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Led by eight champions at the Regional meets this past weekend, a total of 34 from the County will head to the state Finals in the Grand Rapids area on Saturday, May 31.

Leah O'Connor of Cros-Lex and Matt Proctor of Brown City were both double winners in Regionals last Friday night.

O'Connor, a sophomore, smashed her own school record in the 1600 meter run with her first place time of 5:16.31 in the Division 2 Regional at Algonac. She came back four events later to win the 800 meter run in 2:20.88. O'Connor also holds that record (2:17.39) at Cros-Lex.

"She has just a great stride," said Lisa Shaw, C-L coach. "In initial listings (for the State Finals) she's third in the 800 and fifth in the mile (in Div. 2)."

O'Connor also anchored the second place 1600 relay team (4:13.44), which will also head to the finals. She was joined by Brittany Yelinek, Kristina Elkins and Erin Lamb.

Proctor, a freshman for the Green Devils, turned in a personal-best time of 4:53.61 to win the boys a1600 at the Division 4 Regional at USA. He then went on to take first in the 3200 in a clocking of 10:45.52.

"Matt Proctor ran two perfect races," commented Russ Reitz, Brown City coach.

The area's other Regional champs came from Marlette and Deckerville.

Andy Warner, a senior from Marlette, won the boys discus at Bad Axe with a toss of 46'3". Meanwhile, the Lady Raiders had a first from freshman Sarah Smith in the 3200 with a personal-best of 12:35.76. She was also on the winning 3200 relay (10:50.8) team with Kristen Hirsch, Kasey Sauder, and Chelsea Mata.

At USA Friday evening, Deckerville's foursome of Shelby McVittie, Dana Stolicker, Mandy Nichol, and Katelyn Stutterheim won the girls 1600 meter relay in a time of 4:12.24, just off the school record (4:10).

Brown City's unit of Alex Vaquera, Jesse Williams, Andrew Tidrick, and Matt DeSchutter won the boys 3200 relay in a season--best time of 8:59.28, 17 seconds better than their previous best.

More qualifiers
Division 2
Brad Farley, a junior, was the lone Pioneer boy to qualify for State, clearing the pre-set qualifying height of 6'2". For the C-L girls, Yelinek, a sophomore, was second in the long jump (15.5) and Lamb cleared 5'1" in the high jump.
Division 3
Four members of the Marlette boys team, who placed second in the team scoring, will be going to Grand Rapids. Senior Austin Comment was second both the 110 (15.44) and 300 (42.01) hurdles.
Both season--best times. Junior Ryan Sabo was second in the pole vault (13-0) and Brian McClelland, a senior, and John Bishop, a junior, are both going in the long jump after they finished second (20-5) and third (20-3.35), respectively. For McClelland, it was his first time over 20-feet.
"Really, he's been capable of that all year," said Coach Chris Storm on McClelland's performance. "It came together for him on the right day, at the right time."
The Lady Raiders' Amber Wood was runner-up in the discus (95-11).
Sandusky will send three to State. The Redskins will have sophomore Marissa DeMott in the high jump (5-1) and freshman Khristine Kirkbride in the 3200, both netting second place finishes. It was a personal-best time for Kirkbride. On the boys side, senior Sam Stevens will return to State after qualifying with a leap of 6'1' in the high jump.

Division 4
Coach Randee McGregor of the Lady Eagles was ecstatic about her team's performance.
"This is the most girls we've had go to State since I've been coaching," said McGregor. "That is so exciting to see... I'm very anxious to see their times drop even more from here on out."
McVittie was third in the 100 hurdles (16.79) and the 300 hurdles (49.2), surpassing pre-set qualifying times. Stolicker was second in the 800 with a season-best 2:26.33 and will team with McVittie, Cheyenne Sampson and Ashley Szymanski in the 3200, which was fourth (4:13.39). Meanwhile, sophomore Toni Klaus launched a personal--best toss of 33'2.5" to place second in the shot put.
For the Deckerville boys, Chris Burgess was runner-up in the 800 meter run (2:09.46).
Peck's Zac Overstreet qualified in the high jump (5--7).
Two girls from Brown City also qualified for State. Katherine Kreiner, who had a good overall meet, was second in the 100 meter dash with a personal-best of :13.35 and Brandie Kreiner was second in the high jump, clearing 4'7".