Hello and welcome to The Blue Water Running Podcast!  I’m excited about sunshine and warm breezes…ok, probably snow, hail, freezing rain, gusting wind, etc., but I AM excited to get back out watching Blue Water Area athletes achieve amazing things. 

It’s time for the 2025 GIRLS Outdoor Track and Field Season Preview.  Over the last few months, I’ve been looking at results from last year’s season to compile the predictions and probable performances for this year’s season.  The statistics used to write the season preview include BWAC, MAC, and Catholic High School League results, Blue Water Area meets such as the Marysville Invitational, Muskrat Invitational, Blue Water Meet of Champions, Thumb Meet, and Macomb County Meet, and of course Regional and State Finals qualifying and placements.

A couple of notes about the process: 

• Consistency was king: when looking at so many performances across a months-long time frame, there had to be consistent participation and placement throughout the season to get a feel for the performance or improvement potential. 
• I didn’t include incoming freshmen (last year’s 8th graders) as sometimes they end up participating in a different spring sport or they don’t come out for track in high school.  
• I didn’t factor in the majority of PRs from any meets last year that were hand-timed for the preview, nor will I use them for top times and marks lists this season.  When you see PRs for everyone across the board by huge margins, especially in sprint events, that’s a sign that the times are usually inaccurate. With the requirement of FAT timing for state meet qualification, it’s a more reliable standard.
• Early qualifying marks add a new dynamic to reporting on racing for this year: athletes can now meet a state-meet qualifying mark earlier than regionals, which will likely change the landscape of Michigan track and field.  An EQ is defined by the MHSAA as “an athlete who achieves the mark in any round of a valid pre-qualified event which meets the proper standards (FAT TIMED and 6+ teams) is qualified to participate in the LP finals in that event”.  

Finally, I will miss someone who deserves a nod or mention: with such a large amount of data across a long period, it is inevitable.  I cross-check and reference and scour athletic.net repeatedly, but Blue Water Running is just me, I work a full-time job during the day (which includes wrangling some kindergartners) and do this for free, so sometimes, things get missed. I’m human.  Also, my apologies if I mispronounce or misspell your name or incorrectly type a time or mark.

I can’t wait to get back out there and see all of you running, jumping, and throwing.  You can find results and articles on bluewaterrunning.org and our social media sites throughout the season.   You can follow Blue Water Running on Instagram, X, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. You can also check out photo albums of meets that will be linked through the website and download and share them to help spread the word about Blue Water Running’s mission, which is to feature and celebrate the achievements of high school and collegiate cross country and track/field athletes from our area.  

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