Last year, Dexter’s Alena Blumberg and Brandon Anderson represented the Dreadnaughts at the state cross country finals. The two outstanding runners better make some room at the starting line – and finish line – this year.
The Dexter girls’ and boys’ cross country teams are heading to MIS.
Dexter’s girls’ team crossed the finish line in third place with 102 points at Saturday’s Division 1 Regional at Hudson Meadows in Brighton. SEC Red rival Skyline placed second overall with 69 points, 20 points behind winner Brighton. The top three teams from each Regional qualify for the State Finals.
Blumberg, who ran last year as a freshman at the State Finals, will enjoy having her teammates with her this year. Blumberg was third at Regionals with a time of 18:46.4.
Dexter featured two other sophomores at the top of the lineup card with Annabel O’Haver (sixth, 18:56.5) and Addison Bruckman (27th, 20:12.3).
Junior Kate Varitek was 29th (20:15.3), senior Antonia Bruckman was 37th (20:38.20), sophomore Olivia Shaieb was 50th (21:10.5) and sophomore Addison Streetman was 57th (21:30.0).
Anderson led the boys’ team across the finish line at the Hudson Meadows Regionals. The junior finished third to help lead the Dreadnaughts to a third-place finish. Skyline won a close race to the flag with Brighton as the Eagles crossed with 54 points, just two points ahead of the Bulldogs (56). Dexter also qualified for the state finals with 97 points to take third overall. Hartland was fourth (102) and Davison fifth (177) in the 15-team field.
Skyline’s Nicolas Fry won the race with a time of 15:52.4, just ahead of Brighton’s Brady Matuszewski (15:54.4). Anderson was right there at the finish line too with his third-place time of 15:55.3.
Dexter’s Owen Ackerman continued his impressive senior season. He crossed eighth with a time of 16:23.5. Sophomore Caleb Snyder was 25th (17:15.6); junior Sam Gibson was 28th (17:19.6); sophomore Julian Linebaugh was 33rd (17:23.6); senior Alex Hoffman was 44th (17:41.4); and senior Kaden Jensen was 60th (18:06.5).
