Lake Orion’s boys’ track team’s outstanding depth led the Dragons to their fifth consecutive OAA Red championship on Thursday and Friday last week.
Coach Stan Ford’s team was missing several key runners, including Sheldon Drake, Andrew Lorant, Jacob Arenz and Jacob Hoffman. That didn’t deter the team, though.
“(After) a dropped baton in the 800m relay, things weren’t looking good for the Dragons. However, Dragon depth and some outstanding individual performances allowed the Dragons to pull out their fifth consecutive OAA Red championship,” Ford said.
Nolan Maupin, Drew Giem, Matt Arenz, and Jack Everts ran a season best of 8:05.88 to take first place.
Jack Everts then came back and won the 800m Run with a personal best of 1:58.79. Matthew Arenz
came in third place for some valuable depth points.
The 400m Relay Team of Dallas Cleary, Andrew Schoenjahn, Caleb Campbell, and La’Juan Broner
captured first place. Cleary then came back and was second in the 200m dash.
Broner took a second in the 100m dash also.
To top it off, Daniel White jumped a personal best in the long jump to take a surprising first place, according to Ford.
Each of these runners earned All-League status for their efforts.
The team’s depth also was evident with strong contributions came from Justin Cathers and Cameron Shadaia,
each throwing personal bests in the shot put, scoring a combined total of 10 points by finishing third and fourth.
Michael Jarvis contributed in the teams’ point totals with his second place finish in the 1600m run, and a third place finish in the 3200m run.
Kevin Hansen was third in the 400m dash, with his season best of 51.79. He also ran on the 1600m relay team with
Nolan Maupin, Drew Giem and Jack Everts. They secured a third-place finish with a season-best best of 3:31.15.
Tyler Skibicki added valuable points with his second place in the 110m high hurdles, and fourth place in the 300m hurdles