MILFORD WINS BOTH LVC CHAMPIONSHIPS
WATERFORD » If it feels good to celebrate with a pair of trophies, you might as well double that.
Midway through Saturday’s Lakes Valley Conference track and field championship meet, the public address announcer had the Milford boys and girls track teams assemble at midfield of Waterford Mott’s stadium, to honor them as the league’s dual-meet champions.
By the end of the meet, both squads had put themselves in a position to add even more hardware, grabbing trophies as champions of the league meet, as well, then assembling all four at midfield for a round of snapshots.
“Some have hopes and dreams are others have ways and means,” Milford co-coach Brian Salyers said, reiterating what he’d told the Mavericks after they posed with their four trophies. “I mean, that idea that success puts you in a position to replicate that success, and that idea that we’re not hoping things happen, we’re making things happen. And so, I think we kind of embodied that a little bit today, in terms of we weren’t coming here and hoping all these things happened in order to give us a chance. We just put our nose down and just did our job. That workman-like attitude is unrelenting.”
It’s the first time since the formation of the new league that Milford’s squads have put together all four titles, though they’ve annually done well at the championship meet.
The Milford girls have won both the dual-meet and conference meet crowns in each of the four spring seasons since the conference was formed for the 201718 school year, but the boys team has had to share the spotlight in that span.
The Walled Lake Central boys won both the dual-meet title and conference meet championship last season, after splitting the two crowns with Milford in 2018 and 2019, with the Mavericks winning the final meet.
While the girls ended up winning relatively handily, the boys title came down to the wire, with the Mavericks holding off Walled Lake Central, by less than nine points, 132-123.5. Walled Lake Northern (120.5), Lakeland (103.25) and South Lyon (86) rounded out the top five.
“To be honest, we were not sure the whole meet. All we were doing was concentrating on each event and continuing to score. And then we scored in 16 of the 17 events.
And we scored multiple people in those events. So it was a complete team effort,” co-coach John “Duke” Fundukian said. “We just wanted our kids to keep performing one to get better for regional and to to just do what they’ve done all year long, which is collectively win meets for us by being a complete team. … This is special team. It really, really was. And that was the awesome ending to our conference season.
The Mavericks did win both titles with exceptional depth, as well as willingness of individual athletes to take on team-oriented roles in the meet.
“I mean, we talk about track and field as a team sport at Milford. There’s no doubt about that. And, and I understand … the perspective is different in different places, different things. But we’ve got 50-plus years to back that up, that it’s been that idea that, hey, we’re here as a team, and we’re celebrating everybody’s success. I always tell kids, when you have an elite athlete, I tell them, ‘Hey, if nobody claps for you, and you’re standing up there receiving an award or recognition, then how gratifying is it?’ But when your teammates are up there, howling …” Salyers said. “Brayden Kennedy is a very talented sophomore. Last last week, we went up to Bay City Western, he wins the hurdles by a flight, destroys the field. I turn around, I’m talking to the coach running the meet, and there’s Brayden, moving hurdles for the girls race. Like this isn’t ‘Hey, everybody look at me! I won a race!’ This is ‘Oh, they need
help doing this? Well, then that’s what I’m going to do.’ You know what I mean? So we’re, we were really proud of the way our kids and our families embrace our perspective on the sport. It goes back to we ran for Chris Ceresa and Gene Balawajder, and Glen Edwards and Ross Arnold and Ben, Ralph Scherler, and those guys and that’s what we were taught. And those are the lessons that we’re trying to instill in them for the next generation.”
Kennedy was a beast again on Saturday, as he won the 110 hurdles (15.24), set a new meet record in the 300 hurdles (39.75), and was second in the 400 (51.27) and fourth in the 200 (23.24), scoring 33 points for the Mavericks.
The Milford boys also won the 4×100 relay (44.97) with a team of Cody Miller, Billy Sternberg, Josh Parker and Brandon Gibson.
“It’s so much fun. With the team and everyone just happy, it’s amazing,” Kennedy said. “It’s so much fun. More fun than I thought it would be.”
The Milford girls used an equally deep effort, racking up 161 points, 24 more than second-place Walled Lake Central (137). Walled Lake Northern (76) and South Lyon East (69.5) rounded out the top four.
Lydia Michelin won the 300 hurdles (48.27), ran the third leg of the conference record-setting 4×200 relay (1:48.21) with Audrey Verkerke, Brooklyn Wolcott and Madelyn Feltmate, and finished fourth in the long jump (15-4.5).
Verkerke (1:00.96) and Wolcott (1:01.48) went 1-2 in the 400, and ran the first two legs of the winning 4×400 relay (4:14.13) with Zaylee Hincka and Feltmate. Verkerke was third in the 200 (27.75) and Wolcott was fifth (28.04).
Two-time state medalist Taryn Marshall won the high jump with a personal best 5-foot-7.
The scoring was relatively spread around on the boys side.
South Lyon’s Tom Donovan won the 100 dash (11.04), and ran the third leg of the Lions’ winning 4×200 relay (1:32.96), the anchor leg in the third-place 4×100 relay (45.80) and finished second (20-1) to teammate Andrew Adragna (21-1) in the long jump.
Northern’s 4×400 boys relay team of Camron Krebs, Ty Parker, Ethan Parker and Joey Iaquaniello set a new meet record (3:28.7).
Iaquaniello won the 400 (50.84), while Ty Parker was second (4:27.10) in the 1,600 and won the 800 (2:01.71).
Lakeland’s Tyler Brock won the 200 dash (22.86) and Jackson Campbell won the high jump (6-foot-3).
Lakeland’s Jack Vitick and Walled Lake Northern’s Simon Griemert shared the title in the pole vault, both going 13-0.
Walled Lake Central’s Antonio Romano won the 1,600 (4:26.96), while teammate Nicholas Negru won the 3,200 (9:41.02). Central won the 4×800 relay (8:01.95), and took both throws — Garrod Alexander won the shot put (469.5); Nathan Cody the discus (146-10).
On the girls side, Walled Lake Central pushed the Mavericks — especially early — with a boatload of points in the field events.
Central’s Joanna Ugolnik won the 100 dash (12.77), while teammate Kylei Anderson won the 100 hurdles (14.96) and was fourth in the 300 (50.19) and sixth in the long jump (15-1.75). The Vikings went 1-23-4 in the discus with Savanna Breitwiser (128-10), Ava Wojciechowski (128-8), Analise Coon (125-1) and Jordyn Harris (107-6) grabbing 29 points in the event.
Central got 24 more in the shot put, with Wojciechowski (37-9), Breitweiser (33-10) and Harris (33-5) going 1-2-3.
Walled Lake Northern’s Ella Thompson won the 200 dash (26.14).
Lakeland’s Kennedy Hudson won the long jump (16-9) and ran the third leg of the winning 4×100 relay (52.40) with Winter Runyan, Faith Randall and Megan Davenport.
Walled Lake Western’s Alicia Olteanu won the 800 (2:27.71) and was second in the 1,600 (5:14.77), and ran the anchor leg of the Warriors’ winning 4×800 relay (10:00.20) with Emma Hoffmyer, Tiera Shepard and Genevieve Kusher-Lopez.
South Lyon East’s Liliane Aittama won the 1,600 (5:13.14) and the pole vault (11-6), and was sixth in the 800 (2:32.73). Waterford Kettering’s Chloe Wall won the 3,200 (11:51.77).