Holly girls edge Brandon to take Flint Metro League title, Linden tops boys

Holly's Tatum Harmon handing t...

FENTON, Michigan - On a beautiful late Spring evening, the Holly Bronchos’ girls’ track team exacted some minor revenge by edging the Brandon Blackhawks in Fenton, Wednesday night by a slim margin 182.33 to 174.33. Keyed by a late effort in the 3200 meter run, the Bronchos were able to pull ahead and hold on in this second to last event of the evening. The Blackhawks finished the regular season at 8-0, with Holly’s only loss coming to Brandon while ending at 7-1.

On the boys’ side, the Linden Eagles used the dominance of sophomore star Ted Parcher to take the league title, holding off both Swartz Creek and Flint Kearsley for the win. The Eagles finished at 132 points. Creek and Kearsley had 115 and 111.5 points respectively. Holly was fourth at 96.5 points and Brandon finished sixth with 46 points.

In the girls’ 3200, Holly took second, third, fifth, seventh and eight places to amass 21 big points to pull out the win. Brandon ended the night by winning the 4 x 400 meter relay but Holly’s third place finish in the that event sealed the win.

Holly was aided by a great effort from its field event performers. Senior Sarah Dewalsche won the discus, Elizabeth Hawley won the shot put and Rachel Domagalski took the pole vault. Dewalsche and Domagalski both qualified for the state meet with strong efforts at the regional in Brandon last Friday.

With tears in her eye, an emotional Dewalsche said, “It feels so good. We worked so hard.”

“We are really proud of ourselves,” said Brandon star Tiffani Owens. The talented senior won the 100 and 200 meter dashes, as well as the long jump. She took the long jump with a great leap of 16 feet seven inches. Her teammate Kierra Johnson was second to her in the 100 meter dash and a close third behind Owens and Kearsley’s Kendra Griffin in the 200.Following up on a great season of her own, the Blackhawk’s  Jayona Dent edge Holly’s Maria Ridal in the 400. Dent had a time of 59.91 seconds to Ridal’s 1:01.66.

“It felt good - I am glad with what our team did," Dent said. “It was awesome - tonight we were top-notch.”

Brandon coach Greg Hyde said, “The kids ran hard. We won the 4 x 100, 4 x 200 and 4 x 400 relays. We won the 100 and 200 (meter dashes). We will be losing  good talent coming back.”

In the end, Holly’s depth was the difference. “The (league meet) format was critical. We knew that,” said Holly coach Rob Basydlo. “The 3200 sealed the deal. We never gave up. I am so proud of them.”

Linden’s Sydney Elmer had an easy win in the 3200 meter run, finishing well ahead of the five Holly girls who placed. She edged Swartz Creek’s Casey Campbell in the 1600. The Eagles’ sophomore will definitely be a force for Linden track for quite some time.

Both Holly and Brandon boys’ teams had solid years, but given the Bronchos’ history of dominating Flint Metro League track, a fourth place finish is not what the Holly squad looks to do each Spring.

Holly’s Luke Scherwin, one of the state’s fastest in the 800 meter run, won that event by about 50 meters over Fenton’s Ross Brooks. Schwerin finished with a time of 2:00.81, topping Brooks by nearly six seconds.

“We had a decent year. Kind of what I expected,” said Schwerin. “This year we fell short but next year (Holly) will have the same goals,” he said in noting Holly’s long term stature as a league and county power.

Another state qualifier, Holly’s Collin Banes won the discus with a throw of 148 feet two inches.  “We wanted to win, our seniors pushed really hard,” Banes said.

Linden’s Parcher was aided in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes by teammate Kevin Baker. Baker finished a close second to Parcher in both events, edging Holly junior Johnny Williams by .01 second in the 100 meters.

Linden freshman Austin Buerkel finished only one second behind 400 meter winner Zach Huntley from Swartz Creek. Holly’s Schwerin was held out of this event and would have challenged both for the league title. Brandon’s Eric VandenBossche took third. Buerkel won with a time of 50.9 seconds.

Fenton’s Matt Gilbert and Max Kryza flip flopped in the 1600 and 3200 meter runs, with Gilbert winning the 1600 and Kryza the latter.

Lapeer East’s Zach Whatcott won both the hurdling events. He edged Kearsley’s Matt Weine in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 15.31 seconds and won the 300 meter low hurdles at 40.6 seconds.

Linden won the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relays, but the Bronchos closed strong with a win in the 4 x 400 relay with a time of 3:32.09. The Broncho relay team consisted of Sean Barr, Hunter Hooper, Williams and Schwerin. Schwerin used his big “kick” to pull away as the anchor and give Holly the win in this event over second place Kearsley.