Source: Observer & Eccentric

Author: Dan O'Meara / John Stormzand

Mercy's 80-48 victory over host Birmingham Marian in girls track and field was largely due to its ability in the hurdles and distance races Tuesday.

The Marlins dominated those events in the Catholic League meet at Brother Rice High School and evened their dual record at 2-2.

“I've got to hand it to our hurdles crew,” Mercy coach Gary Servais said. “We swept both hurdle races, so that was key. Our distance crew swept the mile; we went one-two in the half mile and two mile, and we won the two-mile relay. That was pretty dominating.”

Mercy started on the track with Teagan Dillon, Katelyn Toloff, Celeste White and Mary Haapala winning the 3,200-meter relay in 11:01.

Allysen Eads captured first place in the 1,600 run (5:50); Smith won the 800 (2:28) and Dillon the 3,200 (12:33).

The winners in the hurdles for 100 and 300 meters, respectively, were Maya Roberts (16.9) and Madeline Miller (51.4).

The Marlins also got first place in the 400 run from Peyton Pawlusiak (1:06.5). Mercy had two winners in the field events — Eryka Eli, high jump (4-6); and Elizabeth Jenkins, discus (89-0).

Mercy is 2-1 in the league with a win over Ladywood and a loss to Regina. The Marlins are at defending champion Divine Child next Tuesday. Marian is 1-2 with a meet remaining against Regina.

“(Divine Child) beat the Mustangs, 110-18, so it will be a reality check,” Servais said. “Hopefully, we'll have some good performances to increase our seedings at the league meet. They're pretty much the class of the league. Basically, we're fighting it out for second place.

“We're hoping to get people in the right spots by the league meet to give (Regina) a run. I don't see anyone challenging Divine Child based on paper, but paper doesn't run. You never know.

“We've got a lot of young kids, and you don't know how they're going to hold up down the stretch. Usually, the middle school season is over in a couple weeks, and we have to go a couple more weeks after that. So this is a learning experience for all the freshmen we have.”