DELTA COLLEGE - Oct. 3, 2006 - Ogemaw Heights boys and girls cross country teams swept the second North East Michigan Conference jamboree on Tuesday, dominating the girls race and again edging John Glenn on the boys side.
Tawas Area's Sandy Brandt took individual honors for the girls with a time of 20:50, but the Falcons took the next five places to defeat the second-place Braves by 50 points. Ogemaw (20) and Tawas (70) were followed by John Glenn (73), Standish-Sterling (79), Oscoda (107) and Pinconning (155).
"It was a nice race for them," said Ogemaw coach Rick Frank. "Especially for those who are coming off a little layoff due to resting. The next 10 days will be very important if the team wants to make a run at a state qualifying performance at regionals."
Noelle Mester topped the Falcons, finishing second in 20:52. She was followed by Chelsea LeForce (3rd, 20:58), Holly Mester (4th, 21:18), Lindsay VanOosten (5th, 21:37), Heather Villarreal (6th, 22:37) and Maggie Edward (18th, 24:59).
Also in the top 20 for Tawas were Abby Hutchinson (11th, 24:08) and Ashton Cotter (12th, 24:12).
Leading Standish-Sterling were Noelle Lentz (7th, 22:44), Alyssa Pruder (14th, 24:17), Kit Lindhardt (16th, 24:18) and Heather Hergott (19th, 25:01).
Emily Schwedler (13th, 24:16) topped Oscoda and Emily Podgorniak (30th, 27:51) led PInconning.
For the boys, Standish-Sterling's Derek Welmers was the race winner with a time of 16:52, followed by John Glenn's Tyler Wejorowski (17:11) and Tawas Area's Tyler Bischoff (17:35).
The Falcons' Mike Lentz took fourth (18:01) as Ogemaw used good team balance to outpoint Glenn 36-43. Tawas (79) finished third, followed by SSC (88), Pinny (133) and Oscoda (146).
"It was a total team effort," said Ogemaw coach Doug Grezeszak, who noted that the Falcons didn't take the lead until their fourth runner, Martin Nelkie, came in, while fifth man Mike Morris and sixth man James Padden sealed the verdict.
"John Glenn got much closer to us (than at the first jamboree," he said.
Lentz was followed by Erik VanOosten (6th, 18:34), Zach Lynch (7th, 18:45), Nelkie (9th, 19:04), Morris (10th, 19:16) and Padden (11th, 19:20).
Glenn countered with Zac Martin (5th, 18:33), Justin Clark (8th, 18:58), Hall (12th, 19:27) and Kelsey Allen (16th, 19:48).
After Bischoff, Tawas was led by Jacob Winn (14th, 19:43) and Jordan Smith (15th, 19:44) and Guy Cotter (20th, 20:31).
Ryan Pickvet (13th, 19:38) and James Conway (19th, 20:27) came in after Welmers for SSC.
James Frey (17th, 19:50) led PInconning and David Wood (18th, 20:22) topped Oscoda.
The NEMC title will be decided on Oct. 21 at the Pine River Golf Course in Standish. With the jamborees counting as half the league season, the finals count as the other half and also serve as the tiebreaker. On both the girls and boys side, Whoever wins at the league final will claim the league title.
