Saline Boys Dominate Track Regional

 The heavily favored Saline High School boys’ track and field team lived up to their billing Friday, eclipsing the field enroute to their second straight MHSAA Division 1 Regional championship.

Saline finished with 165 points, more than twice as much as second-place Ann Arbor Pioneer’s 82.

(Click here to see a photo gallery from Friday's regional.)

The Hornets won where they’ve won all year long — virtually everywhere, but especially in the middle and long distance track events.

Saline’s boys won the 400 (Garrick Roemer), 800 (Matt Elms), 1600 (Logan Wetzel) and 3200 (Nick Renberg). They also won the 3200 relay (Elms, Spencer Bishop, Logan Wetze and Terrell McGee) and the 1600 relay (Steve Bastien, Ryan Gauche, Elms and Roemer).The 1600 team set a new school record, breaking a mark set in 1999.

Bastien also won the long jump with a leap of 23-10.

“This is what it’s all about,” said coach Allen Leslie, seconds after some of his athletes dumped a cooler of ice water over his head during the post-event celebration. “This has just been a lot of fun. These kids worked so hard. They’re great to be around. This day has been great for the athletes, for the coaches, for the parents and volunteers who put in 12-hour days so we could put this on…It’s great to be a part of this community.”

Roemer had another huge day. He won the 400, helped the mile-relay team win, and helped the 100 and 400 relays to strong second place finishes.

“A lot of us didn’t quite get the times we wanted, but it’s still a great feeling to win your regional at home,” Roemer said.

Now the Hornets focus on Wednesday’s SEC meet at Saline High School.

“We’ve got to guard against not looking past that one. We’ve seen it happen before where a team is high after winning regional and thinking about state, and then they lose the SEC. We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Leslie said.

The state meet is two weeks away.

For full results, click here:

(Click here to see a photo gallery from Friday's regional.)