Marlette's Jenna Lange, shown with her Volleyball Player of the Year Award and Four-Year Tri-Athlete Award, closes out a sensational high school athletic career by competing in two state All-Star contests. (Photo by Dale Ball)

Jenna Lange closes out 12 seasons as a three-sport varsity athlete at Marlette High School when she represents the Red Raiders in a pair of state All-Star contests. This Saturday, July 12, she will compete in the 2008 All-State Senior All-Star Volleyball Classic at Eastern Michigan University's Convocation Center in Ypsilanti. Three weeks, later Lange, who will attend Oakland University on a full-ride scholarship in volleyball, will be a contestant in the girls hoops' All-Star Festival put on by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan. Only an off season at the plate this spring, perhaps, kept her from being an All-State, and All-Star-game-eligible, in softball.

A rangy 6-foot-1, Lange played four varsity seasons in all three prep sports and garnered an incredible amount of post-season honors. She was All-State in volleyball the last three years and in basketball this last winter. In volleyball this season, she was selected as the All-Thumb Player of the Year. Lange accumulated 18 All-County and All-GTC East First Team honors in four years at Marlette - All-County four years in volleyball, and three years each in basketball and softball; All-GTC East in volleyball and softball three times and basketball twice.

For Lange, right now, it's hard to believe her prep career as an athlete is at an end.

"This is weird. Marlette sports has always been my life, and it was just one sport to another all year long," reflected Lange, who has been giving private swimming lessons to youngsters and working at the city pool this summer. "Now, it's weird because I'm not going to the gym or somewhere every day."

While she will be jumping right into the women's volleyball program at Oakland right away, volleyball was not always Lange's favorite sport.

"From since the time I was young, I always wanted to play basketball in college," she said. "But then, later, some of my friends said I should keep my options open."

By the end of her sophomore year in high school, she knew volleyball would be her future.

Prep volleyball moved t the fall in the 2007-08 school year, because of the switch-of-seasons lawsuit, and Lange quickly adjusted and went on to set a new Michigan High School Athletic Association record for kills in a season, finishing with 1,063. In her four years as a middle-hitter for Coach Fred McDowell's Lady Raiders, she helped lead the team to four consecutive District titles, plus two league championships and a Regional title.

McDowell, a veteran of many varsity volleyball seasons at Lakeville and Marlette, said last November that Lange deserved all the recognition she has received for several reasons.

"Her personality, integrity and leadership are of the highest caliber. I have coached and watched many excellent high school athletes and Jenna is in the top one or two on the list."

Lange is also fortunate to have had only three varsity coaches in all of her high school endeavors. She had McDowell in volleyball four years as well as Fred Mroczek in basketball and Harold Titus in softball the same length of time.

"Mr. Titus, Mr. Mroczek, and Mr. McDowell all helped me immensely," quickly pointed out Lange. "I've had great coaches throughout my high school career.

"Mr. McDowell helped me out big time in recruiting by always talking to coaches. It made it easier for me." Lange then noted that Coach Rob Beam of Oakland showed how serious he was about recruiting her. "He came down (to Marlette) and set up his camp here one week, and he got a chance to see me play a lot.":

In basketball, she scored over 900 points in her career with the Lady Raiders, but also made a move to the point on offense and finished with over 300 assists.

Back in March of this year, Mroczek commented her hoops career. "She's always thinking about team and getting the ball to the open player. That's a sign of a great leader."

Her softball career ended in the Districts this spring. Lange batted well over .300 in four seasons, but most impressive to Coach Titus was her defensive ability at first base. In 134 games, she finished with a .968 fielding average.

"That's pretty special," explained Titus just about a month ago. "She's a well-rounded athlete that's been good in every sport she had participated. She's a great kid, too."

It was not just the coaches that had a great influence on Lange's high school athletic achievements. Her parents, Duane and Sue Lange, encouraged her from the beginning.

"They got me into sports at a young age. They supported me in everything I did," Lange said. "If I was in a hitting slump or something, my dad would take me up to the gym and work with me. Mom (who played college basketball at Oakland U.) would shag the ball for me playing basktball. They were always there. I can't remember a game ever that they weren't there."

To go along with her constant playing and practicing on a year-around basis for the last several of her school year's, Lange also excelled in the classroom. She finished with a 3.70 GPA at Marlette High and was a member of the National Honor Society. She has received Academic All-State honors along the way.

She had to pause and think a little when asked if she had other hobbies, in between playing sports and studying. "I don't know.... not much. I mainly just hang out with my friends. We have a pool in our backyard and I have friends over for a party, but that's about it."

Lange will have one last venture as a high school star when she plays in the BCAM All-Star Festival in Brighton on Saturday, August 2. It will also be a chance to play with long-time friend and teammate Kelsey Hall and Sandusky's Cassy VanConant, who will also participate in the Women's Class C-D game.

"I'm really excited about it. I'm really excited to play with Kelsey and Cassy. It'll be fun. It'll be a good way to end my high school career."

The game has extra meaning for Lange since she has been friends with Hall her whole life. Hall, an All-State center, and Lange have played in countless games together and shared in more than that, being best friends.

"Our parents knew each other. My parents moved to Marlette before we were both born," explained Lange. Mike and Tammy Hall are Kelsey's parents. "Since we were babies we were together. Tammy baby sat us right from the beginning."

Life will change for Lange shortly after the All-Star hoops game. College volleyball beckons, but so do studies. She plans to receive a degree in elementary education and then, hopefully, move into counseling.

Coach Beam has Lange, one of his four incoming freshmen, in a regular workout routine right now. She will soon go to open gyms at Oakland to work out with her new teammates. On August 6th she moves into a dorm with her Golden Grizzlies teammates. August 7th is a team-bonding trip to Cedar Pointe. Then, it's back to the Rochester campus and begin practice in a college career that, hopefully, will last five years.

She is set to red-shirt her freshman season, which is fine with her.

"I basically do everything that everybody else does on the team. I even warm-up before matches with the team, I just don't play (with the team) in games," Lange said of her first season.

Her goals for the long haul, though, are set. "I want to keep my grade point at 3.5 (all through college). I want to work hard in the weight room and in practice and work my way up." She smiled and added, "I'm starting from the bottom again."

Lange has been a beginner before, but on the bottom? Probably not.