The Lake Orion boys track and field team had a great night with a solid team effort to win their 7th league championship in a row on May 14. With a strong performance in the field events, added to their usually strong running events, the Dragons pulled away from the field with 161 points.

There were 5 individual league champions that included Thomas Moreman in the high jump and 110m high hurdles. The 400m relay team consisting of Caleb Campbell, Matthew Freeman, Justin Fraser, and Mason Koncelik were winners, along with Caleb Campbell’s winning effort in the 100m dash and Sam Knight’s in the 400m dash.

But the true story was the depth of the Dragon team. Of the 10 events, the team scored at least 2 places, and in 3 of those events they took 3 out of the 6 possible places.

-100m dash – Caleb Campbell 1st, Mason Koncelik 5th, and Matt Freeman 6th.

-200m dash – Caleb Campbell 2nd, Justin Fraser 4th.

-400m dash – Sam Knight 1st, Drew Giem, 6th.

-800m dash – Nolan Maupin 3rd, Chase McBride 6th.

-1600m dash – Andrew Nolan 2nd, Ryan Mulcahy 5th.

-3200m run – Andrew Nolan 2nd, Ryan Mulcahy 3rd.

-110m high hurdles – Thomas Moreman 1st, Tyler Skibicki 2nd.

-300m hurdles – Tyler Skibicki 2nd, David Yonkers 5th.

-high jump – Thomas Moreman 1st, Zach Dinverno 4th and Sanai Pillot 6th.

-long jump- Amaru Abdul-Raheem 2nd, Savion McHenry 4th, Sam Guenther 5th.

Then the Dragons went on to place 2nd in regionals out of 14 teams, with 84.5 points, qualifying five athletes to the state meet last week.

Varsity Coach Stan Ford said, “The regional competition represents one of the most competitive situations for the high school track athlete. The athletes are racing each other, and the clock, in order to try and qualify for the state meet and the physical and mental stress can be exhilarating.”

Zach Dinverno, junior, came through the tough pole vault competition and emerged victorious, winning with a vault of 12’ 06″.

During the running competition showed some Dragon strength, with Junior Thomas Moreman, junior and Captain Tyler Skibicki, senior, finished 1st and 2nd in the 110m high hurdles to qualify for the State Meet. And earned 18 points towards the team total! Thomas Moreman also won the 300m Hurdles to qualify in his second event.

And then in the 1600m Run, Sophomore Andrew Nolan and Junior Ryan Mulcahy qualified by time, finishing the highly competitive event in 3rd and 4th place, respectively.

The State Meet will be held at East Kentwood High School on June 2. –S.C.