Ogemaw Heights' girls show off their fifth straight league championship trophy after Saturday's NEMC finals race.
Tawas Area's Sandy Brandt won the league finals race by two seconds over SSC's Karina Pierce.
Linda Eyer
Competitors from the NEMC's six cross country teams are off at the starting gun of Saturday's league finals race.

PINE RIVER GOLF COURSE, STANDISH - Oct. 20, 2007 - Of the five straight North East Michigan Conference titles won by the Ogemaw Heights girls, this one has to rank as the most improbable.

After graduating their top four runners from last season, the Falcons put to the test coach Rick Frank's desire to "reload," rather than "rebuild," especially after finishing third at the season's first NEMC jamboree.

Frank's Falcons pulled off what seemed unlikely earlier in the year, winning the NEMC finals meet by a scant two points over Tawas Area and 38 over Standish-Sterling after the three teams were tied heading into the finals.

The Falcons swept fourth through seventh place to offset Tawas Area taking first and third in the race for a total of 34 points to the Braves' 38. SSC followed with 72, with Pinny (130) edging John Glenn (132) for fourth. Oscoda (153) finished sixth. Not only was it Ogemaw's fifth straight league cross country title, but the Falcons' 14th in 16 seasons.

"I'm really glad we score five girls, as Tawas would easily have beaten us through four," Frank said. "But also this is the first time we have had four girls in front of the Tawas No. 3 runner, which obviously did help."

Tawas Area's Sandy Brandt (21:30) edged out Standish-Sterling's Karina Pierce (21:32) and Tawas teammate Emily Short (21:39) to win the individual race.

But after that came a flock of Falcons: Colleen Wren (4th, 22:09), Heather Villarreal (5th, 22:54), Jorie Diehl (6th, 22:57) and Brianna Price (7th, 23:03).

The Braves had Olivia Bolen (8th, 23:04) and Brittany Combs (9th, 23:15), but Ogemaw had three more runners, led by Amber Lovett (12th, 23:29) before the Braves' Bethany Britt (17th, 24:14) came in for her team's final points.

The Panthers finished third out of the three teams that entered the day tied at the top of the league. After Pierce, Panther scoring came from Ashley White (11th, 23:28), Alyssa Pruder (18th, 24:23), Samantha Poirier (20th, 24:28) and Heather Hergott (21st, 25:10).

"We knew the women's conference would be wide open," said SSC coach Dennis Pruder. "After winning the first jamboree it gave us the knowledge we could run with anybody.

"Tawas and Ogemaw have quality programs with outstanding coaching so to know we belonged with them was a nice boost of confidence. We do know that we can race with anybody and our girls came prepared to race. They ran their hearts out, never quit on us and I'm proud of them."

John Glenn was led by Melissa Skrocki (10th, 23:17). Pinconning's Emily Podgorniak (16th, 24:14) topped the Spartans' effort, while Oscoda was led by Maggie Ungurean (15th, 24:09).

While the three contenders were all significantly helped by freshman -- especially SSC's Pierce and White, Ogemaw's Diehl and Tawas's Short -- a big factor were the performances of first-year Falcon senior Wren, who ended the year as her team's top runner, and Ogemaw's top returner from last year, Heather Villarreal.

"(Wren) again had a very nice, strong performance," Frank said. "Heather ... has done a very good job of leading this team and helping them understand how to win at the league level. She has battled a leg injury ... almost all season so she is not running the times she would like but that did not make her throw in the towel and just give up. She did the best her leg would allow and used her experience to help younger runners improve."

The Falcons also got big improvements from sophomore Brianne Price over last season, and big steps up for a young pack of freshman that Frank attributed in part to the additional leadership of fourth-year senior Trista Keezer.

Pruder also sees a bright future with his top two finishers being just freshmen.

"It's tough to compete in this conference so when you have ninth-graders like Karina and Ashley just stepin and show such talent and class it's just an added bonus," he said. "It's not the last you'll here of Panther cross country. The whole group just gave so much all year. We're ready to jump right on the course and get ready for the 2008 season."

First, of course, is this coming weekend's regional meets. Ogemaw and Glenn travel to Chippewa Hills on Friday, while the rest of the league teams are at Delta College on Saturday.

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