BY WENDI REARDON
Clarkston News Sports Writer
The Lady Wolves topped the events at the MHSAA Track and Field Regional to bring home their second consecutive championship.
“I was excited for them,” said Kevin Breen, head coach. “Going into it we knew there were a couple of tough teams we were going to be up against – especially Bloomfield Hills. Looking into it as a coach you always do your homework and see who the best teams are and keep track of the score along the way.”
While Bloomfield Hills took top places in some of the field events including the long jimp and discus, Clarkston had depth in distance and sprint events.
“The girls really stepped up,” said Breen. “We got some surprise points from the long jump and the discus. It was a good hard fought battle. Everyone did their part and did well. Near the end we knew it was close. We sealed the deal in the two mile – it put us out of reach for Bloomfield Hills to catch us.”
Elizabeth Dalrymple was champion in the 1,600-meter run, 5:03.95, helping to boost the Lady Wolves to a total of 98.5 points for the regional title.
Nicole Hanson finished as runner-up in the 3,200-meter run, 10:55.67 and Dalrymple finished in fourth place, 11:05.13.
In sprints, Kayla Russell finished in third place in the 200-meter dash, 26.47; and Jala Smith, fifth place, 27.17.
Russell finished fourth place in the 100-meter dash and Lauren Fecko finished in sixth, 13.31;
Allie Eriksen finished in fifth place in the 400-meter run, 1:00.59; and Grace Craft finished in tenth, 1:05.30.
The Lady Wolves took three places in the 800-meter run with Mallory Ferguson in sixth place, 2:20.64; Emily Ferguson, seventh place, 2:25.32; and Abby Horning, 13th place, 2:31.79.
Emily Gustafson finished in ninth place in the 1,600-meter run, 5:31.88.
The Lady Wolves had two relay teams finish in second place with Smith, Eriksen, Russell and Makayla Owens finishing in 1:46.89 in the 800-meter relay; and Hanson, Dalrymple and the Ferguson sisters finished 9:28.31 in the 3,200-meter relay.
Smith, Owens, Fecko and Russell finished in fifth place in the 400-meter relay, 51.51; and the team of Smith, Eriksen and the Ferguson sisters finished in seventh in the 1,600-meter relay, 4:12.44.
Courtney Roland led the Lady Wolves in the 100-meter hurdles with a third place finish, 16.23. She also finished in 16th place in the 300-meter hurdles, 52.60.
In field events, Roland finished in second place in the high jump, 5-02; and Megan Nicholson, fifth place, 4-10; Tiana Phillips, fifth place, pole vault, 8-00; Holly Woods, sixth place, discus, 109-10; Trinity Roodbeen, seventh place, long jump, 15-05; Alex Touchstone, long jump, 16th place, 14-03. Molly Nicholson finished in 21st place in the shot put while Alysa Perez finished in 25th place, 25-00.
The boys finished in sixth place with 52 points as Romeo won the title as regional champ with 82 points.
“They did really well,” said Breen. “The boys team is really coming around. We had our strong events.”
Derrick Egli finished in third place in the 800-meter run while setting a personal best at 1:57.95.
Max Salter finished in fourth place in the 200-meter dash, 23.37.
“You always have events you do well in and some events you wish you could do better in,” Breen said, explaining Grant Telfer pulled his hamstring during the preliminaries during the 200-meter dash. “Right there was a huge blow – he was ranked first in 100 and 200. It puts you out of the race.”
The Wolves had two top ten finishers in the 1,600-meter run with Gavin Eisert in fourth place, 4:32.9; and Shawn Slater in seventh place, 4:38.55. Also, two in the 3,200-meter run with Jacob Dolan in third place, 9:53.46; and Mika Juuhl, 10:02.87.
Dalton Sampson and Matthew Baker competed in the 400-meter dash as Sampson finished in 11th, 54.38; and Baker in 14th, 54.71.
Donovan Tolbert finished in seventh place in the 110-meter hurdles, 16.50; and 15th place in the 300-meter hurdles. Trevor Chamberlain finished in tenth place in the 300-meter hurdles, 43.58.
Salter, Sampson, Telfer and Shaquille Blevins led the relay teams as they finished the 800-meter relay in fourth place, 1:32.51.
Blevins and Sampson joined Egli and Baker in the 1,600-meter relay for a fifth place finish, 3:32.79.
Eric Smith, Derek Opel, Nickolas Favazza and Timothy Dalrymple also finished in fifth place for the 3,200-meter relay, 8:25.53.
Salter, Blevins, Jacob Wagner and Marwin Chambers finished in ninth place in the 400-meter relay, 45.29.
For field events, Sam Bullen finished in fourth place in discus, 143-07; and 14th place in the shot put, 40-03.25. Brett Cook finished in 18th place in the shot put, 37-05.25.
Jayden Hutchons finished the high jump in third place, 6-01; and the long jump in 16th place, 17-05.5.
Josh Kelley finished the high jump in sixth place, 5-08; and Gino Paese finished the long jump in 14th place, 17-07.75.
“We have a group that’s definitely growing and young,” said Breen. “The boys team is looking solid and I look forward to seeing what they can do in the future. They are developing well.”
The teams head to the Oakland County meet on Friday and the freshman athletes go to the ninth grader county meet on Saturday.