The Lake Orion boys cross country squad won two big meets last week, but those results mean nothing compared to what they lost.
Senior captain Josh Schrauger, a four-year runner, who won the OAA I Jamboree junior varsity meet last Tuesday and medaled at Saturday’s Mott Classic, was killed along with his younger brother, and LOHS freshman, Tim, in a car accident outside of Lansing on Saturday afternoon.
The cross country teams are planning a 5K run in honor of the boys in November. For more on the brothers, including comments from Coach Stan Ford, please see the story in this web edition.
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Boys take another league jamboree
The Lake Orion boys cross country squad won their second OAA I Jamboree in as many tries, but continued a trend of having a new top finisher in every meet.
‘One good thing about having a new leader most every meet has been that someone who may have had a bad day is not effecting the overall team performance,? Coach Stan Ford said.?
This time it was Doug Mack’s turn to lead the charge, as the junior ran to a sixth place finish in 17:07 (30 seconds behind winner Ted Howard of Seaholm). It was the first time this season that Mack was the team’s top finisher.
Mack just edged teammate Nathan Ziolko, who was seventh with a time of 17:12.
Ryan Ziolko and Sean Bone also netted top-15 finishes for the Dragons, Ziolko finishing 12th at 17:25 and Bone 14th at 17:45. Kyle Lawton was 16th with a time of 17:52.
The Dragons had 55 points as a team, edging Lahser (who had three top-15 finishes) by eight. The Sept. 25 meet was held at Stoney Creek Metropark.
Though there hasn’t been a dominant runner for the team in every meet, they’ve stayed at the top of the league as a group.
‘While some have been a little up and down, others have shown some consistency, in that they have always been in the top few,? Ford said. ‘As the season progresses, I would like to see more consistency. Hopefully it means also, that’when we are all on the same page, we could be very tough.??
The coach has been most impressed with the development of some of his younger runners.
‘Overall,’I like the progress our sophomores have made from their freshman year to now,? Ford said, noting’Nathan Ziolko and Bone are two of them.?
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Girls take sixth
Allie Hock’s seventh-place finish helped the Dragon girls to a sixth-place finish as a team.
Hock’s time of 20:00 was 54 seconds behind winner Megan Goethals, of meet-winning Rochester.
Freshman Lisa Bandico was 14th overall with a time of 20:27.
As a team, the Dragons finished in a three-way tie with Clarkston and Lahser for fifth place at 145 points. The Dragons finished behind Clarkston and ahead of Lahser based on the sixth-place runner on each squad.
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Both squads shine at Mott Invite
The boys used three top-five finishes to claim first place and the girls took third without their leading runner at the Mott Classic last Saturday.
Ryan Ziolko took first with a time of 16:55 and was followed by brother Nathan in third (17:09) and Sean Bone in fourth (17:10). The team scored 42 points to top Rochester by 20.
The girls were led by Lisa Bandico’s time of 20:32 (seventh place, 58 seconds behind the winner) and finished with 69 points, just 19 back of champ Rochester.