Eight PCEP athletes qualify for the
Division 1 girls track & field meet

BY ED WRIGHT
May 22, 2010, 9:35 p.m.

  Friday's weather-delayed Division 1 Regional girls track & field meet at the PCEP varsity stadium was marked by both ecstasy and agony for local athletes.

  Eight athletes were ecstatic about the state-qualifying performances that earned them a ticket  to the Division 1 state meet June 5 at Rockford High School.

  The biggest dose of heart-breaking agony was experienced by the members of the Salem 3,200-meter relay team, which qualified for the state meet by finishing second in its race  before getting disqualified  because one of the runners stepped on a lane-dividing line on three consecutive strides.

  Salem head coach Dale Maskill appealed the ruling, but to no avail.

  "We've been working toward this day since the first day of practice," said Maskill. "The girls ran extremely well and they met their goals. It's too bad it had to be taken away from them. We understand the rule and we have to live it; it doesn't make it any easier though."

  Livonia Churchill won the Regional title with 131 points, 46 more than runner-up Livonia Franklin. Plymouth placed third with 61 points, Canton was eighth (38 points), one spot ahead of Salem (34).

  Five Wildcats advanced to the state meet. Freshman Madi Lewis won the 200-meter dash in 26.1 seconds and placed second in the 100-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 15.7 seconds; sophomore pole vaulter Reagan Engstrom won her event when she cleared 9-8; Becka Knox took second in the long jump with a leap of 15-10; and the Wildcats' 1,600-meter relay team of Lewis, Knox, Rachael Hille and Carissa Buttermore took first place with a time of 4:05.5.

  "They were the No. 4 seed going into the race, but we knew that we had a chance," said Plymouth coach Ricky Styes, referring to the state-qualifying relay team. "The rain delay was huge for us because it gave Madi and Becka another day to rest.

  "The girls wanted to qualify badly. I told them that they had to do something special tomake it and that's exactly what they did. They broke our school record by 10 seconds."

  The Wildcats are sending their highest number of athletes to the state meet in the history of the school.

  Two Canton athletes -- juniors Lisa Lipa and Bianca Kubicki -- earned state-meet berths. Lisa qualified by placing second in the high jump when she cleared 5-2, while Kubicki placed fourth in the 3,200-meter run in 11:31.1.

  Canton 400-meter dash runner Beth Swanberg missed qualifying by just two-hundredths of a second.

  Salem will be represented in Rockford by Megan Paruta, who placed second in the pole vault with an effort of 9-4.

Two Wildcats exchange the baton during the 800-meter relay Friday afternoon (Ed Wright photo)

REGION 5-1 GIRLS TRACK & FIELD RESULTS
May 21-22, 2010, at PCEP Varsity Stadium

FINAL STANDINGS: 1. Livonia Churchill, 131; 2. Livonia Franklin, 85; 3. Redford Thurston, 79; 4. Plymouth, 61; 5. Livonia Stevenson, 50; 6. Westland John Glenn, 48; 7. Dearborn, 43; 8. Canton, 38; 9. Salem, 34; 10. Detroit Cody, 31; 11. Inkster, 18; 12. Wayne Memorial, 15; 13. Garden City, 14; 14. Redford Union, 5; 15. Dearborn Fordson, 3; 16. Dearborn Heights Crestwood, 1; 17. Detroit Western International, 0.

DISCUS: 1. Savannah Haig (LF), 105-1; 2. Cally Perkins (GC), 99-0; 3. Chelsea Carradine (RT), 94-7; 4. Kayla Branton (LS), 93-1; 5. Emily Norcia (LC), 92-9; 6. Taylor Byron (LC), 92-8; 7. Rebekah Hendrian (S), 89-11; 8. Delia Bercea (D), 88-2.

HIGH JUMP: 1. Sinclair McDonnell (LC), 5-2; 2. Lindsay Lipa (C), 5-2; 3. Ashly Cochran (LC), 5-0; 4. Elizabeth Hollaway (LF), 4-9; 5. Bridget Koessler (LS), 4-9.

LONG JUMP: 1. Aubrie Scott (WJG), 17-0.5; 2. Becka Knox (P), 15-10; 3. Leah Heinzelman (LC), 15-10; 4. Michelle Lu (C), 15-7; 5. Domonique Smith (RT), 15-6.5; 6. Kayla Jones (WJG), 15-5.25; 7. Marci Kovsky (LS), 15-5; 8. Sara Behrendt (D), 15-1.

SHOT PUT: 1. Chelsea Carradine (RT), 38-4.5; 2. Taylor Byron (LC), 37-2; 3. Mahogany Miller (LC), 33-9; 4. Jasmine Wilson (DC), 32-2; 5. Savannah Haig (LF), 31-6.5; 6. Delia Bercea (D), 31-4.5; 7. Andrea Gordon-McClain (WJG), 30-10; 8. Chanelle Wright (WJG), 30-8.

POLE VAULT: 1. Reagan Engstrom (P), 9-8; 2. Megan Paruta (S), 9-4; 3. Meghan Lark (LF), 9-0; 4. Emily Wolf (LS), 8-8; 5. (tie) Jane McCurry (P), Lindsey Kreutzman (LC), Kara Bongiovanni (C), 8-2; 8. Nancy Krutty (S), 8-2.

3,200-METER RELAY: 1. Churchill (Tiffany Raisanen, Kerigan Riley, Bethany Pilat, Sara Kroll), 9:40.2; 2. Dearborn, 9:56.5; 3. Franklin, 10:12.7; 4. Stevenson, 10:20.5; 5. Plymouth, 10:29.5; 6. Canton, 10:48.3; 7. Redford Union, 11:10.7; 8. Garden City, 11:34.3.

100 HURDLES: 1. Senneca Scott (LF), 15.7; 2. Madi Lewis (P), 15.7; 3. Altemecia Martin (RT), 16.1; 4. Jennifer Mueller (LF), 16.7; 5. La Shawnda Sharp (DC), 17.8; 6. Sophia Sareini (DF), 18.0; 7. Vnicia Smith (I), 18; 8. Lindsey Piestrak (DHC), 19.5.

100 DASH: 1. Brianna Nixon (RT), 12.6; 2. Essence Bulger (DC), 12.8; 3. Aubrie Scott (WJG), 12.9; 4. Tina Davis (I), 12.9; 5. Rochelle Woods (WM), 13.1; 6. Domonique Smith (RT), 13.2; 7. Lindsay Lipa (C), 13.2; 8. Kyli Ray (S), 13.3.

800 RELAY: 1. Redford Thurston (Sonya Burks, Brianna Nixon, Ariele Paris, Domonique Smith), 1:45.6; 2. John Glenn, 1:47.5; 3. Cody, 1:47.8; 4. Stevenson, 1:48.8; 5. Churchill, 1:49.1; 6. Wayne, 1:49.8; 7. Franklin, 1:52.6; 8. Salem, 1:53.4.

1,600 RUN: 1. Sara Kroll (LC), 4:55.5; 2. Megan McPherson (LF), 5:07.4; 3. Kerigan Riley (LC), 5:20.2; 4. Bethany Pilat (LC), 5:29.0; 5. Nancy Baydoun (D), 5:44.3; 6. Leslie Gomez (LF), 5:48.4; 7. Nicole Traitses (P), 5:48.5; 8. Kaylee Dolinski (LS), 5:50.0.

400 RELAY: 1. Thurston (Sonya Burks, Brianna Nixon, Altemecia Martin, Domonique Smith), 49.2; 2. Cody, 51.2; 3. Wayne, 51.3; 4. Canton, 52.2; 5. John Glenn, 52.2; 6. Redford Union, 52.3; 7. Franklin, 53.0; 8. Churchill, 53.1.

400 DASH: 1. Megan Kelly (LC), 1:01.3; 2. Stephony Brown (JG), 1:01.4; 3. Beth Swanberg (C), 1:01.6; 4. Tina Davis (I), 1:01.9; 5. Deja Wright (S), 1:02.3; 6. Adrianna Beltran (S), 1:03.3; 7. Krystal Whitlow (GC), 1:03.5; 8. Becka Knox (P), 1:04.1.

300 HURDLES: 1. Bekcy Adamcheck (LS), 46.1; 2. Altemecia Martin (RT), 49.4; 3. Senneca Scott (LF), 50.6; 4. Jessica Balaka (D), 52.0; 5. Marci Kovsky (LS), 52.1; 6. Bobbi Beveridge (GC), 52.1; 7. Molly Jarvis (LC), 52.1; 8. Megan Paruta (S), 53.8.

800 RUN: 1. Sara Kroll (LC), 2:13.6; 2. Sara Stassen (D), 2:21.2; 3. Anna Stassen (D), 2:25.0; 4. Tiffany Raisanen (LC), 2:25.4; 5. Rachael Hille (P), 2:27.4; 6. Karlie Gallagher (LS), 2:28.5; 7. Jordyn Moore (S), 2:30.4; 8. Alex Hamlett (WJG), 2:34.8.

200 DASH: 1. Madi Lewis (P), 26.1; 2. Brianna Nixon (RT), 26.6; 3. Tina Davis (I), 27.3; 4. Khyli Ray (S), 27.7; 5. Sonya Burks (RT), 27.8; 6. Kathryn Chinavare (LF), 27.8; 7. Rochelle Woods (WM), 27.9.

3,200 RUN: 1. Megan McPherson (LF), 11:11.7; 2. Kerigan Riley (LC), 11:22.7; 3. Bethany Pilat (LC), 11:27.4; 4. Bianca Kubicki (C), 11:31.1; 5. Victoria Tripp (S), 12:19.0; 6. Nancy Baydoun (D), 12:21.9; 7. Leslie Gomez (LF), 12:25.0; 8. Paula Green (P), 12:35.1.

1,600 RELAY: 1. Plymouth (Madi Lewis, Becka Knox, Carissa Buttermore, Rachael Hille), 4:05.7; 2. Churchill, 4:06.2; 3. Stevenson, 4:06.4; 4. John Glenn, 4:10.9; 5. Dearborn, 4:11.3; 6. Franklin, 4:18.8; 7. Salem, 4;20.4; 8. Canton, 4:21.2.