Owen Ackerman is one of those runners who seems to be always in stride and always in control. It seems effortless for the Dexter senior as he makes his way around a cross country course. But what is running through his head as he’s running along the course?
“Before the race, I try to visualize different aspects of the race and prepare myself as best as I can,” he says. “At the line the nerves set in so I get myself focused and ready to race, and I go over my goals for the race in my head. I try not to get too antsy because that will make me get out too hard and burn out early.”
He says the starts of races are always “chaotic, especially if the course narrows out quickly.”
“I tell myself to stay in control and run my own race and not worry too much about how fast others are starting,” he says. “As the race progresses, I pay attention to my kilometer and mile splits to keep myself on track. To distract myself from the pain, I’ll do some mental math, listen to some songs in my head, or look at the scenery. I always force myself to pick it up towards the end, and then with around 200 meters to go I let loose with everything I have left and sprint to the finish.”
His finishes have been strong this season.
At the SEC Jamboree 2 on Sept. 28, Ackerman finished 10th in 17:07.7. He continued his strong season with a season-best time of 16:29.0 to finish in 46th place at the competitive Portage Invitational.
Dexter has a strong team and a good mix of youth and experience at the starting line. They have more than held their own against some of the best programs in the state.
“We have a very solid group this year,” Ackerman said. “We like to think of every year as a reloading year instead of a rebuilding year because we will always be building talent and it’s just a matter of putting things together at the right time.”
He said Dexter cross country is always a close group and this year is no different.
“The summer is our time to get adjusted to new roles within the team and make sure the freshmen integrate with the rest of the team,” he says. “Our goal as a team is to make it to states, and to see improvement from all of our athletes.”
Ackerman hopes to run around 15:40 and go All-State at the MHSAA State Finals this year. “I’ve been building to this season for four years now and I’m ready to go after it,” he says.
Ackerman says he’s been running “for a while,” and still enjoys running recreational 5ks but didn’t get serious with it until high school.
“The culture and work ethic of the team really stuck with me and inspired me to put in my best effort every day,” he said. “I really looked up to the upperclassmen and admired their success, and how they made running into more than just a workout. It became something to have fun with and bond over. We frequently did fun events during and outside of practice which drew me in as well, and I’m glad that our emphasis on having fun has remained strong since then.”
The Dreadnaughts begin training for cross country as soon as school gets out in the spring. Many of the runners also run track so they are already in good shape when the “off-season” begins.
“We’ll start with lower mileage easy runs and then raise the mileage and incorporate harder workouts until we reach our sweet spot of around 50 miles and two workouts per week,” Ackerman says. “We have team camp in late July, where we get in some solid training and lots of team bonding. To make sure we recover properly, we always take Sunday off and treat it as a rest/recovery day to prevent excessive injuries during the season.”
Ackerman says last season didn’t go as planned.
“It was decent but definitely not where I wanted to be in terms of improvement,” he said. “My best race was at the SEC championships where I ran my cross country PR of 17:02 and placed high enough to be All-Conference.
“As a team, we worked hard all season and had some notable races at Holly and SEC champs, but we were unable to qualify for states as a team. (Teammate) Brandon (Anderson) qualified individually and ran an awesome race and it was a blast to cheer him on with the team.”
Owen, 17, is the son of Dan and Sheri Ackerman and runs to a 4.01 GPA. His interests outside of running include bird watching, ultimate Frisbee, fishing, and team activities with the Dreadnaughts.
While Ackerman is heading to the finish line of his high school career, he hopes to keep running long into the future. “I would love to run in college,” he says. “After that, I want to continue running recreationally because it keeps me healthy and allows me to explore places I don’t usually go otherwise.”
