BY WENDI REARDON
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Freshmen runners topped other teams around the state last Friday at Saline’s Golden Triangle Invitational.
“A highlight right off the bat was our freshman milers,” said Kevin Breen, head coach for the Clarkston Girls and Boys Track and Field teams. “Saline had a special freshman mile which has always been a competitive mile.”
Elizabeth Dalrymple not only finished in first place but also set a new record at 5:03.23, beating the previous record of 5:17.
“It was a huge improvement on the record,” Breen said. “The Golden Triangle was a big success. We had mostly positive things to come out of there.”
Mallory Ferguson also beat the previous record finishing in second, 5:13.04; and Emily Ferguson finished in fourth place, 5:24.97.
For the boys, Nathan Murray finished in eighth place in the freshman 1,600-meter run, 4:45.79. Jeremy Cavallo, Grant Schreiber and Eric Raines also finished in the top 55.
Another highlight was the 3,200-meter relay team of Nicole Hanson, Dalrymple, and the Ferguson sisters set a personal best, 9:28.03.
“It was the fastest I have coached,” said Breen. “A huge part of that was Nicole broke 2:20 in the relay which was a personal best for her.”
For other relays, Allie Eriksen, Jala Smith, Lauren Feeko, Kayla Russell finished eighth, 800-meter; Smith, Eriksen and the Ferguson sisters finished 11th place in the 1,600-meter; Makayla Owens, Smith, Feeko, Russell finished 14th place in the 400-meter.
The top 20 finishers for the girls team: Megan Nicholson, first, high jump; Courtney Roland, third, high jump; Hanson, third, 1,600-meter run and 13th, 3,200-meter run; Dalrymple, ninth, 3,200-meter run; Mallory F., tenth, 800-meter run; Holly Woods, 12th, discus; Megan Ford, 14th, freshman 1,600-meter run; Eriksen, 15th, 400-meter dash; Emily F., 18th, 800-meter-run; andTegan Phillips, 19th, discus.
The top 20 finishers for the boys included Christian Ylvisaker, ninth, discus; and John Loch, 11th, 3,200-meter run.
Most of the boys competed at Bay City Western Invitational earlier on Friday.
“They did pretty well,” said Breen.
Top ten finishers were: Mika Juuhl, fourth, 3,200-meter run; Gavin Eisert, fourth, 1,600-meter run; Jayden Hutchons, fourth, high jump; Shaquille Blevins, fifth, 400-meter run; Donovan Tolbert, fifth, 110-meter hurdles; Derrick Egli, fifth, 800-meter run; Josh Kelley, fifth, high jump; Max Salter, sixth, 100-meter dash; Jacob Dolan, sixth, 3,200-meter run; Trevor Chamberlain, seventh, 300-meter hurdles; Nickolas Favazza, eighth, 3,200-meter run; Shawn Slater, ninth; 1,600-meter run; and Tolbert, ninth, 300-meter hurdles.
For relays, Blevins, Salter, Marwin Chambers, Jacob Wolford, third, 800-meter;
Blevins, Egli, Matthew Baker, Dalton Sampson, third, 1,600-meter; Egli, Timothy Dalrymple, Derek Opel, Matthew Heilman, third, 3,200-meter; and Salter, Chambers, Wolford, Jacob Wagner, eighth, 400-meter.
The boys defeated Oxford, 71-48, as they won nine out of 15 events. Neither team competed in the long jump due to rain.
“Oxford is really tough in their field events,” said Breen. “It was all tied up and it came down to the end of the meet. We had surpassed them. The boys did a really good job of overtaking them.”
First place finisher included Wolford, 200-meter dash, 23.3; Blevins, 400-meter dash, 53.3; Egli, 800-meter run, 2:03.3; Gavin Eisert, 1,600-meter run, 4:36.9; Chamberlain, 300-meter hurdles, 43.4; Kelly, high jump, 5-06; and all four relay events – 400-meter, 45.9; 800-meter, 1:34.5; 1,600-meter, 3:32.8; and 3,200-meter, 8:23.9.
Chamberlain also placed second in the 100-meter hurdles, 17.68 and Kelly finished third, 17.70.
Second place finishes included Salter in the 200-meter dash, 24.04; and Sam Bullen in discus, 117-09, and he also took third in the shot put, 39-4.5.
For third place, Sampson, 400-meter dash, 55.3; Dalrymple, 800-meter run, 2:05.7; Favazza, 3,200-meter run, 10:07.9; and Andrews Ricketts, high jump, 5-03.
The Lady Wolves remained undefeated as they beat Oxford last Wednesday, 87-23. They finished first in 12 out of 14 events and swept three events.
“We knew we had the fire power,” said Breen. “We just wanted to get through it healthy, win both meets and get ready for the next opportunity – which was Friday. “
He added, given the rain conditions they also minimized how much they ran everyone.
They finished in the three spots in the 100-meter dash with Russell, first, 12.8; Smith, second, 13.1; and Feeko, third, 13.4.
They also swept the 200-meter dash with Russell leading the way in first, 12.8; Owens, second 27.8; and Feeko, third, 28.4.
Nicholson, Roland and Trinity Roodbeen swept the high jump, tying and four-foot.
First place finishers included Hanson, 3,200-meter run, 11:52.7; Kayla Luchenbach, 400-meter dash, 1:04.69; Emily Ferguson, 800-meter run, 2:31.1; Mallory Ferguson, 1,600-meter run, 5:39.3; Roland, 100-meter hurdles, 16.7; and all four relays 400-meter, 52.6; 800-meter; 1,600-meter, 5:39.3 and 3,200-meter, 10:30.6.
Dalrymple finished second in the 3,200-meter run, 11:53.3. Other second place finishes include Zoe Morton, 400-meter dash, 1:04.74; and Woods, discus, 94-07. Abby Horning finished in third place in 800-meter run, 2:33.4.
Roland finished in second place in the 300-meter hurdles, 52.5 and Olivia McKinney, third place at 53.3.
Both teams head to the OAA Red Championship this Thursday at Rochester Adams.
“The girls are itching to get in and run fast times,” said Breen. “We will have to be choosey on what we run and what we do best at and make sure we are fired up and ready to go.”
He added the boys will face the challenge of going against Lake Orion. Clarkston’s strength is they have depth and can place in third to eighth place to score points.
“We can make up for someone having a really good runner if we can make up in numbers,” Breen said. “What we need from our guys is for them to step up and we need them to score.”

  clarkston, Track