The only word to describe Clarkston’s performance at the girls track regional is domination. The Wolves won 10 of the 17 events and scored 151 points to run away with the regional championship.
Clarkston qualified for the state finals in 12 of the 17 events and has 15 girls, who will take part at the finals.
‘It was the most successful day we had at regionals,? Clarkston Coach John Yorke said. ‘What made it successful more than anything is the fact that most of our girls ran their best times all year at the regional. The single most impressive thing we did was have the top five times in the mile. The entire top five was from Clarkston, which is pretty impressive.?
Stephanie Morgan qualified for the most events. She qualified for the 3200-meter relay, the 800-meters, the 1600-meters and the 1600-meter relay and ? won them all except the 1600-meters.
Her older sister Jenny Morgan won both the 1600-meters and 3200-meters, which were her only events. Morgan won the state championship in both events last season. Morgan was also a member of the 3200-meter relay team, which broke the state record and won the state championship last season.
Autumn Touchstone qualified for three events: the long jump, the 110-meter hurdles and the 800-meter relay. Touchstone’s teammates on the 800-meter were Erin Hoffman, Melissa Martinez and Laura Kupe, who all qualified in multiple events.
Hoffman qualified for the 1600-meter relay. Kupe and Martinez both qualified for the 400-meter relay and Kupe also qualified in the 100-meter dash.
Yorke said many of the girls hoped to qualify for states, but ended up exceeding their own expectations.
‘In some of the events the girls were happy to qualify, but were really excited they won the event,? Yorke said. ‘It was exciting to see them perform so well.?
With so many girls competing at the state finals, a team state championship is a possibility for Clarkston. Yorke said the team wants to at least finish in the top five.
‘We finished in fourth place last year and we want to at least do that again this year,? Yorke said. ‘We will really rely on our distance girls.?
Before Clarkston competes in the state finals on June 3 it has two other postseason events.
The Wolves competed in the OAA meet on May 23, which finished too late for this addition of The Clarkston News. Clarkston then takes part in the Oakland County meet on May 26.
‘We would like to win both,? Yorke said. ‘That’s our goal. We just need to keep performing and running at a high level. If we run as well as we have been, we should have a shot.?