Winter Athlete of the Year – Judah Kinne (left) was named the Lake Orion High School Winter Athlete of the Year. Kinne is a captain on the wrestling team and the football team. Varsity wrestling coach Jeff Smart introduced Kinne during the school board’s March 22 meeting. Photo: Mark Snyder, LOCS director of communications and marketing.

By Megan Kelley
Staff Writer
LAKE ORION —As the spring sports season begins, Lake Orion High School wraps up another successful winter sports season. LOHS Athletic Director Chris Bell provided an update on the district’s winter sports season at the Lake Orion Community Schools Board of Education meeting on March 22.
Bell regularly gives updates for all three athletic seasons to highlight the achievements of not just the many student-athletes but also the district coaching staff.
Bell began by recognizing the Lake Orion Unified basketball team that played on Friday nights between junior varsity and varsity basketball games. The team plays an eight-game schedule as well as a tournament against other Unified teams in Oakland County.
During the winter season, Lake Orion had 697 student-athletes across 24 high school teams and 13 middle school teams, Bell said. The high school also hosted a number of events including wrestling districts, powerlifting regionals, competitive cheer districts, the girls basketball regionals and the boys basketball state quarterfinal.
Hockey
Lake Orion’s varsity hockey team finished 14-9-2 overall and fourth place in the OAA Red division. Despite losing in regionals of the state tournament, the team was ranked in the top 10 for most of the season.
“We have a very solid hockey program,” Bell said. “Highlight of the year, according to coach (Adam Krefski), was they went 2-0 – there’s an invite only MIHL prep showcase, they invite top teams in the area and our team went 2-0 in that showcase.”
The JV hockey team also had a good season, winning the Division 2 JV MAHA state tournament.
Competitive Cheer
“We are among the elite in the competitive cheer world,” said Bell.
This season, coach Nikki Hill was recognized as the OAA Red Coach of the Year.
The varsity cheer team finished fourth in the OAA Red, just behind state champion Rochester High School, state runners-up Rochester Adams and Stoney Creek.
Lake Orion was district runners-up, qualified for regionals and set a program record for the round three score.
The team also had a large number of scholar-athletes with 30 of the 33 team members being recognized as Lake Orion scholar-athletes and 26 of those being recognized as OAA scholar-athletes.

Boys Bowling
The boys bowling team finished their season 8-3-1 overall and 3-2-1 in the OAA.
Sophomore Gage Boyer was named an all-conference bowler, qualifying for the MHSAA state finals, finishing 29th.
The JV team finished 7-3-1 overall and 5-1 in the OAA.
Girls Bowling
The girls bowling team finished 8-2 overall and second place in the OAA with a 5-1 record.
They were also the regional champions for the first time in school history, and finished 11th in the MHSAA team tournament. Junior Paige Morris and senior Kalie Harris both qualified as individuals, finishing 30th and 46th respectively.
The JV team finished third in the OAA.
Boys Basketball
The boys basketball team finished 12-12 overall and 3-7 in the OAA White.
“Outstanding group of young men,” Bell said. “They’re a great team to watch because they were unselfish, they played together, they played hard, they competed. You didn’t see the trash talking and garbage that sometimes you see from other teams.”
The season came to an end after the Dragons lost in the district semi-finals to Rochester Adams.
According to Bell, three players are expected to sign letters of intent at the high school’s May athlete signing to continue playing basketball in college.
The JV team finished 5-17 and the freshman team finished 8-14.
Boys Swimming and Diving
Head Coach Ben Winn was recognized this year as the OAA White division coach of the year.
The team finished 7-1-1 and took first place in the OAA White with a record of 4-0-1. Eleven swimmers and divers qualified for the state finals where the team took 16th place overall.
Andrew Galben and Adam Fox were named All-State swimmers.
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball team had one of the best seasons the school had seen in more than a decade. With nine seniors, the team went 20-6 overall and finished second in the OAA Red with a record of 10-4.
“The girls really left their mark, it’s a special group of young ladies. This group probably put together one of the best three-year runs in our girls basketball program history,” Bell said.
The team won their second consecutive district championship and lost to reigning state champions West Bloomfield in the regional finals.
The JV team finished 16-4 and the freshman finished 10-6.
Wrestling
The LOHS wrestling team finished fourth in the OAA Red and fifth out of more than 30 teams in the Oakland County tournament.
Wrestlers Judah Kinne, Michah Wellbaum and Hunter Swatosh all qualified for the state finals.
Alpine Skiing
The girls ski team finished in seventh place in the Pine Knob Ski League Division and seventh place in the MHSAA regional tournament.
The boys finished in fourth place in the league and in the regional tournament.
Broden Janczarek, Marcel Anders and Evan Kelly all qualified individually for the state championships.
Janczarek finished fifth in the giant slalom earning all-state honors and Anders finished 18th in the slalom earning all-state second team honors.
Powerlifting
The powerlifting team consisted of 38 girls and 70 boys.
The boys finished in fourth place out of 72 teams in the state and the girls also finished fourth place out of 62 teams.
Sam Lopex, Brennan Eliassen and Aden Slattery were all named state champions.
Winter Season Coach of the Year
Rounding out the presentation, Bell recognized bowling coach Dennis O’Niell as the district’s winter coach of the year.
O’Niell has been coaching at Lake Orion since 2006 and in his tenure has produced league champions, county champions, regional qualifiers, state qualifiers, state finalists, all-state athletes and has had an individual state champion.
Winter Athlete of the Year
Bell brought up wrestling coach Jeff Smart to introduce Judah Kinne as the winter athlete of the year.
Kinne is a captain on both the wrestling team and the football team. He’s an all-league, all region first team football player and a three-time all-state wrestler, finishing second in the 2023 state finals.
With a 3.9 GPA, Kinne has committed to Michigan Tech University where he will play football and plans to study engineering.