UPDATED: Dexter Girls' Cross Country Team Wins 13th Consecutive SEC Title

It was all smiles Thursday for the girls' varsity cross country team, who edged past the competition to take their 13th consecutive SEC White Division championship title at Hudson Mills Metropark.

Dexter placed first with 25 points, followed by Chelsea (32), Tecumseh (93) and Adrian (111).

"The average fan of cross country might not realize how close this meet actually was," coach Katie Jazwinski said. "It all started with Elise Dombkowski winning the overall SEC Individual title beating two very talented runners Chelsea runners. Then two more Dexter runners, Alexandra Amman and Cailin McLean, outsprinted an awesome runner from Chelsea, Jessi Battaglio. If these two events swung in Chelsea's direction they would've won the meet by one point.

"We then had Robin Jackson and Elizabeth Greve nail down the seventh and eighth place positions. What a lot of other fans do not realize is that our No. 6 and 7 runners, Emily Pap and Paige O'Piela, bumped Chelsea's No. 5 runner back two more spots. Needless to say it came down to the last 200 meters in a 5,000-meter race."

Jazwinski said she is proud of the girls' accomplishments at the meet.

"This was probably the most competitive we have run all season. The girls knew what was on the line and they got the job done. We are so happy with where the girls are at right now. The race conditions were less than ideal and we all came to compete and take care of business," she said.

Some of the team's top scorers include junior Mara Bottomley (21:03), freshman Madeleine Nicholas (21:09), and senior Victoria Waidley (21:11).

"We now have a number of ladies to select from to race at our regional meet coming up Oct. 29 at Willow Metropark," Jazwinski said. "We are going to need as many Dexter fans out there to support the Dexter runners for us to advance to the state meet. We will be running against five other very good teams.

"We don't have much time to enjoy this victory because we are going to have to run even better next weekend to make it out of the region. Livonia Churchill, Canton-Salem, Pinckney, Ann Arbor Pioneer and Ann Arbor Huron continue to improve and are running at the top of their game now as well."

Jazwinski said coaching the girls' team has been a lot of fun.

"They are an awesome group of ladies to coach. They are all such an outstanding group of student-athletes who juggle many other activities besides their outstanding overall GPA and come to perform every day," she said.

Team highlights

• 9th: Mara Bottomley, 21:03
• 14th: Madeleine Nicholas, 21:09
• 15th: Victoria Waidley, 21:11
• 20th: Rylee Hanson, 21:35
• 25th: Tara Stetler, 21:48
• 36th: Megan Eekhoff, 22:02
• 40th: Cassie Klocek, 22:20
• 48th: Katie Adler, 22:36
• 49th: Marissa Butler, 22:36
• 61st: Shelby McKenzie, 23:12
• 67th: Grace Latshaw, 23:25
• 70th: Jasmine Kipke, 23:35
• 73rd: Allison Murphy, 23:39
• 76th: Emily Bishop, 23:51
• 103rd: Madison Moss, 24:43
• 108th: Aime McKenzie, 24:54
• 143rd: Celina Clark, 26:27
• 152nd: Leticia Oreski, 26:51
• 188th: Melissa Lemke, 30:00