What's the outlook for Livingston County girls track and field in 2023?
Brighton
► Last season: KLAA, 4th place; regionals, 4th place
► Top returners: Gabrielle Bolitho, Jr.; Nikki Carothers, Jr.; Emma Dolecki, Sr.; Noelle Ebel, Jr.; Carrigan Eberly, Jr.; Stella Farmer, Sr.; Amelia Kashian, Sr.; Abigail Mainka, Jr.; Addison Payne, Soph.; Abby Storch, Soph.
► Outlook: Brighton has nearly 100 athletes on its roster, an increase of about 20 from last season. Carothers and Eberly return from a 3,200-meter relay team that made all-state with a fifth-place finish. Carothers also qualified in the open 3,200. Farmer and Payne were on the state-qualifying 1,600 relay team. Brighton lost one of the county’s top athletes when sprinter Amanda Simon enrolled early at the University of Cincinnati to play soccer. A promising freshman class has already produced solid performances by sprinters Lauren Thomas and Talia Richards and distance runner Lydia LaMarra.
► Coach Sam Etter: “Our distance team is pretty well-developed. We have a lot of returners, so they’re looking strong already. The sprint team, we’ve got two really great returners. We’re working with a lot of the returners and developing them as sprinters and hurdlers.”
Charyl Stockwell
► Last season: MIAC, 9th place; regionals, 11th place
► Top returners: Rachel Lanning, Jr.; Elizabeth St. Martin, Sr.
► Outlook: With a roster of only 10, it will be tricky managing the lineup to give the Sentinels their best opportunities to score and potentially get relay teams to the state Division 3 meet. Lanning and St. Martin are the only returners who contributed to the team score last season. Freshmen Lauren Hammond in sprints and Ella Heffner in middle distances have already had performances that rank high on the all-time list for Stockwell, which began its program in 2018.
► Coach Ron Abner: “Even though we’re so small, in conference there are a lot of small teams. We’ll be competitive in the conference. We’ll have a high finish in the conference. Whitmore Lake and their girls’ distance team is unbelievable; they’ll be formidable. I don’t know if we’ll be bucking for a championship with the girls, but they’ll give it a crack. The relays are important to me. It’s a good path to state, because we’ve got good sprinters.”
Fowlerville
► Last season: CAAC Red, 2nd place; regionals, 6th place
► Top returners: Alana Chappell, Soph.; Leah Clark, Jr.; Fiona Gitulli, Soph.; Zaylin Rinehart, Sr.; Kaitlyn Seiter, Jr.; Leahann Stamp, Jr.
► Outlook: Chappell and Gitulli were on an 800 relay team that won the regional meet and qualified for state. Gitulli had four top-three finishes in the CAAC Red meet. As she did during cross country, freshman Delaney Richardson will lead the Gladiators’ distance group. With only six seniors and its top athletes coming back, Fowlerville will be building toward more success in the future.
► Coach Aaron Rickens: “The girls’ side is very, very young. We’re about 30 deep. All are underclassmen, mainly freshmen and sophomores, a few juniors sprinkled in there. There’s talent in there; we’ve just got to pull it out of them. They’re a fun group to be with; it just makes life so much better.”
Hartland
► Last season: KLAA, 7th place; regionals, 10th place
► Top returners: Madison Armstrong, Sr.; Isabelle Bowie, Sr.; Lexie Brown, Sr.; Liv Linden, Sr.; Aubree Meyer, Jr.
► Outlook: Hartland has had an influx of freshmen who will make an impact right away, led by Emerson Kottong and Riley Denomme in sprints and Sophia Nunnery and Elliana Neuer in distance. Meyer is the team’s only returning state qualifier, making it in the shot put. Meyer broke the school record in the first meet of the season with a toss of 38 feet, 9.5 inches. Bowie has a personal best of 5-2 in the high jump.
► Coach Matt Gutteridge: “There are some young kids who are ready to go. It’ll be fun to see where we end up with them. The girls’ team is especially young, but they’re all working hard and smiling.”
Howell
► Last season: KLAA, 3rd place; regionals, 2nd place
► Top returners: Tianna Bennett, Sr.; Sophie Daugard, Sr.; Sarah Halliday, Sr.; Ella Koons, Sr.; Alexis Le, Jr.; Lea MacGregor, Sr.; Kylie Pung, Soph.; Kaitlyn Ward, Sr.; Mackenzie Wright, Sr.; Annie Yang, Jr.
► Outlook: Howell has most of the bases covered to have a successful season. Bennett and the multi-talented Daugard are nearing sub-13 times in the 100 already, Ward and Yang form a solid 1-2 punch in the hurdles, and Le has gone 5-2 in the high jump. Wright is the school record holder in the 1,600 and 3,200. Koons and MacGregor joined Wright on state-qualifying relays last year.
► Coach Chris Gadjev: “We’ve got some talent here. They’ve got some time to develop. They’re sitting in a really good spot right now after the first meet of the season.”
Pinckney
► Last season: SEC White, 3rd place; regionals, 5th place
► Top returners: Isabelle Bensinger, Sr.; Erin Closser, Jr.; Mallory Dickey, Jr.; Brielle Reason, Jr.; CeCe Thorington, Jr.; Brianna Wheaton, Jr.
► Outlook: Getting top athletes from other spring sports will help keep Pinckney competitive this season. Thorington, a University of Michigan softball commit, is a talented distance runner who has had strong performances already in the 200, 400 and high jump. Dickey and freshman Natally Pease are softball players who hurdle. All-county soccer defender Kailey Lambert is a first-time track runner who is bolstering the sprint relays. Reason made all-state in long jump and is a key to the Pirates’ 400 through 1,600 relays.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: The outlook for Livingston County girls track and field in 2023
