Standish-Sterling's Derek Welmers pulled away from Tawas Area's Tyler Bischoff down the stretchof the NEMC final to earn a sweep of all three NEMC jamborees.
Tawas Area's Sandy Brandt took the girls race, but a strong Ogemaw Heights team that included Holly Mester, Chelsea LeForce and Noelle Mester easily won its fourth straight North East Michigan Conference title.
Brent Baker
Ogemaw Heights earned a sweep of the boys and girls cross country titles on Saturday, winning both the boys and girls NEMC finals jamborees. The Falcon boys have won 11 of the past 17 titles, while the girls have taken 13 of 15.

PINE RIVER GOLF COURSE - Oct., 20, 2006 - Ogemaw Heights earned a sweep of the North East Michigan Conference cross country titles on Saturday, with the boys and girls team each winning the NEMC finals race after having won both conference jamborees during the regular season.

In the boys race, the Falcon finished with 41 team points, edging John Glenn (48). Tawas (67) finished third, followed by Standish-Sterling (98), Pinconning (134) and Oscoda (138). SSC's Derek Welmers won the race with a time of 17:06, pulling away from Tawas Area's Tyler Bischoff down the stretch for a nine-second victory.

Ogemaw dominated the girls race as a team, though Tawas Area's Sandy Brandt was the individual winner (21:05). The Falcons finished with 24 points, followed by Tawas (61), SSC (75), Glenn (79), Oscoda (129) and Pinny (147).

Winning the league title for the Ogemaw boys was a significant accomplishment, considering the Falcons had three freshmen and a sophomore in their top five.

"The future looks so bright, I'm shopping for sunglasses," said Falcon boys coach Doug Grezeszak.

Sophomore Mike Lentz led the Falcons with a fourth-place finish in 18:21, followed by freshman Erik VanOosten (5th, 18:43). Another freshman, Martin Nelkie, finished eighth (18:57), followed by freshman James Padden (9th, 19:00) and senior Zach Lynch (15th, 19:12).

With Welmers and Bischoff graduating, Lentz will be one of the top two returning runners last year, with John Glenn's Tyler Wejrowski. VanOosten held off the Bobcats' Zac Martin down the stretch to earn himself first-team NEMC honors.

Nelkie "is so physically young and has so much yet to grow," Grezeszak said. "But he has the heart of a lion ... in the first mile he was in 18th place ... most of his passes came in the second half of the race."

All that doesn't include freshman Bobby Brent, who because of an injury wasn't able to compete in the final two league races but still earned honorable mention after finishing fifth in the first league jamboree.

"His future is very bright," Grezeszak said. "He was all over the course cheering like a madman. he'll be back next season and will do very well and be a force to reckon with as he physically matures.

"This group has been so fun to work with. They have worked so hard and followed the captain, senior Zach Lynch, so well. My job all season has been to hold them back. This is a team that is not afraid to work hard. They are and have been amazing."

Glenn took the runner-up spot behind the efforts of Wejrowski (3rd, 17:57), Martin (6th, 18:57) and Justin Clark (7th, 18:57).

Tawas, in addition to Bischoff, had strong runs from Guy Cotter (10th, 19:06) and Jordan Smith (12th, 19:08), while SSC's Ryan Pickvet (11th, 19:07) clinched second-team NEMC honors with is finish.

David Wood (14th, 19:09) led Oscoda and Justin Frey (16th, 19:26) led Pinconning.

In the girls race, Brandt ran with Ogemaw's Chelsea LeForce and Holly and Noelle Mester, as well as SSC's Noelle Lentz, in a pack that stayed together for much of the race before Brandt separated herself down the stretch. The Falcons, though, easily took the team title despite some health issues.

"It was a bumpy ride, but the girls were able to get it done," said Falcon girls coach Rick Frank. "We placed four of the top five (in the final conference standings) and five of seven overall.

"The times were not all that fast, but the course was really soft and soggy. Now we'll try to reload and try to get that third place at regionals next Saturday and get that ticket to the state finals. It will be rough, but we will work really hard on the mental aspect and try to come together for one awesome team effort. We are not anywhere near 100 percent ... we must run better next Saturday, but I feel the team knows this."

LeForce finished second in the finals race with a time of 21:19, followed by Holly Mester (3rd, 21:29), Noelle Mester (4th, 21:41), Lindsay VanOosten (6th, 22:03) and Heather Villarreal (9th, 22:03).

In addition to Brandt, Tawas had top finishes from Ashton Cotter (8th, 22:59) and Abbie Hutchinson (11th, 23:20).

SSC, which finished fourth in both league jamborees, edged out John Glenn for the third spot and won the overall tiebreaker with the Bobcats to take third in the league.

"I've been very impressed with the progress and drive of all of our runners," said SSC coach Dennis Pruder. "We had specific individual and team goals going into the finals, and topped that off with strong team and individual performances.

"To have Derek sweep the three jamborees and Noelle jump into the lead group at the finals was a huge bonus."

Lentz finished fifth in the finals race with a time of 21:46, giving her the top second-team all-conference spot. Sarah Schwinck (12th, 23:46) and Heather Hergott (15th, 23:59) and Kit Lindhardt (20thm, 25:01 also had top-20 finishes.

"We went into the finals a bit banged-up," Pruder said. "But everybody really rose to the occasion. I'm very proud of the passion every single person put into the races."

Glenn was led by Melissa Skrocki (10th, 23:14), while Maggie Ungurean was 13th (23:47) for Oscoda and Emily Podgorniak led Pinconning (23rd, 25:17).

The teams all run at regionals this coming weekend, with Ogemaw and Glenn traveling to Chippewa Hills for Division 2 competition and SSC, Tawas, Pinny and Oscoda heading to Bad Axe in Division 3.

 

 

Individual Results

Boys All Conference

Girls All Conference