By Megan Kelley

Review Writer

On Tuesday, the lady Dragons cross country team held Jamboree no. 2 hosting Clakston, Troy, Oxford, Rochester Adams and Birmingham Seaholm.

Their fifth meet of the season ended with a team overall of 101 points and fifth place finish.

The Dragons had one runner absolutely dominate the course, junior Sophie Novak finished in first with a time of 19:12, a full 19 seconds before the second place finisher.

This meet is Novak’s third first place finish this season.

“Sophie Novak has the best chance at qualifying for the state finals. So far this season she has won 3 races; Averill Invitational, Linden Classic, and Jamboree no. 2,” said head coach Debi McDonald.

This year’s team has some big shoes to fill with the recent graduation of top runners Allison Sherman and Olivia Ames.

“The team this year is pretty young in terms of high school racing experience. Out of 41 girls on the team, 15 are first year runners. This year my hope is the girls gain a lot of valuable experience that will help the team be even more successful next year, ” McDonald said.

With such a young team, McDonald hopes the ladies will work hard to have a big impact on the rest of the season. With that, the League meet is expected to be an indicator of how the Regional meet will unfold.

“Right now Clarkston, Adams, and Oxford are finishing ahead of us,” said McDonald. “We need to beat two of these teams to give us a better chance at qualifying for the state finals when we race them again at the Regional meet”

The ladies have been working hard at improving each week and are hoping to continue the season growing stronger and faster in order to finish in the top half in the majority of their meets.

Runners to keep an eye on this season are Novak, juniors Iris Meech and Julia Ames and freshmen Annika Russell and Kyra Andrews.

The Dragons will head to Kensington Metopark on Oct. 5 for a tournament against Milford.