The Clarkston girls cross country team won the State championship as they expected, on Nov. 6. How they did it which was the surprising part.
With 243 girls primed and ready to go, the starting blocks turned into stumbling blocks for many runners as a single downed participant snowballed into a massive pileup.
‘When one kid falls, the rest go too,? said Coach Jamie Labrosse. ?(We) overcame some adversity within the race.?
The tangle of bodies claimed five of Clarkston’s seven runners, including junior Jenny Morgan, who was one of the favorites to win the race outright.
?(The fall) happened so fast, I did not even realize everyone on my team had gone down,? said senior Anne Oltman
‘We won and that is the important thing,? said Labrosse.
The slack caused by the group fall was picked up by senior Liz Mengyan who finished third overall with a time of 18:16.
Mengyan also suffered a setback in the race, as she pulled up short of the finish line thinking she had already crossed over it.
‘She ran the best three-mile race of her life, it’s just that the race was 3.1 miles,? said Labrosse. ‘She’s the 3 mile State champion.?
Clarkston finished with 132 points total, forty points ahead of the their closest competition.
‘It is just a tremendous accomplishment for our team,? said Athletic Director Dan Fife
Morgan rebounded from the fall to finish 18th. The other Wolves also soldiered on to push Clarkston to the State Championship: Anne Oltman finished 33rd, junior Lyndsay Smith came in 36th, senior Gillian Nordquist placed 42nd, Jenna Leach crossed the finish line in 48th and junior Beth Hoekstra finished the scoring for Clarkston placing 87th.
This is Clarkston’s second straight girls cross country State championship. The Wolves went undefeated in dual and invitational tournaments this year and are ranked number one in the Midwest and number three nationally.
Hopefully, the Wolves season will not end with the State championship, as they have been invited to the Nike Team Nationals, in Portland Oregon. on Dec. 4. The NTN is being billed as the first ever national championship race for high school cross country. Labrosse said that the Wolves? participation is still up in the air.
The boys team finished 25th at the State finals. It was a major victory for the boys just making the State championships as their season was fraught with injuries and inexperience.