By Heather Smith

Special to the Leader

The Oxford Cross Country Wildcats were in fine form Wednesday, September 6 as the varsity boys won the first OAA Red Jamboree of the season held at Bloomer Park in Rochester.

Varsity Assistant Coach Don Richmond shared, “My records show that since joining the OAA in 2010, our boys cross-country team had never won a league jamboree until last night. Congratulations to all of them that have worked so hard to get that first one! Keep it rolling boys.”

Oxford Wildcats scored 53 points, toppling their rivals Clarkston, who scored 58 points in the league meet.

The meet also featured Troy, Lake Orion, Rochester, Rochester Adams and Birmingham Seaholm.

Senior Dominic Bruce led the charge, coming in second (16:31) behind Rochester’s Austin Remick (16:21).

Oxford senior Ulises Rodriguez (17:02.0) took 10th place edging out teammate junior Hunter Green (17:02.7) who placed 11th.

While Clarkston placed three runners in the top ten, Oxford senior Zachariah Smith (17:26) and junior JJ Bagans (17:41) placed 14th and 16th before Clarkston could score their final runners.

Completing the Oxford Varsity team were sophomore Scott Masterson (17:45), junior Shane Moore (18:23), senior Adam Zyrowski (18:31), sophomore Simon Arnold (18:35), and senior Jacob Garland (18:40).

The Oxford Varsity girls placed fifth (141 points) behind the powerhouse cross country programs from Troy (42 points), Clarkston (61 points), Seaholm (70) and Lake Orion (96).

Junior Kerstin Hufstedler (20:42), sophomore Maddie Lukens (20:44) and junior Molly Long (20:53) had great races placing 21st, 22nd and 25th respectively.

The girls are concentrating on getting their pack to move up as four Wildcats crossed the finish line consecutively: junior Sarah Tyrrell (21:37), freshman Ellie DiMalanta (21:39), and seniors Bridget Cusick (21:49) and Ashley Vican (21:50).

The Junior Varsity boys were led by senior Joe Legault (19:02) and sophomore Zach Allion (19:03) while the JV girls have energized sophomores Rachel Whitt (22:32) and Aleah Dymond (22:54) leading the charge.

Head coach Norm Petersimes espouses that a powerful junior varsity squad leads to a successful varsity team. This week’s greatest personal achievements were made by sophomore Michaela Brodeur and senior Jillian Senger for the girls, and junior Shane Moore and sophomore Simon Arnold for the boys.