Ryan Pickvet (left) keeps pace to earn a spot at the state cross country finals this coming Saturday.
SSC's Karina Pierce runs to a ninth-place finish at Saturday's regional meet.
Courtesy photos from Dennis Pruder
SSC coach Dennis Pruder pointed out that getting a pair of Panthers to the state finals was a team effort as much as it was an indiviual one.

DELTA COLLEGE - Oct. 27, 2007 - Standish-Sterling and Tawas Area each had two athletes break through to reach the state cross country finals with their performances at the Division 3 regional at Delta College on Saturday.

In the girls race, Tawas Area finished fifth as a team, buoyed by the performances of Sandy Brandt (5th, 20:34) and Emily Short (14th, 21:31). Standish-Sterling, which took ninth overall, had freshman Karina Pierce finish ninth in 20:46.

SSC's Ryan Pickvet (13th, 17:20) made the state finals. Guy Cotter took 28th for Tawas, about 30 seconds out of the 15th and last individual finals spot.

"It's easy to forget Karina is a ninth-grader," said SSC coach Dennis Pruder. "She races with such maturity, pose and passion. Pickvet really pushed hard this whole season. He learned to race with a sense of urgency and wasn't afraid to push the pace. He's money in the bank on race day."

Also competing for the Panther boys were Mike Prohaska (57th, 20:07), Cole Manning (63rd, 20:42), Frank Michalke (70th, 21:21), Eric Carr (71st, 21:29) and Keith Doremus (83rd, 24:23).

Finishing for the SSC girls were Ashley White (46th, 23:08), Heather Hergott (53rd, 23:30), Kayla Hilyard (55th, 23:42.2), Alyssa Pruder (56th, 23:42.9), Samantha Poirier (57th, 23:49) and Alicia Trombley (71st, 26:02).

For the Tawas boys, Cotter (28th, 18:11.3) led the way, followed by Jacob Winn (36th, 18:56), Matt Hughes (67th, 21:00), Shane Whitford (73rd, 21:49.7), Bryan Bolen (79th, 22:46.9) and Brandon McMahon (88th, 26:20.9). Other girls finishers were Olivia Bolen (25th, 22;02.5), Brittany Combs (39th, 22:37.5), Bethany Britt (58th, 23:49.4), Morgan Bolen (66th, 25:19.9), and Shanna Britt (69th, 25:29.9).

Oscoda competed but didn't field full teams. For the Owls, Jeremiah Johnston (61st, 20:34.4), David Wood (80th, 22:51.9, Kyle Myers (81st, 22:54.4) and Daniel Vandruska (85th, 26:12.8) ran for the boys, while Maggie Ungurean (64th, 25:04.7) ran for the girls.

Pruder said that though only a couple of his athletes will run at the state finals this Saturday, getting them there was a team effort.

"Before we can focus on individuals it's important to look at our cross country family," Pruder said. "No one person can ever do it all. We train together, eat together, win together and lose together. We push each other every day so when an individual qualifies for the state meet it's a team honor.

"We win and lose as a family. Karina and Ryan had strong teams to make them better. We had a huge group of athletes get personal records and that made them both even better.

"They both made strong strides all through the year. They gained so much confidence as the year progressed. It's important to race with confidence and attitude. They both jumped out quickly at the regional meet and never looked back. They're both so physically and mentally strong."

The state finals take place Saturday, Nov. 3 at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.

"Our whole team is proud of them," Pruder said, "and I'm extremely proud of this whole team."