Dexter Track Teams Defeat Ypsilanti, Participate in Golden Triangle Invitational

Submitted by Barbara Read

The varsity track team finished strong against Ypsilanti on May 1 and at the Golden Triangle Invitational in Saline on May 4.

The DHS girls' victory against Ypsilanti came down to the final 4x400 relay of the day. Finishing the relay at 4:14, Dexter runners Maddie Kurcz, Charlotte Read, Margaret Bussineau and Megan Cansfield pulled ahead to beat Ypsilanti for the win.

Assisting in the team victory were Sarah Stone, who cleared 4 feet 10 inches in the high jump for the second place spot, and Micaela Conter (12 feet), Nicole Ferguson, Kamie Powell and Claire Tewksbury (11 feet each) took first through fourth places in the pole vault. The races were hand scored, and detailed results for the runners are not available at this time.

For the men’s team, Noah Gary scored first place in both the men’s pole vaulting and the high jump with heights of 6 feet and 13 feet. Second and third places in the high jump went to Nathan Gary and Andrew Watson. Dexter athletes Casey Hanson and Ryan Scharrar captured second and third place in the men’s pole vault competition with heights of 12 feet and 11 feet, respectively.

On Friday, the team traveled to Saline for the Golden Triangle Invitational. The meet was attended by 26 teams from three divisions.

“The Golden Triangle Meet is super competitive. Our athletes got to see where they stood amongst other schools close to us not in our conference," coach Doris Simmons said. "There were numerous personal best and valiant efforts the entire day. We were proud coaches after this meet.”

Races were run in multiple heats with notable final results listed below.

• Joe Wendorf came in 9th out of 57 runners in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 9:47:72, and Emily Pap placed 13th out of 40 athletes in the women’s 3,200-meter run, finishing in 12:00:92.
• In middle distance, Taylor Neely finished strong, coming in 2nd out of 39 runners in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:24:50, while Alex Ammann and Katie Adler came in split seconds apart in the 800-meter race. "Taylor had an impressive foot race finish beating out third place. This was a third second personal best for him," Simmons said. “This is only Alex's second race at the 800 and she ran 2 seconds better than last week.”
• Maddie Kurcz ran the 400-meter race in 1:03:85 to finish 15th, with Charlotte Read following at 18th with a time of 1:04:70. Megan Cansfield came in 18th out of 48 for the 300-meter hurdles. Coach Simmons also had praise for the Dexter women's 400-meter race and 300-meter hurdles athletes: “Maddie did great in her heat as she ran a personal best by over a second and got out really fast for the first 200—a great improvement for her. Charlotte Read ran a personal best, shaving a little more than 2 seconds off of her time the previous week. Margaret Bussineau ran over 2 seconds faster than previous meets to give her a personal best time, as well as Krista Schaeffer improved her time by 1 second. Megan Cansfield had her best race of the year!”
• Dexter teams finished in the top 20 for the women’s 4x100m, 4x400m, and 4x800m relays, while the men’s team finished in the top 20 for the 4x400m and 4x800m relays.
• Noah Gary won the men’s pole vault, matching his season high of 14 feet 6 inches. Micaela Conter and Nicole Ferguson each cleared 11 feet 6 inches for second and third places in the women’s pole vault.

On Tuesday, Dexter will face Chelsea at Al Ritt Field at 4:15 p.m.