Nationals: Day One in Boston, New York, and College Station

Here's the Michigan news from the first day of nationals action:
Nike Indoor, Boston: The highlight had to have been the 9th place finish of Monroe soph Austin Whitelaw, whose 15:19.04 is a state record for 10th graders. Unfortunately our top weight throwers didn't make the trip. Who would have suspected that we could have had an All-American or two in our first year in the event?

National Scholastic, New York: In finals action, Breen/Troy made All-American honors in the DMR by finishing 4th in 10:22.67, the fourth-fastest time in state history. The Breen girls finished 11th in 12:27.78. Motor City/Mumford finished 11th in the boys shuttle hurdles (31.59), 12th in the sprint medley (3:36.59). The Motor City girls finished 9th in the sprint medley (4:13.56). On the field, Chris Jimmerson tied for 4th in the high jump at 6-7.

NCAA, College Station: In the granddaddy of the big college championships, the biggest local story is that Tiffany Ofili (Ypsilanti/Mich) looked the best in the hurdles qualifying, leading the field at 8.04. Bettie Wade (Farmington/Mich) finished 5th in the pentathlon at 4252, more than 100 short of her performance last year. Nia Henderson (Livonia Churchill/Kent) finished 5th in the weight throw at 66-6.5 (she's now #2 all-time).

Justin Switzer (Wtfd Kettering/Mich) ran 4:01.55 to qualify for the mile final, but Shane Knoll (Warren Mott/MSU) just missed. Josh Hembrough (Forest Hills N/Purdue) ran 7.81 to make the hurdle final. Alexandria Spruiel (Southfield Lathrup/North Carolina A&T) made the 400 final with her 53.60. Jeremy Orr (Detroit Ford/MSU) missed his 400 final by 0.02 with his 47.12. Shayla Mahan (Mumford/South Carolina) missed the 60 final at 7.38.

Geena Gall was the second-fastest finals qualifier in the 800 at 2:04.10, and later in the evening she ran 3:21.69 to put the Michigan DMR in the lead. In the end, they finished 7th, more than 14 seconds behind Tennessee's world record 10:50.98.