Laurent finishes third overall for the Dragons

By Jim Newell

Review Editor

The Lake Orion boys varsity cross country team took second place at the Michigan High School Athletic Association 14-1 pre-regional meet at Clintonwood Park in Clarkston on Friday.

With the second-place finish, the Dragons will now move on to regionals this Friday at the same location.

Lake Orion finished the pre-regional meet with a score of 79. Rochester Adams came in first with a score 46.

The Dragons also bested rivals Clarkston (third place, 81) and Oxford (fourth place, 87). Birmingham Brother Rice (fifth, 107), Birmingham Seaholm (sixth, 127), Beverly Hills Groves (seventh, 195) and Auburn Hills Avondale (eighth, 214) rounded out the bottom half of the competition.

Lake Orion Senior Nicholas Laurent continued to lead the Dragons, finishing the 5,000-meter race in third place overall with a time of 16:25.2 minutes.

Clarkston’s Andrew Sesti was first (16:07.4) and Oxford’s Zach Patterson came in second (16:21.6).

As it has all season, the Dragon’s depth helped the team rack up points toward the strong finish.

Junior Will Houvener (17th, 17:08), sophomore Luke Peardon (18th , 17:08.2), junior Clayton Kuiper (20th , 17:09.7), junior Hong Bing Tang (21st, 17:12.3), junior Adam Hafeli (22nd, 17:21.5) and senior Carson White (27th, 17:35.5) all ran strong races for Lake Orion.

Lake Orion shared the title with Adams at the Oakland Activities Association Red cross country championship on Oct. 15, and finished fourth out 33 teams at the Oakland County meet on Oct. 9.