Riding a wave of positive vibrations from wins in several weekend invites and a 3-2 record in dual meets, Clarkston’s 11th place finish at the Oakland County meet on Oct. 8 left a bad taste in the mouth of Coach Mike Taylor.
‘The county meet was a big dissappointment,? said Taylor. ‘The kids weren’t happy with it either. So we either do something about it or experience it again.?
The silver lining of Clarkston’s weekend came from Hazen Brennan whose time of 17:05 was good for 15th overall.
But Brennan’s performance could not overshadow that the Wolves, who finished with 330 points, finished behind teams like Troy Athens (seventh, 222 points), which Clarkston beat in the process of winning the Hanson invitational on Oct. 1; and Seaholm, who Clarkston beat in a dual meet on Sept. 20.
Lahser won the county meet with 91 points.
‘People aren’t machines and runners get tired this time of year. But we have to get our act together quick. We have three more opportunities to run this season and that’s it,? said Taylor.
Clarkston’s two losses in dual matches this season have come at the hands of Lahser and Lake Orion.
Clarkston’s tri-meet against Athens and Rochester Adams on Oct. 11 finished too late for this edition of The Clarkston News.
On Oct. 20, Clarkston runs in the OAA Division I league meet at Bloomer Park.
‘We have to knock off the number one and two teams in the county (Lahser and Lake Orion) to win the league. When we run well, we aren’t a distant underdog, but we are still an underdog,? said Taylor.
Clarkston’s two losses in dual matches this season have come at the hands of Lahser (Oct. 3) and Lake Orion (Sept. 23).
On Oct. 3 Clarkston ran well enough to soundly beat Troy in the same tri-meet they lost to Lahser. Hazen Brennan (17:13, third place), Nick LaMora (17:16, fourth), Ed Brennan (17:44, sixth), Chris Anderson (17:52, eighth) and Matt Inch (18:33, 12th) provided the scoring for the Wolves. Clarkston defeated Troy 17-42, but lost to Lahser 25-31.