Dreadnaughts Track Teams Open Season with Lots of Promise

The Dexter track and field team opened its 2011 season this week hosting Southeastern Conference White Division rival Ypsilanti Lincoln. The Dreadnaughts dropped both the boys and the girls meets.

“While the final scores didn’t come out in Dexter’s favor, the coaches saw a lot of results that point to a promising future with this year’s teams,” Dexter coach Dave Testa said. “Going into the meet, we really had a lot of question marks about a lot of kids. Given the great conditions and competition, we were finally able to see what a lot of kids are capable of doing.”

In the boys’ meet, the Dreadnaughts lost 77.5-59.5.

Individually for Dexter, Andrew Herring finished first in the pole vault, clearing a personal best-tying 14 feet. He was also third in the 100-meter dash in 11.7. Matt Nelson was third in the pole vault with a measurement of 9-6. He also was second in the discus with a toss of 96-1.5.

David Velez placed second in the shot put for the Dreadnaughts with a heave of 33-11, while he was third in the discus with a mark of 91-9. Freshman Noah Gary tied for third in the high jump with a height of 5-2.

In the 110-meter hurdles, Kyle Rickelmann was third in 17.1, while in the 300-meter hurdles, he finished second in 44.9 for Dexter.

Noah Hiser bested the field, placing first in the 200-meter race in 23.6 for the Dreadnaughts. His time was 0.2 seconds away from qualifying for regionals. In the 400-meter run, Andy Coger finished second in 58.0, while Luke Hayter was third in 59.0 for Dexter.

The Dreadnaughts swept the top four places in the 800-meter run with Corey Birchmeier finishing first with a time of 2:11, while Zach Tidwell was second, Matt Greve third and Alex Thompson fourth for Dexter.

The Dreads also swept the 1,600-meter run with Greve breaking the tape first in 4:45, while Birchmeier was second in 4:49 and Tidwell third in a personal best of 4:53.

Dexter dominated the 3,200-meter run, taking the first six places. Winning the race was Taylor Neely with 9:58, while Parker Latshaw was second in 10:24, Mike Hauke third in 10:33, Zack Dutcher fourth in 10:37, Blake Loudermilk fifth in 10:54 and Brad Carruthers sixth in 10:56 for the Dreadnaughts.

In the 3,200-meter relay, the Dexter foursome of Tim Bougher, Loudermilk, Latshaw and Neely finished first in 8:54.

In the girls meet, Dexter lost 89-48.

Despite competing in less-than-ideal conditions, the Dreadnaughts showed why they might have the best pole-vaulting group in the state. Nine Dexter vaulters qualified for the regional meet against the Splitters.

“The event of the day was the pole vault,” Testa said.

Individually for the Dreadnaughts in the pole vault, Claire Tewksbury and Micaela Conter tied for first by clearing 11-0. Freshman Kamie Powell finished third with a 9-6, while Michelle Klein was fourth, also with a 9-6. Nicole Ferguson finished fifth with a 9-0, and Amy Read finished sixth, also with a 9-0. Mara Bottomley placed seventh, clearing 8-6, while Katie Callaghan was eighth, also with an 8-6, and Elise Dombkowski was ninth with an 8-6 for Dexter.

“The vaulters, like everyone else, have been battling with cold temps and horribly random winds for the past month,” Testa said. “For them to put together performances like these really speaks to the commitment of the kids and our vault coaches Geoff and Janell Gerstner.”

In the shot put, Stephanie Vontom finished second with a throw of 25-9, while in the discus, she was second with a toss of 74-10 for the Dreads. Caitlin Greeley was third in the shot put with a 24-6.5 and third in the discus with a 66-8 for Dexter.

In the high jump, Michelle Klein was second with a height of 4-4 for the Dreadnaughts.

Dexter swept the 800-meter run as Dombkowski placed first with a time of 2:37, while freshman Caitlin McLean was second in 2:46, Katie Adler third in 2:47 and Emalie Taylor fourth in 2:49.

Tori Waidley crossed the line first in the 1,600-meter run with a personal best of 5:48 for Dexter. Lauren LaFontaine was third in 6:08.

In the 3,200-meter run, Caci Dishman was first in 11:58, while Emily Pap was second in 12:04 for Dexter.

In the 3,200-meter relay, the Dreadnaught quartet of Tara Stetler, LaFontaine, Bottomley and Waidley finished first in 12:57.

Despite losing both meets to the perennially tough Splitters, Testa remained upbeat.

“Overall, from both teams, we see some things that we need to work on, but we also saw a lot more things that we are really excited about,” he said. “We had 13 kids qualify for regionals at the first meet of the year, and that was after three weeks of shoddy weather at best and coming off of spring break.

"All along, the kids have had great attitudes and have been working their tails off," Testa said. "As coaches, we can’t ask for much more than that. We know once the big meets in mid- to late May come around, these kids are going to do some pretty exciting things.”