From the first early morning training session to a final pep talk prior to the Division I girls cross country race on Nov. 5, the Wolves were focused on one thing ? a third straight state championship.
Only one step remains after the Wolves dominated their regional field on Oct. 29 at Clintonwood Park. Clarkston tallied 40 points, Troy High School finished second with 76 and Troy Athens took third with 90.
Making their win at regionals more impressive, lead runner, senior Jenny Morgan was pulled from the race by LaBrosse. Morgan has been battling a stamina sapping illness for the past few weeks.
‘I knew we were winning. If we had the state meet today she would be running,? said LaBrosse.
Morgan’s younger sister Stephanie, a freshman, took up the torch for Clarkston however, finishing first overall with a time of 18:12.
Senior Lyndsay Smith followed in second place with a time of 18:37. Rounding out the scoring for Clarkston was freshman Kristen Smith (eighth, 18:55), junior Jenna Leach (13th, 19:28) and senior Beth Hoekstra (16th, 19:53).
The aforementioned Wolves runners may be joined by Rachael Blentz, if senior Lisa Sickman can not shake a nagging leg injury.
‘We’ll do some fine tuning before states, little tune-ups and making sure they are mentally prepared,? said Clarkston Coach Jamie LaBrosse.
All season, LaBrosse maintained this year’s team is at least as deep if not deeper than the past two squads who won state championships. That being said, the Clarkston coach also feels competition across the state is improved over past years.
?(The state finals) will be a three-team race between us, Okemos and Rockford,? said LaBrosse.
The girls Division I race is set to begin at 3 p.m. on Nov. 5 at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.
All of Clarkston’s runners, including freshman Tiffany Kincaid who did not score for the Wolves but finished 23rd overall with a time of 20:20, set personal records at regionals.