DIVISION   1:                                           State Final Qualifiers    2004                                    

D1 BOYS::::::::     27 Teams:    52 Individual   Boys, 3   Individual   Region Champions:   1, 5 and 7

The D1 cross country team championship will probably be a neighborhood brawl.   Six of the top ranked teams probably lie within in a circle, with a radius of 50 miles.   Milford, Novi, Pioneer, Huron, Pinckney, Howell and Churchill are not to far from the from I-94, I-96, I-275 intersections.    These teams have had some meetings, but have also had to read about each other all season as they share many of the same media outlets.   they were close together, but at the same time they ran in three different regions making it possible for all to advance to the Finals and settle the championship where it should be settled, at the finals.

Milford will be trying to repeat this year, while Huron will try to improve on their second place finish.   Milford has set on the top of the rankings since the first week.   Huron shared the top ranking with Milford the first week.   Pioneer , Pinckney and Novi were 5th, 6th and 7th respectively last year and have been in the top five.   Churchill and Howell were not in the team race last year.   This may well be the best race of the day.   Milford won the Midwest meet and topped Novi at the Oakland County Meet.   Novi beat Pinckney at the Spartan Invitational and also won at Walled Lake.   Pinckney won at Tortoise & Hare finishing behind Pioneer at Portage and losing to top ranked D2 Dexter at Richard.   Those three played round robbin in the KVA all finishing with a dual record of 6-1, with Novi winning the conference meet, Pinckney second and Milford third.   Pioneer has won at Holly, Carson City and Oxford losing to an Ohio team at Portage.   Howell ahs won at Haslett, losing to Pioneer at Holly and Williamston, D# number 1, at the Greater Lansing.   Churchill has come on late in the season winning the Macomb county meet finishing behind Dexter and Pinckney at Richard.   This will probably be the most competitive team race Saturday.

Justin Switzer/Waterford Kettering, 3rd in '03,   leads a group of six returning individuals that finished in the top 20 at the D1 Finals in '03.   Mark Moore/Novi- 10th, Amol Huprikar/Novi-13th, Riak Mabil/Grand Ledge-16th, John Black/Birmingham Br. Rice-17th and Ian Boyle/Pinckney.   Rounding out the group of returning all-state runners in D1 are Jimmy Partridge/Sterling Hgts, Morten Stensones-Froms/Ann Arbor Pioneer, Nick Katsefares/Pinckney and Curtis Yollmar/Grand Blanc.   All of these runners are seniors.

Switzer has labeled himself as the runner to beat.   He had impressive wins at the West Bloomfield and Spartan Invitationals and other invitationals, besting Black, Moore and many other of the top D1 runners.   His only loss was due to a disqualification at the Oakaland Ccounty Meet.   Chasing Switzer home were Katsefares , at Spartan, and Black, at West Bloomfield.   Black was the winner at Oakland Cocunty when Switzer was DQ'd.   Black also has had solid wins at the Detroit Catholic Central and Hanson's Invitationals.   Moore has a pair of big meet thirds, Spartan and Oakland County, and should be in the race.

Mabil has won at Carson City and Greater Lansing to go with his 4th at Spartan.   Boyle , while not winning a major invitational has a pair of seconds, Tortoise & Hare and Richard, with a third at Portage.

Runners that if not competing for the individual title certainly should be in the race for all-state.   Anderson /Milford was thirs at the Midwest & Detroit Catholic Invites, with a 4th at Oakland County.   Daoud /Ann Arbor Huron won at Bath, New Boston Huron, Haslett, with a 4th at Portage.   Pitcock /Milford had a pair of seconds, Detroit Catholic and Oakland County, with at 5th at the Midwest meet.

There are several other runners that have impressive credentials and will be a factor Saturday. That is why we run the race.

D1 GIRLS::::::::     27 Teams:    52 Individual   Girls, 2   Individual   Region Champions:   1 and 8

Clarkston seems to be the favorite, retaining their D1 Championship.   They graduated only one runner from last year's championship team are replaced her with a champion from Ohio.   They have been a solid number 1 since the polls started this year and should end the season that way. They had impressive wins at the Midwest, Spartan, Jackson and Oakland County meets.    Rockford , Saline, Traverse City Central and Okemos seem to be the best bets to challenge Clarkston.   Rockford   lost to Clarkston at the Midwest and Spartan meets, but has won at Benzie, Bath, Carson City and Portage.   Saline has won at Richard, losing to Clarkston atJackson and Portage.   Traverse City Central and Okemos have been in the thick of things all year and should be at MIS.

Twenty one of the top 30, all-state, runners from 2003 returned for the 2004 season.   Rachel Wittum /Rockford won the individual title last year and had impressive wins at the Carson City and Portage Invitatitonals.   She will be hard pressed by Jennifer Morgan /Clarkston.   Morgan is a transfer from Ohio, where she won one of the smaller class championships last year.   Jennifer has four impressive invitational wins this year as she won at the Midwest, Spartan, Jackson and Oakland County meets.  

The other twenty returning all-state runners have had a mixed year.   Several have won more than one invitational, but do not have the quality wins of Wittum and Morgan.   Several have not ran well this season.   Additionally there is another 15 or so girls that have solid performance to their credit and and will be pushing for the top 30.   The D1 Girls Individual race may be the best race of the day with these two champions going at it and a competitive field after them.

DIVISION   2:                                           State Final Qualifiers    2004                                    

BOYS:::::::::     27 Teams:    67 Individual   boys, 2   Individual   Region Champions:     17 and 18

Dexter appears to be poised to pick up their third consecutive D2 Championship. They have sat on top of the polls all season and their running has justified it. Their only invitational loss this year was at the Midwest meet as the finished fourth to top ranked D1 Milford and a couple of top ranked Ohio teams.   They had impressive wins at Holly, Chelsea, Portage and Richard. Lahser, Fremont and Powers all appear to be capable of making a run for the title.    Lahser   won at west Bloomfield and Jackson. Their losses at Spartan, Oakland and Oxford were to teams rankied in the top five in D1.   Fremont lost to Dexter at Portage, with wins at Ludington, Fremont and Carson city.   Powers lost to Lahser at West Bloomfield and Dexter at Holly.   they won the Greater Flint and Richard meets.

Dexter's advantage seems to be the fact they have two individuals that could be running for the individual title.   Lahser and Fremont each having one individual capable of making a run for the individual title.   Only Powers, of this group, seems to be lacking a contender for the individual title.

  Fifteen all-state runners from 2003 return, led by Dan Roberts /Vicksburg.   Roberts, third in '03,   seems to be the runner to beat.   He had impressive wins at Holly & Portage, with additional wins at G Kzoo, Centreville and Otsego.   He beat most of the top D2 runners at Holly & Portage.   Michael Quick /Lahser won at West Bloomfield, Spartan and Jackson Invitationals and only lost to D1 runners in the Oakland County and Oxford meets. These two should have a very interesting run.   this may be the best boy's race of the day.   All fifteen of the returning all-state runners are seniors.  

  Riley Klingel /Fremont, Tony Nalli /Dexter, Jay Billsborrow /Coldwater, Lex Williams /Dexter, Jeff Steadfast /St. Clair   should be able to make a race of it.   Klingel was the individual champion in 2002, finishing 5th last year.   He has won five invitationals losing to Roberts at Portage.   Williams finished 4th at the Midwest Meet, winning at Chelsea & Richard and has lost twice to Roberts and once to Klingel.   Billsborrow is the only one of this group that was not all-state last year.    Nalli, second last year, while not having won an invitational this year has always been right there.

GIRLS::::::     27 Teams:    57 Individual   boys,2   Individual   Region Champions:     13 and 14

T he D2 Girl's Finals looks to be a re-run of the 2003 Finals as the top 4 team in the 2003 meet are ranked as the top four this year, in the same order.   Defending champion East Grand Rapids seems to be the team to beat.   They had solid wins at Pioneer, Jackson, Carson City and Portage.   They earned their number one ranking this year by beating their top competition, Grand Rapids Christian , Battle Creek Lakeview   and Monroe Jefferson at invitationals during the course of the season.   Last year's runner-up, Grand Rapids Christian, is number two in the polls this year.   Christian has lost to East at a couple of invitationals, but they also handed East their only invitational loss at Sparta.   Lakeview won their own invitational and the Fox & Hounds meet.   Jefferson's only loss was to East at Carson city, where they beat both Christian and Lakeview.   They won at Richard, Huron, Jefferson and Hudson.   Jefferson's strength is they have two individual capable of winning the race.

D3 returns 23 all-state runners from the '03 State Finals led by defending champion Laura Malnor /East Grand Rapids.   She finished 11th at the Great Midwest meet in Ohio, winning Spartan and a coupld of smaller invites.   She lost to 2003 runner-up Laura Smeltzer /Monroe Jefferson.   Laura showed she will be a facto in the individual race with wins at Jefferson and Carson City and an impressive second at the Midwest meet.   A couple more D2 All-state runners from '03 Jessica Armstrong /Wayland, Alicia Hoffman /Jefferson and D3 All-Stater from Boyne City, now running for Gaylord, Theresann Zimmerman have shown they will be in the hunt for the individual title.   Armstrong won at Spartan and was third at Portage.   Hoffman has beaten teammate Smeltzer at Richard and was with her at Jefferson and Carson city.   Zimmerman was second at Spartan.   Add to the mix Molly Waterhousse /Vicksburg who has solid wins at Holly and Portage to go along with wins at Greater Kzoo, Centreville and Otsego and you have a solid field in the D@ Individu8al race.

DIVISION   3:                                           State Final Qualifiers    2004                               

BOYS:::::::      27 Teams:    62 Individual   boys,   3 Individual   Region Champions:     20, 21 and 26

  D3 Boys may be another race that is a re-run of the '03 final Meet.   Defending champion West Catholic has slipped to three in the polls.   the have looked like a champion winning at Sparta, Lowell, Allegan and Richard.   their   only loss whas when they wend up at Carson City and finished behind D2 power Fremont and D3 rival Williamston.   Williamston , second in '03, moved to the top position in the polls after beating West Catholic at Carson City.   They had another second at Jackson when they ran in D2, losing to another D2 power, Lahser.   they won at Benzie, Bath, Spartan and Greater Lansing.   Shepherd , third last year, has wins at Corunna, Holly, Portage and Shepherd.   they have lost to both West and Williamston.   Stockbridge, Harbor Springs and Allendale all have the potential to make thins interesting for the top 3.

Eighteen all-state runners from 2003 return, the top two individuals graduated.   Daniel Clark /Lumen Christi seems to be the runner to berat.   He has won ABC, Holly, Haslett and Portage invitationals.   He finished second at West Bloomfield to Quick/Lahser, one of the D2 favorites and was third at Jackson, again finishing behind Quick and also Bilsborrow/Coldwater, another D2 favorite.   Adam Smith /Ovid-Elsie seems to have earned consideration with wins at Carson City, Corunna and Ovid-Elsie.   Nathan Master /Beaverton, Paul Lange /Lainsburg and Zac Gallagher /Garber should also be in the thick of things.

GIRLS::::::       27 Teams:    60 Individual   boys,   2   Individual   Region Champions:     22 and 27

The D3 Final Meet is setting up to be a re-run of the 2003 meet as the top three teams last year are the top 3 ranked teams this year.   Defending champion Goodrich has clearly established themselves at the D3 team to beat.   They had solid wins at Tortiois & Hare and Bloomer.   They probably could have won a couple other meets, but elected to run in D1.   they finished second to Clarkston at Spartan and second to Rockford at Portage.   They also finished fourth at the Midwest meet.   They have been ranked number one all season and have earned it with their running.

Runner-up Hillsdale is currently second in the polls.   they had solid wins at KFC, Bath, Holly and Richard invitationals.   They finished second to D2, top ranked, East Grand Rapids at Jackson.   Third in the polls and third at MIS last year, Lumen Chirsti beat   Hillsdale in winning at Portage a couple of week ago.   They have wins West Bloomfield and Haslett.    The race this year at D2 will probably be for the runner-up trophy.

The top seven individuals at MIS last year in D3 were all underclassmen and all have had solid seasons in '04.   The only one from that group that will definitely not be in the race this year is Thereseann Zimmerman   She ran for Boyne City and this year is at Gaylord in D2.   Defending champion, Jamime Watson /Allendale has had impressive wins at Portage, Lowell and Carson City.   She ran in a different race than the Goodrich girls, having a better time that all but jones and their times were just seconds apart.   Megan Young /Detroit Country Day , 5th in '03, beat Watson at Holly , but has been up and down this season.   Third place in '03, Erin Batt /Hillsdale, finished behind both Young and Watson at Holly and Watson at Portage, but has had a solid year.   Individual runner-up last year, Kayla O'Mara /Goodrich, has been upstaged by teammate Jane Jones , while temmate and sister Kaitlin O'Mara is not far behind.

DIVISION   4:                                           State Final Qualifiers    2004                               

BOYS::::::      27 Teams:    62 Individual   boys,   3 Individual   Region Champions:     20, 21 and 26