The gun sounded and the runners were off in Saturday’s regional meet at Springfield Oaks.
The end result was good for Clarkston ? both the boys and girls team will be competing in the state finals this upcoming Saturday.
The girls scored the highest at 62 points and were named Regional Champs.
‘We are happy we won,? said Girls Coach Mike Franko. ‘We lucked out not getting the rain we were supposed to get.?
Kristen Smith ran into second with a time of 18:28 and her sister, Natalie kept close finishing 19 seconds later.
Tiffany Kincaid finished eighth in the top 15.
‘I thought Kristen and Natalie did a good job,? said Franko. ‘Tiffany had trouble at the end but came through.?
Mende Gleiss and Lindsey Fantin finished in the top 30, and Olivia Allen and Caitlyn Post finished in the top 40. Joining the girls at the meet will be Lakeland and Waterford Mott.
For the boys teams, Lakeland were the regional champs with 100 points, while Clarkston had been five points away from first place and four away from second.
‘Our first objective is always to get in the state meet, and we did. I am happy about that,? said Boys Coach Mike Taylor. ‘Our guys will be the first to tell you they ran pretty well but didn’t do their best because we didn’t win this. A lot of the boys saw an opportunity to do a little better. I give them a lot of credit, after the gun went off they were nothing but business.?
Christian Bonzheim and Jeff Kuhl finished in the top 15 and received medals for their placement.
Bonzheim placed in ninth with a time of 16:39.
‘We ran this course before and it has always been muddy,? said Bonzheim. ‘It was nice to have it dry so we could run a good time on it. It was fun to run against so many people at once. It was good competition.?
Jeff Kuhl finished in 15th and Adam Bruderick, Forbes Dever and Branton Dennis finished in the top 40 of the 72 runners.
The teams will head to the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn on Saturda.
‘My goal is to run up to our potential,? said Taylor. ‘You got to give 100 percent.?
‘Hopefully, we have a good day and have a shot at it,? said Franko. ‘It is a fast course and good ground for fast times. Our goal is to run faster than we have.?