PINCKNEY — CeCe Thorington of Pinckney was not only the best softball player in Livingston County, but also one of the best track and field athletes and could have been one of the best cross country runners.
It’s safe to say that, if she tried another sport, she would have been among the best in that, too.
Imagine that speed and endurance on a soccer field or that jumping ability on the volleyball court.
Even within the confines of track and field, which wasn’t her primary sport, Thorington won at least one race at every distance from 100 meters to the 1,600 during her career, as well as high jump. She won conference championships in the 200, 400 and 1,600 and had second-place finishes in the 100 and 800.
She wasn’t just a sprinter, wasn’t just a distance runner — she was an athlete.
And for the 2023-24 school year, Thorington was the best female athlete in Livingston County, becoming the first Pinckney girl to win the award since volleyball and soccer player Lindsay Meyer in 2008-09.
“She’s a once-in-a-generation athlete,” Pinckney girls track and field coach Dan Patrick said after Thorington won high jump in a key 70-67 victory over Chelsea on April 16. “You can put her in any sport; she’s going to have success.”
Her first sport in a Pinckney uniform was cross country.
As a freshman, Thorington won the regional meet and ran a time of 19 minutes, 11.4 seconds in a midseason invitational. She won the SEC White championship as a sophomore.
She gave up cross country after that season as it interfered with the fall travel season for softball, which is the sport she will continue playing for the University of Michigan.
“Cross country was really fun,” Thorington said. “It definitely built me a great base for track, even endurance for softball. It just ended up conflicting too much. I’m glad I still ran distance a couple years before I went to sprinting.”
Thorington suggested the switch to sprinting her junior year because it complemented her skill set in softball. Thorington started in center field and was the lead-off hitter for four years at Pinckney.
She wound up setting a state record with 130 consecutive stolen bases without being thrown out.
“I use my speed for slapping and in the outfield,” she said. “It’s an important piece for me, so the more I worked on it, the better chance I had of getting faster.”
While cross country conflicted with fall softball, softball and track always conflicted the first Saturday of June.
That’s the day when district tournaments are usually held in softball, while the state track and field finals are taking place in the Grand Rapids area.
As a junior, Thorington qualified for the state track meet in three events , but couldn’t run because Pinckney was playing in the softball district tournament.
This year, for better or worse, Thorington got the opportunity to run in her first state track finals.
Pinckney drew a pre-district game against Chelsea four days before the state track meet, losing 9-7 to the eventual district champion.
Although she would have preferred to play softball as long as possible, the loss freed up an opportunity that Thorington had been denied for three years.
“I knew going into the game one of my seasons was going to be over,” Thorington said. “I sort of mentally prepared for that. Either way was going to be hard. It’s sort of like a win-win, but also like a lose-lose. It definitely took a couple days, but getting out on the track, everything cleared and we were ready to go.”
She ran on three relay teams at the state meet, making all-state when she helped the 800 relay unit finish fift h in Division 2. Thorington, Madison Cooke, Davea Crowe and Brielle Reason ran a school-record 1:44.22.
“It was exciting,” Thorington said. “It was raining when we came out for our 4x2. It was packed. I hadn’t run in that kind of environment since cross country my sophomore year at the state meet.”
In softball, Thorington led the county in batting for the second straight year with a .558 average. Her 224 career runs and 240 career hits set Livingston County records.
She was named all-state in softball for the second year in a row , making her the first Livingston County athlete to earn all-state in two sports in the same season since Hartland’s Avery Evenson did so in cross country and swimming in the fall of 2010.
“I just put my focus wherever I was at the time,” said Thorington, who was the county softball Player of the Year . “The district game, I had to put my full focus into the district game. I couldn’t think about states in the moment.”
Had the softball team reached the district semifinals, Thorington would have been on the diamond instead of the track.
“At Pinckney, you can play two sports, but you have to make one your primary sport,” softball coach Eric Arnold said. “She may have missed some practices to go to track meets, but if a track meet and a softball game were the same day, softball was her No. 1 sport. She missed like one game when we were in a tournament and they were at regionals. In her whole career, she may have missed two games.”
At now Thorington is on to Michigan, the school she rooted for growing up. She verbally committed to the Wolverines before her junior season. She has been in contact with Michigan coaches about summer training and will make the 20-mile move to Ann Arbor on Aug. 21.
“It’s so exciting to play somewhere new and play some new teams,” she said. “There’s definitely a lot of preparation going on right now. The more I’m getting closer, the more exciting it’s getting.”
Livingston County Female Athletes of the Year
1996-97 — Julie Murray, Howell (basketball, volleyball, softball)
1997-98 — Libby Voshell, Brighton (basketball, volleyball, softball)
1998-99 — Libby Voshell, Brighton (basketball, volleyball, softball)
1999-2000 — Stephanie Benear, Howell (basketball, softball)
2000-01 — Kristen Cullen, Hartland (basketball, softball)
2001-02 — Brittany Fulks, Brighton (basketball, volleyball, softball)
2002-03 — Brittany Fulks, Brighton (basketball, softball)
2003-04 — Katie Gonta, Brighton (basketball, softball)
2004-05 — Adrianne McNally, Pinckney (basketball, volleyball)
2005-06 — Adrianne McNally, Pinckney (basketball, volleyball, track & field)
2006-07 — Anna Patritto, Howell (basketball, volleyball, softball)
2007-08 — Emily Williams, Fowlerville (volleyball, softball)
2008-09 — Lindsay Meyer, Pinckney (volleyball, soccer)
2009-10 — Avery Evenson, Hartland (cross country, swimming, track & field)
2010-11 — Avery Evenson, Hartland (cross country, swimming, track & field)
2011-12 — Avery Evenson, Hartland (cross country, swimming, track & field)
2012-13 — Lindsey Pajot, Hartland (swimming, basketball, softball)
2013-14 — Jenna Sica, Brighton (cross country, skiing, track & field)
2014-15 — Maddie Pogarch, Hartland (football, basketball, soccer)
2015-16 — Jenna Sica, Brighton (cross country, track & field)
2016-17 — Michelle Moraitis, Hartland (cross country, basketball, track & field)
2017-18 — Jackie Jarvis, Fowlerville (volleyball, basketball, soccer)
2018-19 — Jackie Jarvis, Fowlerville (volleyball, basketball, soccer)
2019-20 — Celia Cullen, Brighton (volleyball)
2020-21 — Katie Carothers, Brighton (cross country, track & field)
2021-22 — Emmy Sargeant, Hartland (basketball, track & field)
2022-23 — Sophie Daugard, Howell (golf, basketball, track & field)
2023-24 — CeCe Thorington, Pinckney (softball, track & field)
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Pinckney's CeCe Thorington is Livingston County Female Athlete of the Year
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