By Wendi Reardon Price
Staff Writer
wprice@mihomepaper.com
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — Clarkston High School Cross Country teams finished in first place at the third and final OAA Red Jamboree at Clintonwood Park last Thursday.
The Clarkston Boys Varsity team finished in first place with 32 points, finishing the regular season as league champions.
“I was pleased,” said Larry Adams, head coach for the boys. “Our second goal of season after winning the county championship, which we did, was to win the league championship and we accomplished that. We were pleased with that result. We wanted to race hard and we were on our home course. We wanted to represent. We didn’t want to race all out because we have regional coming up again at home and then hopefully the state meet. We talked before the race is just get the job done and let’s go on to the next week. The course was in perfect condition. The weather was just about perfect. You couldn’t do anything, but be fast if you wanted to be.”
Adams added there were a lot of PRs and the top three runners finished under 16 minutes with senior Cayden DeGrendel in third place in the time of 15:36.70; junior Ryan Barnes, fourth, 15:41.90; and senior Jaxson Nowik, sixth, 15:52.80.

“Cayden ran a great race,” Adams said. “Right from the beginning he went out after the leader Alex McArthur from Oxford and was on him most of the race. Jaxson finally dipped under that 16-minute mark, which for him was a big breakthrough because we’ve been having a little bit of sickness, a little bit of this, a little bit of that every race. But his last couple of practices have been pretty good. I was fired up for him for Thursday. He’s pretty happy and he passed his brother on the all time Clarkston list. I was joking we would have to go from Top 15 to Top 20 times just to add the guys who have been running well and getting knocked off the board and they are great times.”
The top five also included junior David Dubeck in eighth place in the time of 16:33.10; and freshman Cooper McNaughton, 11th, 16:43.90.
Troy finished in second place with 60 points; Oxford, third, 71; Lake Orion, fourth, 77; Rochester Adams, fifth, 128; and Birmingham Seaholm, sixth, 169.
The boys JV team finished in first place with 24 points.
The top five runners were junior Trent Logan in second place in the time of 17:11.90; junior Braden Ryske, third, 17:36.20; senior Sam King, fourth, 17:36.40; sophomore Miles Foster, seventh, 17:55.60; and junior Grant Jurand, eighth, 17:58.70.
Troy finished in second place with 32 points; Rochester Adams, third, 77; Oxford, fourth, 126; Lake Orion, fifth, 140; and Birmingham Seaholm, sixth, 166.
The girls varsity team tied with Rochester Adams for first place with 57 points.
“I was really happy,” said Kevin Breen, head coach for the girls. “Anytime you are battling for first place is a good day.”
The finish in the third and first jamboree put the girls in second place in the OAA Red league.
“I knew coming in we were going to be right there, it was just how the runners finished up,” Breen said, adding they have had close races with Rochester Adams this year. “We knew we could give them a little bit of a battle. We kind of had an idea we would be there battling for a first place spot. On a good day I thought we could take them, but we didn’t quite have the best day or the day I thought we could.”
The top five runners were sophomore Avery DeGrendel in seventh place in the time of 19:13.60; sophomore Addison Brigham, eighth, 19:19.80; sophomore Kendal Russette, ninth, 19:25.30; junior Sydney Fischer, 15th, 20:23.60; and freshman Amelia Garvin, 20:29.70.
“I like that my top three girls – Avery, Addison and Kendal – are really coming together,” Breen said. “We have some team racing going on which is definitely helping them all achieve higher standards from last year. They have pushed a little bit further. Amelia made a big difference. She stepped up a lot from the last couple weeks. We’ve been kind of been over training her a little bit to try to close the gap between her and our fourth runner, and Amelia had a really breakout race.”
Oxford finished in third place with 78 points; Troy, fourth, 83; Birmingham Seaholm, fifth, 92; and Lake Orion, sixth, 104.
The girls JV team finished in first place with 34 points.
The top five runners were freshman Audrey Hoang in first place in the time of 21:16.60; freshman Kenzie Kramer, second, 21:16.90; junior Kylie Golub, third, 21:28.30; freshman Anna Bohan, seventh, 22:04; and sophomore Riley Jurand, 21st, 22:59.90.
“We had some phenomenal races out of our JV crew, which we’ve got a couple freshmen that’ll probably be moving on to the varsity team in the coming races,” Breen said. “It’s nice to see that our depth is starting to get deeper.”
Troy finished in second place with 64 points; Rochester Adams, third, 75; Lake Orion, fourth, 88; Birmingham Seaholm, 114; and Oxford, sixth, 123.
The Wolves host the MHSAA Division 1 Cross Country Regional 8 race this Friday at Clintonwood Park.
Teams at the MHSAA Division 1 Cross Country Regional 8 meet are Avondale, Bloomfield Hills, Clarkston, Lake Orion, Oxford, Rochester, Rochester Adams, Sterling Heights, Sterling Heights Stevenson, Stoney Creek, Troy, Troy Athens, Utica Ford, Warren Cousino, Warren Mott, Waterford Kettering and Waterford Mott
“We are favored closely over Oxford,” Adams said. “Oxford was not at a full strength this past week. It was Homecoming week, there was some sickness, they were missing one of their top five guys, and they were close to us. They were second to us at the county meet. We’re going to have to battle them. They’re going to come after us again. We’re going to have to go after it and that’s how we’re going to train. Last year we got beat by Troy and we don’t want that to happen again on our home course. Our goal is to win the regional and run well doing it and setting ourselves up for the following week at the state meet.”
“We know that Rochester is coming in as one of the top teams as they are one of the top teams in the state right now,” Breen said. “Then, we have Rochester Adams who’s beaten us twice. We feel pretty confident about that third place spot. I feel like we will be able to get into the states one way or another whether we have to put four girls in the top 20 or if we’re that third place team that squeaks in.”
Both coaches added it’s beneficial the runners know the course.
“We’ve made sure that we got we our last couple real tough workouts we’ve done on the course itself just to make sure that we’re running fast at all parts of the course,” Adams said. “They know how to push through during the race. They feel comfortable being at home.”
“It’s seeing what areas of the course we might be able to take advantage of that we know, making sure we are running point to point,” Breen said.
The boys varsity race at 3 p.m., girls varsity race at 3:40 p.m.; boys PROM race at 4:15 p.m.; and girls PROM race at 4:50 p.m. Awards are at 5:30 p.m.

  Boys Cross Country, Clarkston Athletics, cross country, Girls Cross Country