BROOKLYN (11/6/04) - Beware Martians and Dreadnaughts, runner pileups and early stops, rivals changing colors (to no avail) and divisions (to all avail), and the K-VACUUM.

Such was the story at the Michigan High School Athletic Association Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals, where six teams won repeat titles, including one in a new division, and all returning individual champs were dethroned.

One learns to expect the unexpected when more than 2,000 teens converge on Michigan International Speedway the week after Halloween and elections.

Mid-60s sunshine? Yup. Soggy surfaces? At MIS, they make all the difference. When dry, the course - flat, with broad turns - is almost like track on grass. When moist, like this year, the sand spread across the auto racetrack clumps in spikes, and turf - especially on the track apron near the finish - gets chewn to mud through the day's eight races.

In short, anything can happen. And it will.

Mars Attacks
Photo: Janee Jones

Goodrich calls its teams Martians, but its harriers don't need saucers in which to fly. Senior Janee Jones jetted to an easy win the morning's first race, Division 3 girls, with an 18:07.95. Kalamazoo Christian junior Leah Reames (18:54.95) was a distant second.

Sophomore twins Kayla and Kaitlin O'Mara finished sixth and eighth respectively, helping Goodrich capture its second-straight team crown. Defending individual champ Jaime Watson, an Allendale senior, placed fourth this year.

Homestretch Blues
Photo: Marissa Treece

It's not unusual to see one or two runners stagger - perhaps dehydrated, spent, delirious - near the finish, during the course of eight state-meet races.

But three in the same race? From the same school? And their team places second despite it? Such was Southfield Christian's fate in race two, Division 4 girls, this day.

Big Rapids Crossroads Academy became the first MHSAA charter- school champ history with a low score of 115 points. Southfield Christian, with 146, was left to wonder "what if" just one of its struggling trio hadn't lost dozens of places during the final meters.

Laura Rolf, a Rochester Hills Northwest Lutheran senior denied a shot at her third individual D4 title due to injury, watched Maple City Glen Lake sophomore Marissa Treece take the honors in 18:20.7. Katie Rolf, Laura's sophomore sister, finished sixth.

Springs Springs Upset
Photo: Josh Hofbauer

Mission accomplished? Defending D3 boys champ Grand Rapids West Catholic may have thought so after toppling top-ranked Williamston, this year's favorite. But the Falcons overlooked Harbor Springs.

Springs, moving up after two straight D4 titles, sprung the upset, led by senior Josh Hofbauer's first-place 15:48.1. Essexville Garber junior Zac Gallagher battled Hofbauer most of the race before settling for second in 15:53.95.

The day's fastest-freshman honors went to the wonderfully-named Maverick Darling of Ovid Elsie, ninth in 16:13.45.

Black Cats Pounce
Photo: Justin Todd

Hesperia took advantage of Harbor Springs' D4 abdication by winning its first state title, of any kind, in school history. All seven Panthers ran PRs, and every tenth of a second mattered.

After counting and recounting totals more times than Florida election inspectors, officials announced Hesperia had edged top-ranked Bear Lake, 124 to 125. The Panther faithful made more noise per capita than anyone this side of Donald Trump when trophies were handed out.

Gangly Climax-Scotts senior Justin Todd made visible use of his arms, knees and willpower to place first among individuals in 16:28.9.

CC Chameleons
Photo: Bekah Smeltzer, no. 642 leads Molly Waterhouse.

East Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Christian, 1-2 in last year's D2 girls meet and ranked the same going into this one, decided separately on the same strategy. To prevent their neighbor rivals from keying off them, EGR wore yellow singlets instead of their usual navy-blue ones; and GRC wore black, not their regular powder-blue.

Then the two were assigned starting boxes next to each other. Oh well...

East senior Laura Malnor, last year's champion, fell to fifth, but had enough team support for the Pioneers to top GRC once again.

Monroe Jefferson sophomore Bekah Smeltzer, runnerup last fall, pulled away from Vicksburg frosh phenom Molly Waterhouse to win in the day's fastest girls time, 17:51.4. Another prodigy, Wayland sophomore Jessica Armstrong, almost caught Waterhouse at the end.

Wolves Survive Selves
Photo: Eileen Creutz, no. 179, Liz Mengyan, no. 22, & Rachel Wittum, no. 167 lead D1 girls.

Defending champ Clarkston, ranked third in the nation, was expected to dominate D1 girls. But when five Wolves fell in an early pileup, then senior Liz Mengyan, leading the race, stopped, mistaking the three-mile mats for the finish, the last train to Clarkston appeared to be leaving at the station.

But the fallen runners got up. Mengyan - passed by Saline junior Eileen Creutz, eventual champion in 18:02.25, and last year's queen, Rockford sophomore Rachel Wittum - resumed running, hung onto third, and the Wolves prevailed.

D's Dominate
Photo: Riley Klingel, no. 848 and Dan Roberts lead D2 boys.

The Dexter Dreadnaughts and Vicksburg's Dan Roberts ruled D2 boys, despite Fremont's efforts at liberation.

Dexter, ranked No. 1 all year, won its third straight team title, placing seniors Lex Williams and Tony Nalli among the top-seven individuals. Roberts, a junior, ran to form as well, crossing in 15:19.05, the day's fastest time.

Fremont, home of Gerber Baby Foods, wasn't exactly stewed prunes either. Senior Riley Klingel, individual champ as a sophomore, pushed Roberts from start to finish, placing second in 15:22.05. The Packers, packing two more runners among the top 34, also settled for second place as a team.

Sweeping Up
Photo: Justin Switzer

How strong is the Kensington Valley Conference? Consider this: defending Division 1 boys champ Milford, ranked among the top teams in the nation, placed only third in the KVC.

The Mavericks' top five broke 16:50 at this year's state meet, but so did Pinckney's. Novi, another K-VACUUM power, saw its fifth cross in 16:52. When the dust cleared, numbers were crunched and all the computer gigs had bitten, it was Milford first, Pinckney second, Novi fourth. and White Lake Lakeland - a second-division KVC team - ninth in state.

Waterford Kettering senior Justin Switzer - whose only loss this year was to Oakland County Meet officials, who disqualified him for wearing an earring, after he'd finished first - showed he didn't need jewelry to shine. Switzer, third behind two seniors at last year's finals, won in 15:22.2.

Playing Bridge
What does all this portend for next year's state meet? I'm ready to sell you a bridge, if you think I have any inkling.

And Brooklyn, Mich., doesn't even have a bridge. For complete race results, visit michiganrunner.net/results/searchable.html. MR