joseph flaherty, hillsdale daily news
·5 min read
HILLSDALE — After a prolific season, Hillsdale Academy girls track and field ended the spring with a trip to the Division 4 state finals. After securing conference, regional and MITCA championships this season, The Academy brought home five all-state honors at the MHSAA finals.
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Two of those were individual all-state honors. Freshman Lucy Cote was an all-state honoree in the 100 hurdles, taking seventh with a time of 16.98 seconds. Cote also qualified in the 300 hurdles, finishing just one spot outside of the podium in ninth with a time of 48.87. The freshman took first in the 100 hurdles event at the Area Best Meet, the SCAA championship meet and the SCAA East meet. In the 300 hurdles, Cote finished second at the SCAA championship meets and third at the regional finals. Cote took third at the regional finals in the 100 hurdles.
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Junior Colt Caroline Roberts earned seventh overall in the 800-meter dash with a time of 2:23.30. Roberts had won the SCAA East title, individual MITCA title and the Area Best title before running at the state finals. The junior set a PR of 2:20.77 at the Area Best meet this season.
Roberts and Cote were members of an all-state honored relay team. The 4x400 relay team of Roberts, Cote and seniors Haven Socha and Angela Alvarez took fifth place with a time of 4:14.42.
Socha, Roberts and Alvarez joined freshman Allie Miller in the 4x800 state finals race. The team took third overall and all-state honors with a time of 9:54.10.
Cote and Alvarez joined Madison Sallows and senior Iris Millies for the 4x100 relay finals. The team took ninth overall, just one spot out of all-state honors, with a time of 52.46 seconds.
Socha, Alvarez, Millies and Sallows earned all-state honors in the 4x200 relay finals, taking sixth overall with a time of 1:49.50.
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Full Results
In addition to the all-state honorees, several Colts qualified for the state finals and competed against the best competition in the state.
Iris Millies qualified in two additional events. Millies ran in the 200-meter dash, earning 21st overall with a time of 27.98 seconds. Millies also qualified as a pole vaulter, leading the Academy results with a clearance height of 8-feet, 3 inches. Sophom*ore Anne Gray took 18th overall at the same clearance height. Sophom*ore Ruth Brownlee took 24th with a height of 7-feet, 3 inches.
Brownlee was a three-time state qualifier for the Colts this season. The distance runner took 12th in the 1,600 (time of 5:30.46) and 18th in the 3,200 dash (time of 12:14.61 PR). She was joined by junior Ella Walton, who took 14th in the 3,200 with a time of 12:03.72, a new PR.
In the 800, freshman Allie Miller and sophom*ore Audrey Nehlsen both competed and earned new PR times. Miller took 10th with a PR time of 2:27.44. Nehlsen took 12th with a PR time of 2:29.90.
Freshman Zoe Plemmons qualified with fellow freshman Lucy Cote in the 100 and 300 hurdles. Plemmons took ninth in the 100 hurdles with a time of 17.32, missing the finals cut. Plemmons had a PR time of 50.21 seconds in the 300 hurdles to take 16th.
Plemmons and Cote were joined by junior Madison Sallows, who had a season-best time of 49.18 in the 300 hurdles to take 13th.
Plemmons also qualified for the state finals in long jump. Plemmons took 24th overall with a distance of 14-feet, 5 inches. Senior Haven Socha qualified for the long jump and took 15th overall with a distance of 15-feet, 3 1/2 inches.
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Senior honors
Senior Haven Socha earned multiple all-state honors with Colts relay teams in her career. Socha has been a key member of 10 total all-state honored relay teams, including 2023's state title winning 4x400 team of Socha, Alvarez, Caroline Roberts and Megan Roberts.
Alvarez, also a member and all-state honoree on that '23 4x400 title team, was on a total of seven all-state relay teams. Alvarez was a member of the 2023 stat title 4x800 relay team that also included current junior Caroline Roberts and former Colts Megan Roberts and Whitney Wilkinson.
Senior Iris Millies was a key short distance leader for the Colts the past few seasons. Millies earned a total of three all-state honors during her career. This was her first season qualifying for the state finals in the pole vault and 200-meter dash.
Her senior season, Millies won five 100-meter dash races, including the Area Best meet. She won five 200-meter dashes, including the SCAA championship and the regional championship. She took second in the 200 at the Area Best meet. She helped lead the 4x100 team, including Alvarez, to a regional title and a SCAA East division title. Millies had 12 top five finishes in pole vault this season, including runners-up at the SCAA championship meets and at the regional finals. She finished third at the Area Best meet.
Millies will continue her track career at Siena Heights University.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Hillsdale Academy girls track ends 2024 earning five all-state honors at the D4 finals
