Dragons Men Track Wins First Ever State Championship

Written Saturday June 2nd, at 10:51 PM

In the glorious days and nights. One of  Oakland County major powerhouses in Track and Field has been a major power but it has not had a state championship to prove it.

Until now.

After years of hard work from alum's, players, coaches from both high school and middle school, this season has brought home a state championship to Lake Orion.

The Lake Orion Men's track team won a state championship in a dramatic fashion, scoring 50 points and outlasting the only team that beat them in the regional Grand Blanc who scored 44 points at East Kentwood's new athletic complex on the west side of the state of Michigan.

"I'm dumbfounded, almost speechless" said longtime Lake Orion Men's Track coach Stan Ford about winning his first ever state championship.

Saline (42) and Milford (41) took third and fourth respectably while Birmingham Groves took fifth with 32 points.

This is Lake Orion's seventh state championship since 2005 (Baseball, Women's Golf, Power-lifting, Special Olympics Basketball, Football, and now Men's Track .) In addition this is the first time an Oakland County team has won a state championship in track and field since Pontiac Northern did it with four players in 1997.

The Dragons won this championship as a team. "The key word is team. We had 12 guys in 12 events. It was great to score in the number of events we did. It truly was a team thing. We scored in sprints, hurdles, distances, and relays. That's what makes it feel so good." said Ford to reporters.”

The Dragons had to win the four by four relay to earn the state title. Before the race they trailed Grand Blanc by four points, and Milford by one point, Lake Orion relayed on the foursome of Cory Ester, David Diaz, Zach Arnold, and Nick Balavich ended up winning a dramatic race against Birmingham Groves by one second, 3:21.42- 3:21.43 to catch the State Championship crown.

The State Championship is symbolic because the only loss the Dragons suffered came to Grand Blanc in the regional and Lake Orion beat the Bobcats to win the State meet. "Track is suck a different sport. It's about scoring high in a lot of events at the state meet. Grand Blanc beat us at the regional because they had all of that depth. That isn't what wins a state meet, we lost our depth too but we had some great performances and we ended up placing in three relays" added Ford.

Other huge points in the relays were from the four by two team of Ester, Joe Deneau, Arnold, and Balavich with a 1:28.44 losing to Grand Blanc but edged out Saline. The four by eight team of David Arenaz, T.J. Carey, George Modrak, and Diaz could not overcome Milford but did get a huge eight points with a time of 7:51.84.

Alex Roberts was huge in the hurdles, getting two fourth place finishes in both hurdle events which were five points each while Carey took fifth in the 3200 meter dash, Ester took fourth in the 100 meter dash and Diaz placed fourth in the 400 meter dash.

This is the first state championship under Ford in Track and Field.

The Dragons came into the season with high expectations, all ready an overwhelming favorite to win the OAA Red, Lake Orion destroyed the division with blowout wins over Clarkston, Adams, Rochester, Oxford, and Stoney Creek as part of an undefeated regular season.

The Dragons won the league meet in blowout fashion along with the Falcon Invite, the Oxford Invite, and the Brandon Invite before heading into the regional at Brandon. Lake Orion scored 139 points, which was good enough to win any regional but they had to deal with Grand Blanc who won the Kensington Lakes Activities Association by a landslide. The Bobcats won the regional over the Dragons with 172 points. Lake Orion took their revenge in the Oakland County Meet at Holly by destroying the field with 102 points, the only closet competitor was Southfield with 47 points.

For Dragons fans, alumni's, coaches, and players, today was a day of celebration for Lake Orion and it's track program. It's best place was seventh place in 2002. "You don't coach to win state titles. You coach because you love to work with the kids. But every now and then you get the right group of athletes and everything falls in place" Ford said.

Now Oakland County can call Lake Orion a state power with a title to prove it.