Valari Ambrose was most nervous before her last state cross country finals as a high school senior in 1984. The three-time defending Class B state champ had missed six weeks of training due to a stomach virus, and had not run her first race of the season until October. She'd had less than a month to get fit for the state meet at Tyrone Hills Golf Course in Linden.

Val had placed second in the local News-Herald all-area championship, which she'd won the three previous seasons. Michelle Chapman of Grosse Ile took the title. It didn't add to Val's confidence.

"What if I don't win?" she asked her coach, Clare Girard of Riverview Gabriel Richard, prior to the state meet. Clare calmed her down by talking about all she had accomplished and how she had improved; she just needed to go out and run her own race. This relieved much of the pressure.

Now it was time to race.

Rumors of Val's exploits at Seitz Middle School started drifting down to the neighboring Gabriel Richard campus in spring 1981. She was crushing her young competition, running 800 meters as fast as 2:29.

Val's older sister, Angela, attended Richard and kept runners there up to date on Val's progress. Great, I thought. Maybe in a few years she'd be able to crack the top seven of the boys cross country team, which I coached. The school didn't have a girls team. We did not know the competitive nature and talent of this little girl at that time.

Val showed up at Gabriel Richard's first cross country practice of 1981 and fit in right away with our boys team. They were a senior-based group that was confident, loose and funny, and they would keep Val relaxed all season. "I became like their little sister," she recalls.

Word spread quickly how well she was running. Val was able to handle the varsity workouts, and our boys were defending all-area champions. When athletic director Pat O'Hara asked me to start a girls team, I balked at first. This was going to be my last year coaching; it was tough balancing those duties with student teaching at Murray-Wright High School. Starting a girls team struck me as being one more hassle. But I agreed.

Val describes her freshman season as, "one of my most enjoyable years of running. It was exciting to discover my God-given abilities." Everything was low-pressure, fresh and fun. She just loved to run.

Her freshman invitational record was one that would make any runner happy. I had set up a challenging schedule to test our guys, and Val reaped the benefits. Her results were:

* West Bloomfield Invitational, fifth place, 19:23. Nice debut.

* Holly Invitational, 19:11. Val's first invitational victory.

* Jackson Invitational, second, 18:34. Champion Cindy Reed of

Napoleon went on to win the Class C state title.

* Milford Lakeland Invitational, 19:18, first place.

* News-Herald Invitational, 18:55, first place.

* Catholic League A/B Championships, 18:26, second. Ann Walker of Royal Oak Shrine won in 18:19; Livonia Ladywood's Jennifer Rious (18:46) and Kelly Champaign (19:07) finished third and fourth.

* Regionals at Jackson, 19:32, third. Jackson Lumen Christi girls went 1- 2.

Val's second at the Catholic League finals made everyone pay attention. Our freshman was running in the big leagues. Champaign was the defending Class B team meet state champion. Rioux would win the 1984 Class B team state title, and Walker would finish second. Rioux and Champaign are still listed among the ten-fastest Michigan women ever at 10,000 meters on the track.

O'Hara asked me where I thought Val would place at the state meet. I told him top ten would be a great showing for a freshman, and maybe she'd win it by her senior season. Clueless - I was clueless.

We didn't discuss what place to shoot for before the state meet. "That kept the pressure off and worked to my advantage," Val remembers. I wanted her 25 yards behind the leaders after a half mile, and that's exactly where she was. Our only strategy after that was for her to run as only Valari Ambrose could.

Val, not suckered into a too-fast early pace, started moving up. It became a two-girl race between her and Chris Sharp of Grand Rapids Northview. Chris was running well and didn't want to give up her lead, but Val was matching her and looked fresh. Val took charge in the last half mile and poured it on.

"The (Gabriel Richard) guys were shouting encouragement the whole last part of the course," Val remembers. "One was yelling, 'One-two, one- two,' to keep me in step and focused. I was in total oxygen debt the last 100 meters. I couldn't feel my arms, legs or anything. At the end, the guys lifted me on their shoulders and carried me around. I didn't really get the impact of the race at the time."

Val finished in 18:56. Sharp was second in 19:08, and Sheryl Koeltzow of Saginaw Swan Valley third in 19:12.

Girard, who went on to become a Catholic League Hall of Fame coach, had the perfect temperament and style to guide Val through the rest of her high school running. Each year the pressure of defending her titles built, and Clare's calm demeanor helped her address that. State results for her next two years:

* 1982 Class B Individual Race (very cold day) - 1. Val (19:37), 2. Bobbi Sue Johnson, Algonac (19:57), 3. Michelle Chapman, Grosse Ile (19:59).

* 1983 Class B Individual Race - 1. Val (18:59), Amy Block, Wyoming Park (19:13), 3. Julie Watson, Hemlock (19:27).

"When I'm on the (starting) line, I'm not friends with anyone." That was Val's attitude for her fourth and final state meet. Running on experience, desire and just one month's training, she became the first runner in state history to win four straight high school cross country championships.

Just beyond the finish line, she collapsed: not from exhaustion or pain, but emotional relief.

* 1984 Class B Individual Race - 1. Val (18:41), 2. Denys Adams, Okemos (19:09), 3. Sarah Sargent, Midland Bullock Creek (19:28).

It was Val's fastest state time and largest winning margin. No one finished closer to her, in four state meets, than 14 seconds.

Val notched her first state track title in her senior year with a win in the 800 meters. She also placed second in the 1600 and fourth in the 3200. She was selected to represent the Michigan at the 1985 Midwest Meet of Champions in Ft. Wayne, Ind., running the 1600 against all-stars from several states.

"I was in last place at the half-mile mark," she recalls of that competition. "All these girls are running too fast, I was thinking. They all came back to me. Mary Peruski (Dearborn Edsel Ford) took the lead with 600 meters to go. With about 300 left, I passed Mary."

Michigan runners finished 1-2-3, with Val first, Peruski second, and Julie Watson of Hemlock third. A great finish to a storybook high school career.

Val went on to run for Hillsdale College, and held the school's indoor mile record for many years. Now, 20 years after her fourth cross country title, she is training for her first triathlon. Val works as a counselor at Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard High School.

She looks back fondly on her high school career, and especially on that carefree freshman season when she could just run with no pressure. She gives thanks to the great guys on that team who helped and accepted her that first autumn, and gives thanks to God for her talent.

Many thanks to Jeff Hollobaugh's Michigan 2000 High School Cross Country Yearbook and his Michigan 1999 High School Track & Field Yearbook for supporting data in this article. MR