By Heather Smith

Special to The Oxford Leader

The Oxford Varsity Boys Cross Country team came to win on September 27 at the Second Oxford Activities Association (OAA) Red Jamboree held at Lake Orion High School.

While Oxford is often overlooked by the competition, their adversaries are starting to take notice of the Blue and Gold.

Oxford won with 41 points while Lake Orion placed second (63), Clarkston third (69), Troy fourth (85), Seaholm fifth (119), Rochester Adams sixth (121), and Rochester seventh (220).

Oxford senior Dominic Bruce placed first with a season best of 16:19, beating rivals Andrew Nolan (16:23) from Lake Orion and Clarkston’s Nate Sesti (16:37). Bruce missed breaking the course record by 0.5 seconds.

Junior Hunter Green has really come on strong this season, breaking the 17 minute mark for the first time with his sixth place finish (16:52).

Junior JJ Bagans had a great race, placing ninth (17:14), and senior Zachariah Smith finished a strong 11th place (17:19).

Senior Ulises Rodriguez placed 14th (17:34), while sophomore Scott Masterson placed 19th (17:40).

Junior Adam Zyrowski and senior Jacob Garland pushed each other, running personal bests, finishing 28th (18:00) and 29th (18:05) respectively.

Junior Shane Moore (18:23) and sophomore Simon Arnold (18:33) rounded out the Varsity boys team.

Oxford is sitting in a great position as the Varsity boys enter the OAA Red Championships on Thursday, October 19 having won the first two jamborees.

For the Junior Varsity boys’ team, senior Joe Legault and sophomore Zach Allion both went under the 19 minute mark for the first time, placing sixth (18:50) and eighth (18:58) respectively.

Senior Peter Bagans (19:34) and freshman Ignacio Rodriguez (20:03) both set new personal records placing 28th and 44th respectively while sophomore Jack Kady (20:37) placed 61st.

The Oxford Varsity girls team struggled against the stiff competition of the OAA Red division, placing 6th with 127 points while powerhouse Troy placed first with a mere 32 points.

Sophomore Maddie Lukens placed 16th with a new personal record of 20:22 while junior Molly Long placed 21st (20:40) and junior Paige Miller placed 29th (20:50).

Freshman Emma Long had a great race, placing 34th (21:03) and beating her previous time by 51 seconds. Rounding out the top five Wildcats was junior Kerstin Hufstedler, who placed 36th (21:05).

The Junior Varsity girls team faired much better, placing second with 41 points against Rochester Adams girls who placed first with 24 points.

Sophomores Aleah Dymond (21:54) and Kate Drobnich (22:17) both ran personal bests to place second and third respectively.

Sophomore Rachel Whitt (23:00) placed 10th, sophomore Emily Boase-Brotzke (23:03) placed 12th, and senior Molly Gibbons (23:08) placed 15th.

The most improved runner of the meet was sophomore Kristine Thorsen (23:46) who smashed her personal record by more than a minute and a half.

The Oxford Cross Country teams are looking forward to the Oakland County Championships being held Friday, Oct. 6 at Kensington Metropark.