Dexter Varsity Cross Country Teams Win SEC White Championship

The Dexter High School varsity boys' cross country team won its fourth consecutive SEC White Division title Oct. 18 at Hudson Mills Metropark. 

Leading the way was Joe Wendorf and Matt Greve, finishing second and third overall. Mike Hauke finished fourth overall.

Alexexy Vermeulen came in seventh and Blake Loudermilk finished eighth overall.

The top 5 Dreadnaughts all earned All-Conference honors.

Luke Bottomley finished 14th, and received All-Conference honorable mention.

"The boys ran smart and well together," coach Takashi Gould said. "Everyone had a game plan and stuck to it. They were well aware of where their competition was throughout the race and it resulted in having two groups breaking up Chelsea's top players."

Girls' cross country team dominates at meet

The varsity girls dominated Thursday's meet to take first place against Monroe, Saline, Temperance Bedford, Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor.

The girls showed a significant improvement for the season, averaging one minute faster overall from their previous times at Hudson Mills.

“I couldn't be prouder of this group of girls, what a great day we had. Winning the SEC was very exciting, and the girls had a lot of fun as usual," coach Cheryl McLean said.

Only 35 athletes competed in the varsity race, and the Dexter girls all finished in the top half while earning five of the top seven spots. 

Varsity Highlights

•  Freshman Alison McLean (19:35), 1st place
•  Sophomore Alex Ammann (19:56),  4th
•  Junior Robin Jackson (20:01), 5th 
•  Sophomore Elizabeth Greve (20:03), 6th
• Junior Cailin McLean (20:18), 7th
• Senior Rylee Hanson (20:56), 12th
• Senior Mara Bottomley (21:27), 14th 

The junior varsity race encompassed both the red and white divisions and had 211 girls competing. Dexter placed five of the top 15 junior varsity spots.

Dexter runners cut an average of 2 minutes off their previous Hudson Mills times. The most improved athlete was Allyson Nicholson, who ran 5:35 faster on the Dreadnaughts’ home course than at the beginning of the season.

Junior Varsity (Reserve) Highlights

• Sophomore Paige O’Peila (20:20), 4th place
• Sophomore Charlotte Read (20:32), 6th
• Junior Elise Dombkowski (21:05), 12th
• Junior Marissa Butler (21:05), 13th
• Sophomore Madeleine Nicholas (21:20), 15th
• Abbie Betzolt (22:21) achieved a season best time
• Krista Schaefer (22:43) achieved an all-time personal record

“There were many solid performances on Thursday,” McLean said. “We will gear up for the regional meet Oct. 27. We are looking forward to our best performances of the year, hoping to qualify us for the state meet.”

For the MHSAA Division 1 Region 6 regionals, the team will be returning to Willow Metropark for the third time this year. The varsity girls’ race is at 11:45 a.m. and the reserve girls’ race is at 1 p.m.

Full meet rules and information are available online.