This past Friday, April 25, the Woodhaven Track Team took first place at the 2025 Marauder Invitational meet. Taking place at Carlson High School, a total of eleven teams – from both the Downriver League and the Huron League – competed to establish their dominance on the track. Both the female and male teams outscored all other schools, with the girls’ team achieving an outstanding total of 153 points, and the boys securing their win with 134.5 points.
In the sport of track and field, a meet consists of seventeen different events, including running, jumping, and throwing. There are 8 individual running events, 5 field events, and 4 relay events, in which the top 8 places in individual events score, while the top 6 places score for relays.
The female Woodhaven athletes kicked off their success in the meet with the field events. The girls placed in both throwing events, with senior Isabelle Kriebel taking third place in the shot put and sophomore Janelle Martin securing a sixth-place finish in the discus. Additionally, sophomore Chiamara Ogbonna competed in the high jump, taking sixth place. Finishing off the field events, junior Jamya Smith finished in seventh for the long jump competition.
Following the conclusion of the field events, the relay team of Elliana Perugi, Erin Sax, Molly Weaver, and Joslyn Bechtol started off the running events with a first-place finish in the 4×800-meter relay. Then, in the 100-meter hurdle race, Isabelle Kriebel secured a second-place finish alongside teammate Carmyn Dumas, who finished in third. After the hurdles, Maya Justice and Myonna Ekanem crushed the competition in the 100-meter dash, with Justice scoring a speedy first-place finish while Ekanem sprinted into a third-place finish.
Continuing with the order of events, the 4×200-meter relay took place, and the team of Kendall Cunningham, Addison Martin, Krystal Illes, and Annabelle Chan bolted through the finish line in second place. Both distance runners competing in the women’s 1600-meter run – the mile – finished in the top 5, with teammates Hope Noal and Raelyn McLaughlin racing through the finish line in third place and fifth place, respectively. Now, at the halfway point of the running events, the Woodhaven girls achieved fourth place in the 4×100-meter relay as a result of the strong efforts of short-sprinters Kendall Cunningham, Soniah Robinson, Rayne Harris, and Addison Martin.
Soon after, teammates Annabelle Chan and Chiamara Ogbonna raced side-by-side, smashing their opponents in the 400-meter dash – with Chan acquiring a fantastic first-place finish and Ogbonna following closely behind in second place. Taking place after the 400-meter dash, the 300-meter hurdle race featured Isabelle Kriebel, darting across the finish line in first place; Kriebel was championed by the strong performance of Carmyn Dumas, who took sixth place. Then, the 800-meter event occurred, in which Hope Noal and Molly Weaver both scored, with Noal scoring second and Weaver following in eighth.
As the final three events came along, the 200-meter dash was dominated by Maya Justice, who secured her second first-place finish of the day; teammate Myonna Ekanem competed alongside Justice, earning a clutch third-place finish. Following this was the 3200-meter run – the 2-mile. Elliana Perugi and Gabbie Alexander both scored big points, racing into second and fourth place, respectively. Finally, in the final event of the day, the 4×400 meter relay, the team of Chiamara Ogbonna, Joslyn Bechtol, Jayelynn Lines, and Annabelle Chan secured their position in first place to finish off the meet successfully.
With this, the Varsity girls’ team conquered the competition by scoring in every single event at the Marauder Invite. Next, the team will race at the highly competitive Golden Triangle Invitational on Friday, May 2. As the season continues on, the girls are looking forward to continuing at this level of dominance.
