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Michigan
International Speedway
Brooklyn, Michigan
11/3/01
By Dave
McCauley, RMDC
There were two big questions entering
the 2001 Division 2 state finals race. Would Big Rapids
hold off St. Clair for the second straight year, and would
Tim Ross end up running faster than Tim Moore.
The
rivalry between Big Rapids and St. Clair has lasted for
sometime now. At last year's finals it was a two team
race between these great teams, with Big Rapids emerging
as the team champion over the Saints of St. Clair.
For
most of the 2001 season these two teams were first and
second in the Division 2 boy's rankings. And St. Clair
would have wanted nothing more than to finally knock off
the reigning state champs. However, this just wasn't to
be their year.
Big
Rapids showed their strength once again at this year's
finals, placing their top two runners in the top ten to
claim the state title for the second straight year. Seniors
Lance Betts, sixth place, and Tim O'Hara, seventh place,
lead the way.
Big
Rapids' victory was a convincing one, finishing with 81
points. Fremont, who has won five state titles since 1983,
took second place with 130 points.
1999
Boy's Division 2 champion Flint Powers Catholic took home
third and Lahser High School, behind the second place
finish of senior Andrew Bauer, finished in fourth. St.
Clair had to settle with a respectable, yet disappointing
fifth place team finish.
That
second question of the day? Well, unfortunately, the top
two ranked boy's runners in the state could not compete
head to head at the state meet. However, Caledonia's Tim,
Tim Ross ended up with the fastest time of all divisions,
winning this year's boy's division 2 meet in a time of
15:03.
Bauer
of Lahser held on to second place with a time of 15:41
and St. Joseph's Adam Ludwig came in third in 15:54.
Ross
looked to dominate this race early, taking the field through
the first mile in a very quick 4:33. Only Bauer and Ludwig
were remotely close, with Bauer being the closest at 4:45.
For
Ross, his mind was set early on taking the race out hard.
"I wanted to go out hard and try to make the race interesting
from the start," he commented, soon after his race ended.
"I wanted to see if I could get away in the beginning."
Although
Ross had a commanding lead after the mile, he never settled
in. "I felt comfortable, but I never relaxed."
Ross,
who finished as the Division 2 individual runner up in
the 2000 state final race, had set his mind on the top
spot and has had that goal in mind for some time now.
"This
feels great. We've been planning for this my whole high
school career, and to cap it off his way at state is a
great feeling."
Andrew
Bauer's second place finished off a great senior season.
"This is great," he said. "Last year I got fifth and second
is a major improvement."
Bauer
lost just one race this season, the Oakland County Meet,
to eventual D1 Champion Tim Moore of Novi. He knew he
had his hands full with Caledonia's Ross. "I wanted to
finish (his senior season) not losing, but Tim Ross is
amazing. I'm very happy."
Although
Ross or Bauer won't be back to defend their 1-2 finish,
I'm sure we'll see more great battles for the top team
spots as Big Rapids will look for three in a row.
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