By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
Albion made it look easy at the girls Division 3 Lower Peninsula state championship track meet last Saturday. The south central Michigan school was among four state title teams at the championship meets conducted in the Grand Rapids area.
While some meets had close results, Albion scored 66 team points to finish well ahead of second place Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, which had 43 points.
"We thought we had a pretty good chance to win it. We knew we had the right people in the right events. We knew we'd be up there," Albion coach Brad Shedd said.
Albion got a state title from Juandretta Oliver in the long jump with a new Division 3 record at 18 feet, 1 inch. Teammate Amelia Bannister set new Division 3 records with first place finishes in the 400-meter dash (55.94) seconds and in the 800-meter run (2:14.03).
Oliver also assisted on the 400-meter relay and Bannister on the 800-meter relay, which took two more first places for Albion.
"Coming into the season, we said we would see what will happen. When we got one meet under our belt, we knew we had the right group," Shedd said.
Albion was state runner-up two years ago. Shedd has been with the team 12 seasons and is in his third season as head coach.
"When I started here, we had four distance runners and one thrower. That was it. We've come a few miles."
Other girl state champions were: Ann Arbor Pioneer in Division I, Detroit Renaissance in Division 2 and Ubly in Division 4.
Boys Track: Talk About Close
When the dust settled at the Lower Peninsula's Division 3 finals, Detroit Country Day had 70 points for a razor-thin state championship effort over Williamston, a Lansing-area school, which had 69.33 points.
For the newly crowned state champions, Chris Rucker led the way with first-place efforts in the 100-meter dash in 10.89 seconds. He set a new state record with 49.02 seconds for first place in the 400-meter dash. He was also on the first-place relay teams in the 800 meters and 1,600 meters.
Rucker anchored the 1,600-meter relay team to a narrow first place in the final event of the meet, which gave Country Day its state title. Country Day's time was 3:26.57 while second-place Swan Valley had a 3:26.81.
Williamston was sixth in the 1,600 relay in 3:28.73.
"We thought we had a shot. It depended on how we did in various events. Guys like Chris did a super job. We did well in the relays. We had to score in the 400 and 100 open and Rucker did that. We had a very strong, well represented team," Country Day coach Dave Wilson said.
"This was the way I wanted to end my senior year. I went all out. I knew it would be my last meet. I wanted to give it my best," Rucker said.
Other state track champs for the boys were: Ann Arbor Pioneer in Division I, Dexter in Division 2 and Ottawa Lake Whitehead in Division 4.
Boys Tennis
Ann Arbor Pioneer reigned supreme again as state champions in Division 1 for the sixth-straight year.
"The guys came through. We had the best seeds, but because of our regular season record, we earned them. We were confident we could win it," Pioneer coach Tom Pullen said.
Pioneer has won several state titles and should be considered the team to beat when boys tennis goes to the fall starting with the 2007-08 school year.
"We lose several seniors and will have a dropoff next year. We came into this season having lost three from last year,' Pullen said.
Other state tennis champs are: Okemos and Portage Central in Division 2, East Grand Rapids in Division 3 and Ann Arbor Greenhills in Division 4.
Boys Lacrosse
East Grand Rapids advanced to the Division II state lacrosse finals Saturday with a 10-5 victory over Forest Hills Central in the semifinals Wednesday.
For East Grand Rapids (18-3) Joey Coretti led the way with five goals.
"The kids played very well. The kids are really excited. Defensively, we're a small team, but we have some good ability. We get after guys. We've stressed defense this year," EGR coach Adam Vincent said.
East GR plays Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook for the title on Saturday.
Girls Golf
Dexter won the Division 2 state title at Michigan State University last weekend, led by Katelin Davis, who shot a 75 her first round and a 72 the next.
"It's a pretty straight foward course. I want to shoot better than a 75. I want to shoot par," Davis said after the first round.
The next day, she got her par.
"We got a 332 the first day, which is a fantastic number,' Dexter coach Fred Ligrow said, noting that it rained heavily for the first nine holes.
Dexter shot a 330 the second day for a 662.
'I like it when it rains. The greens aren't as fast. I don't mind the rain," Davis said.
Other state Lower Peninsula titlists were Grand Rapids South Christian in Division 3 and Lake Orion in Division 1.
