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For the day, Divine Child finished with 225 points and more than tripled the point total of second-place Wixom St. Catherine (74). Also competing from the area was Henry Ford Academy (28), which finished in 10th place.
The Falcons had at least one state qualifier in 15 different events and they finished both first and second in five events.
To qualify for the state meet, an individual or relay team must place in the top two at the regional meet or beat the additional qualifying time/distance at the meet. This year’s D2 state meet is set for June 4 at Forest Hills Eastern.
Divine Child’s Lianna Shakoor won the 100-meter dash with a time of seconds and her teammate Meghan Koss () was next in second. In the 200m, it was Shakoor () and Meghan Koss () finishing 1-2 again.
Divine Child girls win 11th consecutive track and field regional title
Other championships for Divine Child in the individual events came from Samantha Black in the 400m () and Kayla Slade in the 100m hurdles ().
Saturday’s 4?400 title went to the group of Black, Shakoor, Kurtinaitis and Kirsten Koss (4:) and they finished more than 35 seconds ahead of the runner-up.
The first-place 4?800 team of Black, Eliza Thayer, Ella Slade and Kirsten Koss () finished more than a minute and a half ahead of the second-place finisher.
Grace Steffes was second in both the shot put (35-4) and discus (99-3) and two other runner-up finishes for Divine Child came from Tess Scicluna in the 3200m () and Regan Dudek in the 300m hurdles ().
In the 1600m, Katie Deisler (6:) and Lauren Postl (6:) finished 3-4 and a fourth-place finish in the 3200m was claimed by Kate Paluszewski ().
Kayla Slade placed third in the 300m hurdles () and Dudek earned a fourth-place finish in the 100m hurdles ().
Henry Ford had two top-five finishes for the day, as Ainsley Oliver was third in the 100m hurdles () and fourth in the 300m hurdles ().
On the boys’ side, Divine Child (142) finished runner-up as a team. The Falcons were behind only Detroit King (165) and Henry Ford (50) took fifth place, behind third-place finishers Garden City (60) and Redford Union (60).
Brady Ploucha of Divine Child throws the shot put during the Carpenter Invite, which was held earlier this month at Divine Child. On Saturday, Ploucha was back in his home stadium for D2, Region 17 action. He won the shot put and discus and qualified for the state meet in both events. As a team, Ploucha and the Falcon boys took second overall. (Alex Muller – For MediaNews Group)
Divine Child had at least one state qualifier in eight different events and took the top two spots in five events.
In the discus, Brady Ploucha (166-1) won the championship and Isiah Ploucha (138-4) was next in second. The pair went 1-2 again in the shot put with Brady (49-7) winning the title and Isaiah (46-11) finishing runner-up.
A 1-2 finish in the 1600m came from Michael Hegarty (4:) and Ulcak (4:). Taking the top two spots in the 3200m were Colin Murray () and Hegarty (). Murray had also placed third in the 1600m (4:) but missed the AQ time.
McGrath, Hegarty, Ulcak and Murray joined up to win the 4?800 relay (8:) and they were 40 seconds ahead of the runner-up finisher.
Conor Morrow was third in the 300m hurdles (), Luke Weber was fourth in the 400m () and the fifth-place 4?200 relay featured Senerpida, Mangulabnan, Arriola and Shumpert (1:).
Julian Bailey won the 200m () and finished second in the 100m () while Jordan Hammond was runner-up in the long jump (21-35).
Bailey and Hammond teamed up with Jamal Rudolph and Timothy Hunter to win a championship in the 4?400 relay (3:).
Henry Ford had two more top-five finishes, as Matthew Hall was fourth in the 800m (2:) and he took fifth in the 1600m (5:).
On the boys’ side, the Cougars’ Darreus Reese qualified for the state finals with a runner-up finish in the long jump (20-2.25).
As a team, the Annapolis boys (10) finished 13th and the girls (2) placed 15th. The boys’ champion was Pinckney (95) and winning the girls’ team title was Tecumseh (117).
