BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston News Sports Writer
The Clarkston High School Track and Field teams are ready as they head to Oxford for the OAA Red Championships, set for this Thursday.
“We are in good shape,” said Kevin Breen, head coach. “Lake Orion is a really good team. They have a returning state champ in the 300-meter high hurdles stacked against anyone like that, she can pretty much run any event and take first place which takes a number of points away from us because we don’t match up well with her.”
He added but the teams are deeper in certain events.
Clarkston will also see most of the same teams at regionals, May 17.
“It’s looking at where we sit time wise there are quite a few events we have the time and the ability to qualify without even having to get into one of the top two places at regionals,” Breen said.
Both teams recently lost their last league dual meet to Lake Orion, May 1.
“They both had a tough battle,” Breen said. “I did see a lot of good things in those races. Our field events came out pretty strong particularly in throws – between shot put and discus we had some really good performances.”
The boys team lost to Lake Orion, 79-49.
The Wolves took the top three places in the 800-meter run with Christian Collis in first place, 2:02.7; Nathan Sesti, second, 2:06.3; and Brendan Favazza, third, 2:07.
For track events, Devin Parkison finished in first place in the 200-meter dash, 23.3; Matt Baker, first in the 400-meter run, 53.4; Sesti second in the 1,600-meter run, 4:27.6, and Favazza, third, 3:30.3; Shawn Slater, first in 3,200-meter run, 9:49.2, and Alex Wilhelm, third, 11:05.8; Drew Radlick second in the 110-meter hurdles, 16.2, and second in 300-meter hurdles, 44.4.
The 3,200-meter relay team finished in first place, 8:42.3. Clarkston finished the rest of the relay events in second place as the 400-meter relay team finished at 45.8; the 800-meter relay, 1:34.29; and 1,600-meter relay, 3:37.5.
For field events, Ben Haas finished first in the shot put, 46-04; and second in the discus, 119-01. Valen Kurmaniak took second in the high jump, 5-09. For pole vault, Luke Grabowski finished at 10-06, and Avery Grail and Julian Kennedy finished at 9-06.
The girls lost to Lake Orion, 88-40.
The 1,600-meter relay team finished in first place at the time of 4:03.7; and the 3,200-meter relay team finished in first, 10:34.6.
Two relay teams finished in second place with 400-meter relay, 54.7; and the 800-meter relay, 1:47.74. For track events, in the 200-meter dash, Karlie Mattinson, second, 27; 400-meter run, Allie Eriksen, first, 1:01.4, Shannon Billette, third, 1:06.5; 800-meter run, Elizabeth Dalrymple, second, 2:18; 1,600-meter run, Grace Nolan, second, 5:14.2, Mattie Drennan, third, 5:37.8; 100-meter hurdles, Haley Puskar, third, 14.6; 300-meter hurdles, Shae Harbaugh, second, 46.9, and Puskar, third, 50.1.
For field events, Hannah Golab and Julia Hunt set personal records. Golab finished at ten feet and Hunt finished at nine feet. For shot put, Lyndaya Marshall finished in second, 31-00; and Alysa Perez, third, 29-09; in discus, Perez, second, 99-11; and Jen Starnes, third, 87-11; in high jump, Allison Osborn, third, 4-08.
Both teams competed in the New Balance Invitational on Saturday. The boys finished in fifth place with 40 points out of 29 teams. The girls team finished in fourth place with 46 points out of 30 teams.
Lake Orion won with 93 points for first place; Ann Arbor Skyline, second, 68.5; Chippewa Valley, third, 51; and Salem, fifth, 45.5.

  Clarkston High School Track and Field, field, Track