OXFORD -- If it weren’t for the time-altering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2019 would not seem that long ago. Before Friday night, that was the last time the Oak Park girls track and field team attended (and won) the Oakland County Championship meet.
The Knights’ return in 2023 was much of the same as the pre-COVID era as Oak Park cruised to an Oakland County title at Oxford High School.
Scoring 84 points, Oak Park was a fair distance away from the 66 points of runner-up Rochester. Oak Park managed the total without running senior Nonah Waldron and junior Morgan Roundtree in the 300 meter hurdles. Waldron and Roundtree have traded off the state-record times in the 300-meter hurdles this season with Waldron currently holding the state record of 41.17 while Roundtree has a time of 41.62.
Still Waldron and Roundtree led a 1-2-3 finish for Oak Park in the 100-meter hurdles as sophomore Carrie VanNoy joined in for third in 14.08 seconds while Waldron won with a time of 13.65 and Roundtree took second in 13.85.
The trio of hurdlers joined junior Kelis Hunter-Young on the winning 4x100 relay (48.05) and 4x200 relay (1:40.05) to help push the Knights to the top of the podium. VanNoy still represented Oak Park in the 300 hurdles and won with a time of 44.99.
Junior Kylee King continued her impressive season in the 800 meter run with a winning time of 2:13.85, winning by a comfortable margin. King then anchored the winning 4x400 relay team along with teammates Hunter-Young, sophomore Dayshana Kellogg and freshman Jordin Maddox-Jones to win with a time of 3:58.14.
To go along with her three relay titles, Hunter-Young ran a new personal record in the 400 meter dash to win the event in 57.08.
Rochester had a strong showing in the distance events as it went 1-2 in both the 1600 meter and 3200 meter races. Sophomore standout Lucy Cook won the 1600 with an impressive new PR of 4:53.22 before easily winning the 3200 in a new season-best time of 10:36.49. Rochester senior Chloe Nixon was runner-up in the 1600 with a 5:03.79 while Falcons senior Lauren Wroza was second in the 3200 with a time of 11:23.12.
Rochester junior Lena Cleveland won long jump by a wide margin with a new personal-best mark of 17-feet-9.5
West Bloomfield freshman Kamryn Tatum continues to flex her might in the sprints by winning the 100-meter dash. Although she won’t compete in the 100 meter at the state championships, he winning time of 11.89 is the fastest in the state so far this spring.
Walled Lake Central continued its strong season in the field events as senior Ava Wojciechowski took first in discus (131-feet-5) and senior Savannah Breitwiser took second (129-10). Breitwiser took second in shot put (39-feet-3) while Wojciechowski took third (38-1) as Royal Oak senior Elyse Finch won the event in 40-1.
In high jump, Farmington Hills Mercy junior Milena Chevallier won a tiebreaker against Walled Lake Central senior Kylei Anderson as both marked 5-feet-7.
Farmington Hills Mercy sophomore Taryn Henderson claimed the 200-meter dash title with a time of 25.27.
WALLED LAKE CENTRAL BOYS MAKE HISTORY
After claiming a region title a week prior, the Walled Lake Central boys left Oxford with its first Oakland County title thanks to an especially dominant effort in the field events. The 81 points scored was enough to knock off defending champion Rochester Adams, which finished second with 66 points.
In the discus event, Walled Lake Central qualified five athletes and its top three ended up taking the top three spots. Junior Brycen Anderson won with a new PR throw of 177-feet-9 while sophomore Garrod Alexander finished runner-up with a PR of 164-1 and junior Tyler Marrogy took third with a PR of 161-feet-2.
Alexander led Central in the shot put with a fifth-place finish with a mark of 49-feet-9.75. Marrogy scored a point in eighth with a mark of 47-1.
Berkley’s David Rolands ended up winning the shot put in thrilling fashion, recording a personal-best of 52-feet-0 on his final throw to led from fourth to first. Rolands was the 2022 county champion in the event as well.
Walled Lake Central sophomore Giovanni Charles piled on more points for his team in the field events by taking second in high jump with a PR leap of 6-feet-2. Ray Weatherington then added even more field event points for the Vikings as he cleared 14-feet-6 in the pole vault, taking the title in the process.
Rochester Adams thrilled everyone in the track events, especially in the relays. The Adams quartet of senior Kyan Wilkins, junior Drew Heppner, senior Nick Fashho and senior Damarcus Rouse set a school record in the 4x200 relay and took first in a time of 1:28.62. Wilkins, Heppner and Fashho joined senior Jacob Spinks on the winning 4x100 team and set another school record with a time of 43.03.
Adams also won the 4x800 relay as senior Cameron Reynolds, senior Noah Murray, junior Ferdinand Viereck and senior Parker Orlowsky combined to win in 7:59.99.
Rouse also placed second (22.02) in the 200 meter dash to West Bloomfield sophomore Kamren Flowers (21.85). Flowers also won the 100 meter dash in 10.88.
Adams took third (3:21.73) in an exciting 4x400 race. Rouse’s anchor leg nearly made up a massive deficit but a young Oak Park contingent was able to hang on and win in 3:20.85 to edge out Troy’s team that finished in second in 3:20.88. Oak Park’s winning team was comprised of sophomore Phillip Burney, junior Deon Cleary, freshman Quinton Blakely and freshman Rondre Austion.
Later, Orlowsky won the 1600 meter with a personal-best time of 4:14.35, edging out Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood junior standout Solomon Kwartowitz (4:16.19) in a thrilling final 100 meters.
Ortonville Brandon’s Nikolas Shilling ran a 1:53.89 to win the 800 while Troy junior Vishvaa Ravishankar cruised to a 9:23.40 to win the 3200. Walled Lake Central senior Nicholas Negru added more points for the Vikings with a runner-up finish in the 3200 with a time of 9:25.50.
Sophomore DJ White of Orchard Lake St. Mary’s won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.90 while junior Elyan Gregory of Birmingham Groves was the only athlete to dip under 40 seconds in the 300 hurdles to win in 39.70.
Ferndale University’s Xavier Davis won long jump with a leap of 21-feet-9.5.
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