Dexter Track Team Sets Sights to State Finals

By Barbara Read

At the regional track meet at Milford on May 18, several Dexter athletes achieved personal bests in their events. Andy Coger had a season best in the 400-meter dash and came in first place in his heat with a time of 52.60. Andy placed eighth in the region.

Andrew Richter also scored a personal best in the 300-meter hurdles and placed first in his heat at 45.50. Luke Hayter (300-meter hurdles) ran two seconds faster than his previous record and finished the race a full two hurdles ahead of the nearest competitors in his heat.

In other events, Andrew Schwartz finished the 200-meter dash in 24.50, a season best, while Noah Gary ended the high jump in fourth place with his own personal and season best height of 6 feet 1 inch.

The 3,200-meter boys’ runners had a very fast race overall with 14 runners qualifying for the state finals based on their times at the Milford regional meet. From Dexter, Taylor Neely (9:35.90), Joe Wendorf (9:37.40), Michael Greve (9:37.90) and Mike Hauke (9:39.30) will be competing at the state meet in the 3,200-meter run.

In the boys' pole vault, Casey Hanson tied for eighth place with a personal best height of 12 feet 4 inches, and Noah Gary finished in fifth place and will pole vault at the state meet.

The girls’ track team came in sixth place overall at the Milford Regional Track Meet.

Darion Mayrand improved her times for the 100-meter dash throughout the day until she placed fifth overall. In the girls’ 4x100 meter relay, Dana Tessmer, Micaela Conter, Traci Meisner and Darion Mayrand won their heat and scored ninth place overall.

“Their hand-offs were perfect," coach Doris Simmons said.

Maddie Kurcz ran the 100-meter dash in 1:03 to win her heat and achieve a season best time. She placed fifth at regionals in the 400-meter dash. Megan Cansfield (50.00) and Traci Meissner (52.90) both finished the 300-meter hurdles with their fastest times of the season.

Megan tied for eighth place. Emily Pap (11:34.40) took seventh place in the 3,200-meter run.

“The girls nearly swept the whole (pole) vaulting field," Simmons said.

First, second and third places went to Micaela Conter (11’8”), Nicole Ferguson (11’2”) and Michelle Klein (11’2”). The girls team also captured fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth places in the pole vault.

The complete list of results from Milford is available online.

SEC Championship Results  

Notable scores in the men’s SEC track meet went to Taylor Neely (2:02.44) for second place in the 800-meter white division finals, Matt Greve (4:39.61) for second place in the 1,600-meter finals and the 4x800 meter relay team of Taylor Neely, Joe Wendorf, Mike Hauke and Matt Greve (8:37.47) for third place in their division.

Noah Gary finished in second place for both the high jump (6’2”) and pole vault (15”0”).

For the womens’ team, Maddie Kurcz finished in first place in her division for the 400-meter dash. Emily Pap (5:44.40) finished third in a photo finish with teammate Elizabeth Greve in the 1,600-meter run, and freshman Cailin McLean finished second in her division in the 3,200-meter run.

Margaret Bussineau, Maddie Kurcz, Charlotte Read and Megan Cansfield placed third in the 4x400 relay, and the team of Katie Adlner, Emily Pap, Abbie Betzoldt and Elizabeth Greve won their 4x800 meter relay finishing 7 seconds ahead of the next team.

Freshman Sarah Stone placed second in the high jump with 5’0”. The women’s pole vault team again took first, second and third places: Nicole Ferguson (11’6”), Micaela Conter (11’6”) and Clair Tewksbury (10’6”).

The girls’ team placed third overall in the white division of the SEC championship.

A complete list of the boys' and girls' results is available online.

Following Tuesday’s Meet of Champions at Ypsilanti High School, the team will send several athletes to the MHSAA Division 1 state finals on June 2. Qualifiers on the men’s team are Noah Gary (pole vault), Taylor Neely (1600m, 3200m), Joe Wendorf (3200m), Matt Greve (3200m) and Mike Hauke (3200m).

The women’s team will be sending six pole vaulters to the state finals: Katie Callaghan, Micaela Conter, Nicole Ferguson, Michelle Klein, Kamie Powell, Dana Tessmer and Claire Tewksbury.