for free (although I do subscribe to the print version, it doesn't cost anything on line). But I do miss the days of seeing a tabulation of all the results and the times and distances. Track is all about times and distances and not having that information feels like the People magazine version. Seeing all the results also allows the athletes that didn't win (and their families) some pride. The pictures are nice though.

Claude Kershner

Sat, May 18, 2013 : 5:57 a.m.

Did AnnArbor.com go to the meet in person? The coverage was disappointing, incomplete and poorly researched.

Y-TownMom

Sat, May 18, 2013 : 5:27 a.m.

Not one picture of an Ypsilanti High School runner? Francois had the best individual performance with three regional titles, but there isn't one picture?

Kyle Austin

Sat, May 18, 2013 : 10:44 a.m.

You're right, Y-TownMom, there should be more Ypsilanti in our photos. But we were able to get multiple Ypsi athletes, including Endia, at the Golden Triangle earlier this season: http://www.annarbor.com/sports/high-school/golden-triangle-meet-attracts-top-michigan-track-talent-to-saline/

Claude Kershner

Sat, May 18, 2013 : 3:35 a.m.

Anything about Skyline finishing 3rd behind Saline and Pioneer? Surely afew people on Skyline had a good day?

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