BROOKLYN (11/1/03) -- Remind me to stop in Cement City next time before I commit to cover all eight ... catch a breath here ... Michigan High School Athletic Association Lower Peninsula Cross Country Final races.

For one, it takes longer to write what they are (MHSAA LP CC Finals at Michigan International Speedway, or MIS for "short") than it takes Dustin Voss to run them.

Plus Cement City, which you hit driving east toward MIS, is perfect for dropping off rocks I had in my head for doing this.

Riding shuttles throughout an 8-x-5K near-marathon tends to callus a person's keister. It softens sentiments watching more than 2,000 teens pouring out their hearts and dreams on a vivid fall day in Michigan.

It's like desserts they call Death By Chocolate: too much of a good thing, it could kill you. It filled me with memories -- watching guys bound with flowing, '70s hair and helium feet -- of when my shoes weren't filled with concrete.

The day after Halloween was a good one to be a Martian, Dreadnaught, Maverick ...

It was a bad day to be a Rockfordite or Nicole Bush, champs who hardly need vindication, and a good one for Dan DeRusha.

It was a great day to be a Cross Country Invitational/Rankings pollster, whose No. 1 teams swept all eight divisions; but a bad day to be a returning individual champ: only one out of six such won.

"Kids Go Free in 2003" read a banner hanging outside the speedway. I faced a drive home before I could run and release in my own aging manner.

Cement City, here I come.

To Shay
The small-school Division 4 boys race packed big excitement.

In one corner of the day's first event stood defending-champ Liam Boylan-Pett of Bath, whose brother, Will, was a state-champ also.

In the other corner, also wearing blue trunks, was Central Lake's Stephan Shay, last of eight siblings whose ranks include two-time state-champ Casey Shay and four-time winner Ryan Shay, now USA Running Circuit champion.

Boylan-Pett shaved 17 seconds off last year's winning time, but it wasn't enough. Shay, who took it out hard in 2002, then faded, was stronger this time. After running Mile One together in 4:51, Shay gapped LBP. Boylan-Pett glanced sidelong near the two-mile mark as if to ask, "How do I handle this guy?" He couldn't.

Harbor Springs, with three runners in the top eight, repeated as team champ and is establishing a pedigree in its own right. But the focus was on the war between stars up front.

Shay's 15:35 was good for a 15.5-second victory and served notice the course -- flat with broad turns -- was packed and dry, meaning solid footing. Plus it was 54 degrees, windless, athletes were peaking and the adrenaline was humming.

Let the good -- and the fast -- times roll.

Perrin-OIA
Foes had reason to think Josh Perrin was out to get them. The Hillsdale senior, fifth in the D-3 boys race last year, trained like a banshee during summer. Sure, his hair flops and elbows flail, but cast your eyes lower, to what counts, and you'll see his long legs gobbling ground like the Mongol army: in giant swaths.

Perrin entered and exited the race having run the top times in the state, so far.

He led start to finish to win in 15:17.45. David Bills of Williamston -- with his clipped, classic stride -- knocked eight seconds off his title time from last year, but settled for second in 15:27.7.

Grand Rapids West Catholic captured a hotly-contested team race, tallying 113 points to Williamston's 133. Then came Shepherd with 150.

Shorn, if not sheepish, afterward was West Catholic coach Dennis Scully, who promised his team he would trade his

Jimmy Buffet-style long hair for a chrome dome if they prevailed.

The Falcons were happy to take him up.

Rolfing
No massaging these numbers: Laura Rolf rules the D-4 girls. The Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest junior was the only returning champ to retain her title, coming home in 18:29.15. Rolf's 23-second margin, over Ann Arbor Greenhills senior Katie Olson, was the biggest such of the meet.

In the team race, Traverse City St. Francis ended the Greenhills' two-year title reign, with its top five crossing within a 35-second spread. Greenhills was stronger up front, but its trail girls were too far back.

A six-time all-stater? Eighth-grader Kelcie Spruyt-Daniels, 13, took her second step toward that distinction, cracking the top 30 with a 21st-place 19:57. She has been allowed to run varsity races since last season because her school, Grand Rapids North Hills Classical Academy, has fewer than 50 students.

Two down and four to go for Kelcie. For the media marathon, three down and five to go.

Bushwacked
All eyes in the D-3 girls race were on Nicole Bush, the Wyoming Kelloggsville senior seeking to become the fifth girl in history to capture four LP titles.

Bush's 5:25 first mile put her nine seconds up on Allendale junior Jamie Watson, her friend and rival from the Grand Rapids area O-K Silver Conference. Bush still led at two miles, but said afterward her legs felt like they were burning.

Watson passed Bush, then 236 other competitors did the same. Friends and family -- who had last heard from announcers Bush was leading -- waited anxiously at the finish.

Finally the three-time defending champ appeared, walking, in the distance. After finishing second-to-last in 29:29.4, Bush was taken by ambulance to the MIS medical building and given 2.5 quarts of fluid for dehydration.

Bush's drama overshadowed, but did not eclipse, Watson's 18:12.55 victory. The Goodrich Martians landed the team title, led by freshmen Kayla O'Mara (second in 18:12.15) and her twin sister, Kaitlin (sixth in 18:51.75).

Bush bushed? Martian twins? Was I seeing double?

Mid-day break arrived just in time.

Dustin Time
Michigan's D-1 boys race rocks. In three of the last four years, its winner has gone on to finish Foot Locker national champion.

This year's race shaped up as a showdown between last fall's 2-3 finishers: short, blond Saline senior Dustin Voss and Frank Tinney, a tall, dark senior from Ann Arbor Huron.

The question on the team side was, "Could Milford -- runnerup for the last two seasons and now The Harrier magazine's No. 2 team in America -- find a way not to win again?" Maverick Dan DeRusha had a two-year state-meet jinx going. Could he snap it? Could Milford prevail without the senior star at his best?

Voss and Tinney, the Mutt and Jeff of Michigan running, strode side-by-side through two miles in 9:48. Then Voss -- ignited by the memory of his mother, Bonnie, who died before the season began -- checked into a different time zone. His 4:37 third mile, plus sprint to the finish, put him over the line first in 14:54.45 -- third-best 5K in state-meet history.

Tinney was runnerup in 15:07.2. Third was Waterford Kettering junior Justin Switzer, the day's fastest underclassman, in 15:09.45.

Seth Thibodeau, fifth in 15:23.6, led all runners with five vowels in their last names, and Milford too. DeRusha, with his teammate lessening pressure on him, came through with an eighth-place 15:26.65. The Mavericks were on their way.

Rockford, surprise winner last year, swapped roles with Milford. The Rams, who entered the meet ranked second, placed just 13th.

Thirty-eight D-1 boys clocked in under 16 minutes. By 18 minutes, the rush of thundering spikes had passed and only stragglers -- framed by green grass, concrete racetrack and seemingly mile-high, empty bleachers -- remained to finish the course.

They and memories, of course.

Walker Runs
Does a Powers runner need "The Force"? Ask Luke "Sky" Walker. The Flint Powers senior captured a "Star Wars"-like D-2 boys race, crossing in 15:12.95.

Walker, fourth last fall after leading at the mile mark, ran off the shoulder of early pace-setter Tony Nalli, then, in the last mile, turned on the afterburners.

Nalli, a Dexter junior, had consolation. His second-place finish, in 15:26.2, led the Dreadnaughts to their second-straight team title.

Dexter had four runners in at 16:00 or better, and would have placed second -- behind only Milford -- in a "dream race" between all schools.

Vicksburg sophomore Dan Roberts, D-2 Portage Invitational champion, placed third among individuals in 15:32.8. Fremont junior Riley Klingel, defending state winner, wound up fifth.

Rams Sacked
Rockford seemed a shoo-in for its sixth-straight D-1 girls crown, before the season. The Rams returned two-time individual champ Nikki Bohnsack and five of their top-six runners. New was freshman Rachel Wittum, fastest LP girl in the state.

But Clarkston, which Rockford had clobbered in last fall's state meet, was young and hungry. The Wolverines, having stunned the Rams in September's MSU Invitational, came to MIS ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 5 in the nation. Rockford was second and sixth respectively. These were heavyweights, among slender girls, squaring off.

Wittum, tested through two miles by Saline sophomore Eileen Creutz, won in 17:55.5. Bohnsack, bothered by a strained oblique stomach muscle, placed eighth in 18:35.3 -- 52 seconds slower than last year. Still, it was so far, so good for Rockford.

Then the yellow singlets, with black C's, began arriving. Clarkston's top six crossed before Rockford's first girl had finished. The Wolverines tallied 102 points. The Rams (or Ewes?), with 131, barely held off Milford, which, inspired by its boys, placed third with 139.

Pioneers First
East Grand Rapids had won 94 state titles, none of them in cross-country, before this day's eighth and final race, among D-2 girls. The Pioneers, who were only seventh in their regional last fall, combined young talent with old-fashioned work ethic in the off-season.

Result: wins at Portage and regionals, No. 1 ranking and state-meet title. Neighbor Grand Rapids Christian finished second and Battle Creek Lakeview, with all seven girls back from last year's champs, was a distant third.

EGR's Laura Malnor, second last season as a sophomore, won in 17:54.15, best time by a girl all day. Frosh flash Bekah Smeltzer of Monroe Jefferson was runnerup in 18:00.95.

Eight of the top 21 D-2 girls were freshmen, just one a senior. Look for fast times and fierce competition in years to come. MR