By Jim Newell
Review Editor
ORION TWP. — The Lake Orion boys’ varsity cross country team placed fifth at the Oakland Activities Association Jamboree 1 at Lake Orion High School on Sept. 13.
The Dragons finished the race with 106 points. Troy High School won the Jamboree with 39 points followed by Clarkston, 45 points, Oxford, 73 points and Rochester Adams, 80 points. Birmingham Seaholm finished sixth with 179 points.
Sophomore Blake Peardon was the Dragon’s top finisher in the Jamboree, placing 14th place overall with a time of 17:10.9 minutes on the 5,000-meter course.
Also scoring for the Dragons were senior Eddie Cromwell who was 15th (17:38.1), sophomore Raymond Lucero II (22nd, 17:57.4), freshman Max Houvener (30th, 18:20.5) and junior Sean Stein, (32nd, 18:24.8).
Seniors Horacio Lopez and Nathan Yee and junior Michael Drakos also ran strong races for the Dragons.
Vishvaa Ravishankar of Troy High School won the race with a time of 16:11.7 minutes.
Lake Orion now looks to improve on those results as they head into the Mott Fall Classic at Hess Hathaway Park in Waterford beginning at 4 p.m. on Friday.
The Dragons will then race in the OAA Jamboree II Sept. 27 at Bloomer Park in Rochester Hills.
Averill Invitational
The Lake Orion boys traveled to the Averill Invitational on Sept. 10 and placed eighth out of 15 teams with 219 points in the Gold Division varsity race.
The Dragons were paced by Blake Peardon with a 19th place finish. Lake Orion’s Eddie Cromwell (38th), Horacio Lopez(49th), Luke Peardon(59th) and Ryan Murray (69th) completed the scoring.
“I am very happy to see the growth of the team, this race provides some confidence to the team for the first jamboree on Tuesday at Lake Orion,” said head coach Andrew McDonald. “It was great to see Blake Peardon run strong and earn a medal today, he has been working hard in practice and deserves the reward. The boys worked well together in their race today.
“If you look at our pack today, my group of seniors Eddie Cromwell, Horacio Lopez, Luke Peardon and Ryan Murray led our efforts and have provided great leadership this season.”