BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Clarkston Girls Cross Country were victorious in their last two races as they claimed the OAA Red Championship League race and won the Oakland County Meet.
The girls won the Oakland County Meet out of 28 teams on Oct. 10 with 85 points.
“It was fantastic,” said Clarkston Girls Cross Country Coach Kevin Breen, adding since he became coach in 2010 they have had runner up performances. “But we could never cross that No. 1.”
The top five runners for the team were freshman Ava Tereau in ninth place in the time of 19:20.4; freshman Alexandra Brigham, tenth, 19:20.6; senior Maya Bergman, 11th, 19:24.4; senior Mattie Drennan, 20th, 19:57.8; and sophomore Cate Cotter, 36th, 20:32.4.
Breen added some of the runners were on the team when they were favored to win in 2018, the year the race was rescheduled after lightning was spotted when runners were in the first mile. Then, the meet ended up being cancelled.
“It is what it was – lightning struck and we couldn’t actually go out there, perform and win,” Breen said. “Some of those kids are still on the team so it was still something hanging over their heads. They still had a chip on their shoulder not being able to go after county so to go out and claim it for real was excellent. It was an awesome experience.”
It was also a different experience due to COVID-19 protocols. Students were divided to run in four different races and the winner wasn’t announced until hours after the races were done.
“It was definitely not the same,” Breen said. “We also didn’t have the immediate gratification of coming across the finish line in half an hour knew that we won.”
Teams in the top five included Walled Lake Northern in second place with 116 points; Milford, third, 191; Walled Lake Western, fourth, 207; and Rochester Adams, fifth, 221.
The girls won the league race at Bloomer Park last Thursday with 29 points.
“Going into leagues we were just more than anything trying to be safe,” said Breen. “It was just for my runners to go out there and being more conservative to make sure we got through leagues safe and unharmed. Luckily we were on top as well.”
Brigham led the Wolves as she finished in second place in the time of 19:01. The top five finishers also included Tereau in fourth place, 19:37; Bergman, fifth, 19:37.8; Drennan, seventh, 19:49.2; and Cotter, 11th, 20:18.3.
Breen noted it was good to see senior Shannon Billette back to running and finishing in 17th place, 20:25.9.
“Shannon was a bit banged up over the last couple of weeks,” he said. “It was good to see Shannon back and feeling good.”
He added he could race ten runners so he put in his top nine and a freshman who has been doing well – Morgan Poploski, who finished in 46th place in 21:55.5.
“In the year and the season that is 2020, it’s good to have the knowledge I have a couple of backups in case we lose one or two here because, heaven forbid, we have someone run into someone with Covid and have to quarantine,” Breen added.
Troy finished in second place with 67 points; Rochester Adams, third, 78; Lake Orion, fourth, 99; Oxford, fifth, 101; and Birmingham Seaholm, sixth, 138.
The boys team finished in 13th place at the Oakland County Meet with 321 points out of 33 teams, Oct. 9.
The top five runners for the Wolves were junior Andrew Sesti, fifth place, 16:05.4; junior Joey Taverna, 30th, 17:00.7; senior Owen Kolean, 69th, 17:41.1; sophomore Henry Poploskie, 93rd, 18:15.5; and freshman Andrew Floros, 127th, 18:53.3.
Milford finished in first place with 88 points. The top five teams also included Novi in second place with 94 points; Stoney Creek, third, 116; Lake Orion, fourth, 166; and Farmington, fifth, 178.
The boys finished the league race in fifth place with 103 points.
The top five runners for Clarkston were Sesti in first place, 16:08.5; Kolean, 18th, 17:09.1; Floros, 29th, 18:04.2; senior Bo Anderson, 31st, 18:12.4; and senior Valen Kurmaniak, 32nd, 18:16.
Lake Orion and Rochester Adams tied for first place with 54 points. Oxford finished in second place, 84 points; Birmingham Seaholm, fourth, 85; and Troy, sixth, 139.
Both teams race in the MHSAA Division 1 Pre-Regional 14 at Clintonwood this Friday.
“It’s a lot of the same teams we have raced already,” said Breen. “Right now we are figuring out how good of a team can we be, how high can we place. We are easily a top ten team, even a top five team. There’s a chance we can go after the final but it’s going to take a drop in time from every single one of our runners. We will see how we do on Friday.”
The boys race at 4 p.m. and the girls race at 5:15 p.m.

  Boys Cross Country, Clarkston Cross Country, Girls Cross Country