STANDISH-STERLING - May 23, 2007 - Ogemaw Heights won just one individual event at Wednesday's boys North East Michigan Conference track and field finals.
But thanks to a solid top-to-bottom performance and a breakout night by several young Falcons, Ogemaw claimed the biggest prize of all, edging John Glenn and Standish-Sterling in a tight-three-way race for the team conference title.
Including points earned during the regular season dual-meet wins, the Falcons (142) got by the Bobcats (140) and Panthers (135) to reclaim the conference title won by Glenn a year ago. Tawas Area (109) finished fourth, followed by Whittemore-Prescott (82), Oscoda (43) and Pinconning (16).
Ogemaw Heights boys coach Doug Grezeszak went so far as to call the victory "a small miracle ... in Northern Michigan" as projected seedings had the Falcons finishing a whopping 65 points behind Glenn and behind SSC as well. And though projecting results based on mid-season events is a risky proposition at best, Greseszak had expressed concern about his team's chances after finishing nearly 80 points behind Glenn at the Bobcats' invitational on May 4.
The Falcons held a slight lead heading into the final four events of the night, but the 300-meter hurdles tightened things into a virtual three-way dead heat. Standish-Sterling's Casey Potts (41.47) and Ralph Stelter (42.57) swept the top two spots, with John Glenn's David Nichols and Chris Schumann taking third and fourth. Mike Roe (5th, 43.84) ) and Garrett Rodriguez (8th, 45.08) placed as well with points that proved to be critical.
The Falcons answered with Zach Lynch's victory in the 800 (2:04.55), with freshman Erik VanOosten coming through with a third-place (2:06.03) finish to offset most of what Glenn gained by Tyler Wejowski's second-place finish.
Oscoda's Trent Fouchey - the only person to win three individual events - and Tawas Area's Tyler Bischoff helped the Falcons' cause by winning the 200 (23,64) and 3200 (10:05.13), respectively, with Glenn's Josh Light taking second in the 200 and Wejowski second in the 3200.
Ogemaw got critical points in the 3200, though from its all-underclass distance trio of freshman Martin Nelkie (4th, 10:45.99) and sophomores Michael Lentz (5th, 11:00.57) and Brian Marshall (9th, 11:14.48) to set the stage for the 4x400, with the Falcons and Bobcats tied for the top spot and SSC just four points back.
SSC needed help from at least one and possibly two other squads to overtake both Ogemaw and Glenn in the relay to win the league title, but beyond that the Falcons and Bobcats only needed to defeat each other to claim the big prize.
Grezeszak said that was far from a sure thing.
"All four runners were exhausted," he said. "So much so that Casey Smith had literally been unable to stand at one point earlier in the night because of the (80-degree-plus) heat. We packed him in ice and cool water and gave him the choice of whether to run or not."
Smith ran the opening leg and kept the Falcons in the hunt behind a strong Whittemore-Prescott relay squad that ended up winning the race. Falcon teammates and fans lining the fence along the back stretch -- "The famous wall of cheering Falcons," Grezeszak said -- provided the backdrop as Erik VanOosten ran his personal-best split and Lynch and Matt Franklin kept their splits in the low 51-second range to finish second behind W-P's Jared Dietzel, Sean Siegrist, Dakota Popielarz and Jeff Pokorny, but ahead of both SSC and Glenn.
"What a night!" Grezeszak, who was doused with a cooler-full of water after the final announcement of the Falcons' victory. "The celebration was fantastic. We graduate some good stuff, but have tons of great youngsters coming back.
"We won this meet as a team, scoring many people from third to eighth to overcome other teams' one scorer up front. (It was) true 'team' track and field. It was very hot and humid as well and our conditioning really showed up as the night went on."
The Falcons did get two relay victories, with Pete VanOosten, Michael Morris, Erik VanOosten and Lynch taking the 4x800 (8:39.41) and Jay Boycott, Chad Avram, Bruce Vermillion and Bryan Williams claiming the 4x100 (45.52).
Ogemaw is not the only team that will return a lot of young talent next season. Standish-Sterling should again be in the hunt as the majority of its points came from underclassmen. The most significant exception to that will be state qualifiers Keith Schmidt and Derek Welmers. Schmidt took second in the shot put (49-0.5) to junior teammate Mark Stawowy (51-2.5), while Welmers won the 1600 (4:32.70), entered the 800 for the first time this season and finished fifth (2:08.28) and took sixth in the 3200 (11:11.13) as well as anchoring the second-place 4x800 relay (8:42.91).
Winning events for John Glenn were Chad Skrocki in the pole vault (12-9), who edged Ogemaw senior Bruce Vermillion in a two-way battle for the top spot; and David Nichols in the 110 hurdles (15.91). Tyler Wejowski had perhaps the most frustrating day in terms of individual finishes with second-place performances in the 1600 (4:37.18), 800 (2:06.03) and 3200 (10:28.45).
In addition to his win in the 200, Oscoda's Fouchey also won the 100 (11.78) and 400 (51.10). The only other multiple winner was Whittemore-Prescott's Billy Raushi in the high jump (6-1) and long jump (19-10.5). W-P's other winner was Kane Dietzel in the discus (129-6).
Though Bischoff was the lone Tawas individual winner, the 4x200 relay of Jeff Janis, Alex Revord, William Schmidt and Tyler Klenow won with a time of 1:35.16, edgings SSC's (1:35.39) Potts, Austin Collier, Mitchell McFarland and Trevor Trombley.
Other top finishers
... for Ogemaw included Bruce Vermillion (2nd, 12-6) in the pole vault; Anthony Carollo in the discus (3rd, 123-6); Mike Roe (3rd, 5-10) and Casey Smith (6th, 5-8) in the high jump; Andrew Vollmer (5th, 10-6) in the pole vault; Shea Smolinski (5th, 42-0.75) and Justin Brindley (8th, 41-0) in the shot put; Mike Roe (2nd, 16.41), Greg Simmons (4th, 16.58) and Garrett Rodriguez (7th, 18.15) in the 110 hurdles; Matt Franklin in the 100 (5th, 11.99), 400 (3rd, 52.03) and 200 (5th, 24.17); Bryan Williams in the 100 (8th, 12.14); the 4x200 relay team of Vermillion, Williams, Chad Avram and Casey Smith (3rd, 1:36.36); Michael Lentz (4th, 4:49.69), Michael Morris (7th, 5:05.27) and James Padden (8th, 5:07.92) in the 1600; and Pete VanOosten (7th, 2:10.34) in the 800.
... for Standish-Sterling were Austin Collier in the high jump (2nd, 6-0), 400 (2nd, 51.63) and 200 (3rd, 23.97); Mitchell McFarland and Trevor Trombley (tied each other for 5th, 18-6.5) in the long jump; Trombley in the pole vault (6th, 10-0); Adam Gulvas in the shot put (4th, 44-4.25); Ralph Stelter in the 110 hurdles (6th, 17.58); Ryan Pickvet in the 1600 (5th, 4:57.06) and 3200 (3rd, 10:41.80); the 4x100 relay (6th, 48.29); McFarland in the 400 (8th, 55.64); Ryan May in the 800 (6th, 2:08.67); and the 4x400 relay (3rd, 3:36.50).
... for Tawas included Ky Barnes in the discus (2nd, 128-4) and shot put (7th, 41-6.75); Ryan McArdle in the discus (4th, 123-0); Kyle Knapp in the discus (7th, 114-8); Wayne Enzenberger in the high jump (4th 5-10), pole vault (3rd, 11-6) and 800 (4th, 2:07.07); Thomas Domerese in the long jump (7th, 17-9.5) and pole vault (4th, 11-0); William Schmidt in the pole vault (8th, 9-6); Andrew Salwey in the shot put (6th, 41-7.5); Bischoff, Guy Cotter, Jordan Smith and Jacob Winn in the 4x800 (4th, 9:12.24); Alex Revord in the 100 (4th, 11.98) and 200 (6th, 24.82); Bischoff in the 1600 (3rd, 4:42.33); Janis, Klenow, Revord and Schmidt in the 4x100 (3rd, 45.85); Smith in the 800 (8th, 2:11.93); Klenow in the 200 (7th, 26.61); and Ken Delage, Stephen Morris, Smith and Winn in the 4x400 (6th, 3:58.82).
... for W-P included Brandon Kubik in the discus (8th, 114-6); Robert Johnstone in the pole vault (7th, 9-6); Kane Dietzel in the shot put (3rd, 48-3); the 4x800 relay (5th, 9:14.48); Jeff Pokorny in the 100 (2nd, 11.88); the 4x200 relay (4th, 1:36.69); the 4x100 relay (4th, 45.95); and Sean Siegrist in the 400 (5th, 52.97) and 200 (4th, 24.10).
... for Oscoda were Jake Trier in the 100 (7th, 12.12); Sean Krausch, Trier, Justin Cain and Nathan Samotis in the 4x200 (6th, 1:38.39); Krausch, Trier, Cain and Fouchey in the 4x100 (5th, 46.32); Krausch in the 300 hurdles (44.57); and Krausch, Samotis, Cain and Justin Andrick in the 4x400 (5th, 3:47.61).
... for Pinconning were Josh Federspiel in the discus (6th, 116-7); Alex Bray in the high jump (5th, 5-8); Michael Grusnick in the 110 hurdles (8th, 18.91); and Anthony Willard in the 400 (6th, 54.30).
