ANN ARBOR – As a college-bound track athlete with great versatility, Royal Oak Shrine senior Abenezer Cerone can end up anywhere in the lineup. But there’s generally only one place he can end up in a race: first.
Cerone was a Catholic League champion in four events on Wednesday, pacing the Knights to their first Ste. Anne Division team title since 2019. Shrine led the 11-team field with 146 points, ahead of host Ann Arbor Greenhills (129), Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett (79), Riverview Gabriel Richard (75) and Allen Park Cabrini (68) also in the top five.
As usual, it was a busy day for Cerone, who has signed his national letter of intent to compete at Butler University in Indianapolis.
“I was in the 4x200, which we got first, then I went straight to the mile; I kind of did a sit-and-kick and I won that,” Cerone said. “I had a little bit of a break, and then I did the open 800, and then I won that, then we did the 4x400, where we really worked, and we got first place as well. We were in third or fourth place, and my team put me in a good position to catch a few people. I was super happy and proud of my team.”
“Abenezer’s so fun to watch; he has a high track IQ, he’s phenomenal,” Shrine coach Tracy Dawson said. “He has incredible range, from the 200 to the two-mile. He’s a once-in-a-lifetime athlete for us at the high school level, and I’m looking forward to following his college career, for sure. He was a league champion every race ─ that was the plan – that’s what we thought could happen, and it played out today.”
Greenhills was the defending boys champion and was closing a scoring gap to Shrine as the meet rolled on, but the Gryphons were disqualified in two out of four relays ─ both of which were won by Shrine─ and that was the deal-breaker.
“Those things happen, right? We can prepare, and we can execute, but sometimes it doesn’t go your way,” Greenhills coach Jarrett Bussell said. “I don’t feel bad about either of those relays and I don’t want them to feel too bad. I might have gotten too cute with some entries, but credit to Shrine, they finessed that. Shoutout to their coaches and all their athletes; it’s hard not to mention Abe, he’s just a one-man wrecking crew, but he’s got quite a crew running right with him.”
Shrine jumped out to a 35-point lead early behind second-, third- and sixth-place finishes in the high jump, a 1-2 finish in the 110-meter hurdles and three out of the top five places in the 100-meter dash. And that was even before Cerone took to the track.
“This year we knew we had to score in all areas, from field events to relays to the hurdles, and I think the kids came through in all fronts,” Dawson said. “Everyone scored for us and every point mattered today.”
The Knights – ranked fifth in the state in Division 4 – scored points in all but one of the 16 events. Greenhills got close after taking four out of the top five places in the 800 and 3,200, in addition to a 1-2 finish by Sebastian Dickinson and Rowan Bryer.
Shrine got first-place finishes by Owen Wisniewski in the 110-meter hurdles; Nick Shrake, Jack Tisko, Josh Zboril and Jack Rice in the 4x100 relay; Shrake, Cerone, Zboril and Jamere Young in the 4x200; and Tisko, Colin McCaffrey, Rice and Cerone in the 4x400 in addition to Cerone’s two individual victories.
“Winning as a relay is a bit different because it’s not just one person,” Cerone said. “Several people have to put in the work, and we’ve been putting in the work as a team for the past three to four months now, even going (back) into winter. I’m super happy that all the work is starting to show.”
Greenhills repeats as girls’ team champion
Even though the boys meet may have not turned out the way Greenhills wanted, the Gryphon girls landed a familiar spot, atop the 11-team field. Despite a late-meet challenge by Wixom St. Catherine, Greenhills scored 112 points, ahead of St. Catherine (101), University Liggett (81), Clarkston Everest Collegiate (65) and Shrine (64) in the top five.
“Today the name of the game on the girls side was just scrap and fight and get those points wherever,” Bussell said. “When we can win ‘em, win ‘em, but when we can get that eighth place-seventh place-sixth place, snag them and be happy with those points.”
Greenhills, which scored in every event, vaulted into the lead after placing four runners among the top eight of the 400-meter dash.
“That was really big to get a whole team effort led by a couple stars ─ Atiya Khaldun, Janaan Rehman and some other big names,” Bussell said. “I had some girls step up in the two-mile to make it a little bit safer, and the 4x4 closed it out.”
Khaldun won the 100 and was second in the 200, while Rehman won the 800 run. Both ran on two relays, as Greenhills placed in the top three of each relay. Ziman Yi and Sirina Bery contributed points in the 3,200 run, despite not doing the event previously this spring.
Rehman, Khaldun, Nata Yonkoski and Deana Scott won the final race, the 4x400 relay, to clinch another team title for Greenhills.
“I think every team is a new team, and each one wants it,” Bussell said. “For some of them, it’s their first one. We’ve got a lot of freshmen helping out in some spots. I’m happy for the whole team, whether it’s their first, their second, their third or their fourth, whatever it might be.”
St. Catherine’s Ava Lassey was a double winner, taking firsts in the shot put and discus. Everest Collegiate freshman Ella Jackson won the 300-meter hurdles and the long jump.
