When a giant misses a step, everyone takes notice.
Troy took advantage of the Clarkston girls cross country team on Oct. 3, beating a depleted Wolves team 23-35 in a tri-meet. Clarkston was victorious over Lahser 15-50 in their other match-up in the tri-meet.
‘I didn’t think it was worth it to run a girl who might risk further injury,? said Clarkston Coach Jamie Labrosse. ‘Sometimes losing’s not a bad thing.?
Clarkston’s response to the loss was immediate as the Wolves swept through the Oakland County meet on Oct. 8, winning with a combined score of 54 points, 48 points ahead of runner-up Rochester High. The Wolves have now won the county meet five years running, an meet record.
To send his team a message, Labrosse only ran his five top runners in the County meet, leaving two varsity slots open and relegating the rest of the squad to JV.
Scoring for Clarkston at the County meet was Jenny Morgan (18:52, second place), Stephanie Morgan (19:00, third), Lyndsay Smith (19:44, ninth), Lisa Sickman (19:47, 10th) and Jenna Leach (20:28, 30th).
Labrosse did say that his JV ran as well as, if not better than, the varsity over the weekend.
Labrosse, who guided the Wolves to two straight state championships, feels teams around the state should not read too much into Clarkston’s fate against Troy.
‘We still haven’t run our best times yet. If (other teams) are banking on us running a bad race so that they can win states, they are focusing on the wrong things,? said Labrosse.
With Clarkston’s loss to Troy, their record stands at 5-1. By winning the OAA Division I league meet on Oct. 20 at Bloomer Park, Clarkston will win the league title.
Clarkston’s Tri-meet against Athens and Rochester Adams on Oct. 11 finished too late for this edition of The Clarkston News.