Junior Grace Stark of White Lake Lakeland set a Michigan high school state record in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.16 seconds on Saturday at the D1 State Finals. The record was previously held by Britten Bowen of Ann Arbor Pioneer who ran 13.40 seconds in 2017.
Grace also claimed the 100m dash title in 11.74 seconds, shortly after breaking the 100m hurdle record, and with a target on her back: "Qe'Neisha (East Kentwood, runner up) did get out on me and it stung me a little bit and I did have to come back from the hurdles. She's a strong runner, a 200m runner, so I was really surprised that I came back to take the win."
Winning two individual state titles certainly gave her a sense of redemption after taking second place last year in the 100m hurdles: "It was something that I wanted since last year when Britten won, but it wasn't as much of a loss (last year) knowing that I lost to a great runner."
Grace was able to take the 9th place team title, all on her own, with 20 points. Stark says by this time next year, her goal is to hopefully break 13 seconds in the 100m hurdles.
