BY MARK URBAN
TRAVERSE CITY -- Just like she did in high school, Marissa Treece had one goal when it came to the Cherry Festival 15K race.
"I came out here to win," said the 19-year-old former Glen Lake standout. "My goal was to break an hour and I went through it in like 56:30 or something.
"I did what I set out to do."
Actually, Treece crossed the finish line in 56:21.85. That time would have put her 20th in the men's race.
Of course, that's who Treece was running with for most of the race Saturday morning.
"I raced with the guys," said Treece, who will be a sophomore at Notre Dame in the fall. "I'm not really sure when the next girl came in. I paced with the guys, then tried to pick them off one at a time.
"I just tried to set a steady pace and see where it went from there. I picked them off one at a time and it seemed to work out pretty well."
Portland's Rita Arndt-Molis in second to Treece in 59:57.9. Former TC Central and Grand Valley State University runner Adrian Chouinard was third in 1:00:27.55.
Laura Cooper of Kent City was the women's masters winner in the 15K, posting a time of 1:01:58.55.
Arndt-Molis, an assistant track and cross-country coach at Michigan State University, said she wasn't surprised to see Treece come out and take the title.
"Marissa beat me and I recruited her a couple of years ago," Arndt-Molis said. "She went to Notre Dame instead, so I guess she beat me again.
"There's a reason I recruited her."
One of those reasons was Treece's ability to turn an equalizer into the separator. In this case, it was McKinley Hill.
"I think I gained some ground because I train on hills all the time," Treece said. "Where I'm from, I run on the lakeshore and it's up and down and all over the place. So I train on hills a lot and it definitely adds to one of my strengths."
Treece hopes her victory -- in the longest race of her career -- is a good omen for her sophomore season with the Irish. Treece had her cross country season in the fall interrupted by mononucleosis and a trip to the World Junior Cross Country Championships in Scotland at the end of March set back her training for track season.
"It's just a sign to me that I'm getting back into it," Treece said. "It's just a sign that the fall is going to be a lot better than last year."
Also getting back into racing mode is Chouinard. She won the 15K at the Cherry Festival in 2006.
Chouinard, who graduated from Grand Valley in 2007, now lives in Colorado Springs with her fiancee and works as a financial planner.
"I took a year off from running and get out to Colorado Springs," she said. "I started running for the Boulder Running Club. Now I'm just started to get back into it."
Chouinard got back into it with a new personal-best. Her old mark was 1:00:50.
For Arndt-Molis, the Cherry Festival races are the cap to a reunion with some of her Michigan State classmates.
"There's about eight of us that come up for a reunion and torture ourselves by running after behaving completely inappropriate for two days," the 29-year-old said.
But there's also a reason they pick the Cherry Festival and Traverse City for the gathering.
"It's purely Michigan," Arndt-Molis said.
