The 15th annual Golden Triangle Meet of Champions at Saline High School got off to a rough start Friday afternoon. Four hours after a half-hour lightning delay, it looked as though the meet would wrap up nicely and the athletes and spectators would stay dry.

Neither ended up being the case.

With just 14 event finals in the books (seven boys, seven girls) the lightning returned with a vengeance and brought a torrential downpour and tornado watch with it.

After sitting through another two and a half hours of delay, the meet was finally canceled.

"Yeah its frustrating, but what are you gonna do?" said Saline coach Mike Smith. "You can kick and scream all you want, I did that in my earlier years until I realized I was the only one looking stupid."

Before weather intervened, it was shaping up to be a big day for Washtenaw County teams at the 15-team invitational. Seven of the first place finishes (four girls, three boys) were local athletes.

More coverage at MLive.com: Boys Results | Girls Results

Huron's LaMicah Hughbanks narrowly edged out Saline's Alina Luurtsema in an exciting 100-meter dash. Hughbanks finished in 12.50 seconds, just two-tenths of a second faster than Luurtsema.

Hughbanks was looking forward to a big day, having qualified for the final in the 200-meter run, and the 400 and 1,600 relays.

"It's like every time before a track meet starts, it's bad weather," said a somewhat dejected Hughbanks. "I'm getting used to it I guess."

It was even more disappointed were the female distance runners, who were teased by taking their starting positions for the 1,600 run just before the final delay.

"We're all coping with the weather," said Saline senior and recent University of Miami (Ohio) commit Kate Carter. "It's spring, so we're just trying to deal with it."

The boys got in the 1,600, which was to Chelsea's August Pappas' liking. Pappas let a group of five Saline runners take the lead, and the wind, for the first half of the race before making his move after the second lap and holding on to win.

"For today, it was perfect to have five guys in front taking the wind like that," Pappas said. "It really put me in an advantage because I wasn't using energy like they were using for the first two laps."

Ypsilanti's Austin Sanders employed a similar strategy to help win - along with teammates Terrance Moore, Andrew Hunt and Dorian Witherspoon - the 800 relay.

"As long as you don't waste too much of it in those first heats, it's alright," Sanders said after finishing nearly two full seconds ahead of the competition in the final heat. "(We) held back a little bit early on to keep it for the final."

Nicole Ferguson won the pole vault for Dexter, clearing 11-feet, while her teammate, Nyki Caldwell, won the high jump (5-8). The Saline's girls won the 3,200 relay in a time of 9:32.60.

Ypsilanti's Kevin Atkins was first in the long jump with a distance of 21-feet, 5.75 inches and Phoenix coach Torin Moore unofficially doled out the most popular advice to his athletes during the delay.

"Hey, we're just out here having fun," Moore said. "I told them to hang tight, chill, grab some food. Guys go talk to a girl. Girls go talk to a guy. Can't get stressed over it."

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by e-mail at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2565. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.