Super freshman Davea Crowe of Pinckney Athlete of the Year for girls track and field

PINCKNEY — New track and field athletes at Pathfinder Middle School in Pinckney don’t get to specialize in events right away.

That included Davea Crowe, whose only running experience had been in cross country as a fifth-grader.

“In seventh grade, I came in and thought I was going to do long distance,” Crowe said. “We had one day where you try every event. I did hurdles and I loved it.

“I remember my first race. I thought I was gonna fall. I was so scared. Then I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I actualy did this.’ I’ve been doing it ever since then.”

She didn’t win a hurdles race in seventh grade, but by the next year she was dominating the middle school level, taking first place in eight of her 12 races.

Not much changed when she hit high school this spring, even if she was apprehensive about her ability to compete with older girls.

“I was like, there’s going to be a lot more faster people this year,” Crowe said. “I’ll just have to do the best I can to keep up with everyone.”

Crowe did more than merely keep up, turning in one of the best freshman track and field seasons in Livingston County history.

Her second-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles at the Division 2 finals was the best by a girl from a county school. The previous best was fourth place by Fowlerville’s Jaime Philburn in the 800 at the 1995 Class B meet.

Crowe also made all-state in the 800 relay with seniors Brielle Reason and CeCe Thorington and junior Madison Cooke. Their fifth-place time of 1:44.22 broke a school record set in 2001.

It was a performance that earned Crowe Livingston County girls track and field Athlete of the Year, as selected by the Livingston Daily.

The most recent freshmen to win county Athlete of the Year in their sport were Hartland wrestler Bodie Abbey (2023), Pinckney cross country runner Vivi Eddings (2017) and Brighton volleyball player Celia Cullen (2016).

“The first time I saw her running indoors, I knew she was talented,” Pinckney coach Dan Patrick said. “I knew she was a hard worker. I expected her to have a big season. I never could have predicted how big.”

Crowe won the 300 hurdles in the regional meet with a time of 47.90 seconds, a time that didn’t put her among the top seeds for the state meet. She was assigned Lane 8 for the state meet, which meant she couldn’t see her competitors until hitting the final straight away.

She was, in essence, racing blindly.

“I didn’t see (winner Sadie Dykstra of Yale) until I got to the last 100,” Crowe said. “I was kind of scared, because I’ve never run in Lane 8 before; I’ve never practiced in it. Once I found out I was going to be in Lane 8, I did some practicing and thought, ‘This is going to be hard.’ I had a nice strong start and an even better strong finish. I saw her and thought, ‘She’s probably got it, but it’s OK because I’ll still take second.’ I was really happy with myself taking second.”

It was the best individual state finish by a Pinckney girl since Adrianne McNally tied for second in high jump at the 2006 Division 1 finals. Pinckney’s 1,600 relay team won a state championship in 2010.

At first, Crowe wasn’t sure how she would fit in as a ninth-grader on a team led by juniors and seniors. She took a be-seen-and-not-heard approach until she became more comfortable.

“I was probably quite for a couple months, like not saying anything unless I needed to,” she said. “I was just kind of terrified. Everyone was older than me that I didn’t already know. They just welcomed me with open arms and were all really nice. The group full of seniors and juniors were all really nice. I love them. They made track season so much better.”

While Crowe’s strength is the 300 hurdles, she ran 15.58 for the 100 hurdles one week after the state meet in the MITCA Champion of Champions meet. She has three years to chase the school records of 44.32 for the 300 hurdles set by Sara Trumbull in 2004 and 14.61 for the 100 hurdles set by Lisa Cowdrey in 1999.

“When I first started, I didn’t even think I’d go to state,” Crowe said. “I thought, ‘I probably won’t go to state, but I’ll train hard and do everything I can to try to keep up with everybody else.”

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Davea Crowe of Pinckney Athlete of the Year for girls track and field