By Wendi Reardon Price
Staff Writer
wprice@mihomepaper.com
MILFORD — The Clarkston High School Cross Country teams opened the season at the Milford Invitational at Kensington Metropark, Aug. 29.
The boys team finished in first place with 54 points out of 19 teams.
The top five runners for the Wolves were junior Ryan Barnes in second place in the time of 16:59.19; senior Jaxson Nowik, sixth, 17:20.06; senior Cayden DeGrendel, 11th, 17:30.51; junior David Dubeck, 17th, 17:55.23; and senior Joshua Ellingsworth, 18th, 18:06.98.
The top five teams also included Pinckney in second place with 151 points; Milford, third, 168; Detroit Catholic Central, fourth, 175; and Rochester, fifth, 179.
The girls team finished in fourth place out of 17 teams with 148 points.
“We went into it knowing that it was a hot day, tough course, and set expectations at a reasonable level,” said Kevin Breen, head coach for the girls team. “We ran for place not time. I think with that we got out there a little bit conservative. As the race went on, the girls are moving up and passing and I think they finished all right.”
The top five runners for the Wolves were sophomore Addison Brigham in 15th place in the time of 21:38.79; sophomore Avery DeGrendel, 19th, 21:46.28; sophomore Kendal Russette, 29th, 22:14.95; sophomore Paityn Sweet, 34th, 22:30.47; and junior Sydney Fischer, 51st, 23:19.83.
“We performed how we kind of expected to perform,” Breen added. “If there was anyone that stood out it would be my second and third runner Kendal and Peyton. They’ve made some big improvements from last season. You can definitely see the actual work that they put in over the summer.”
He added this season’s team is young.
“We are just focusing on the day-to-day and making sure we’re doing the right things – showing up to practice, running the right times and continuing to push,” Breen said.
“We’re trying to build a foundation that’s going to help us be one of the top teams in the state over the next couple of years and if all goes well and everyone keeps working hard, we’ll be at the state level and we’ll be competing against top teams this year. We definitely have the talent. It’s just putting the rest of the pieces together.”
The top five team at the Milford Invitational also included Rochester in first place with 103 points; Adrian, second, 106; Hartland, third, 140; and Walled Lake Northern, fifth, 154.
Clarkston heads to The Wildcats head to Lake Orion High School for the first OAA Red Jamboree this Wednesday.
Breen shared the runners know what they are capable of doing based on the times they are running and courses they have run.
“I think we could be fourth or we could be first. It just depends on how we show up that day,” he said. “I think the big part of the unknown is this team is just so young. We’re made up of primarily sophomores. We’ve got senior who finally made their way up to the varsity team who’s been knocking on that door for awhile. Then, we’ve got a bunch of freshmen unknowns that are I feel like they’re just starting to learn how to race, how to run. We just don’t know what they’re going to do.”
The varsity races are scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m., JV races follow.

  Clarkston Athletics, cross country