Two School Records Broken, Seven Qualify For Division 1 State Championships

Traveling to Mason High School on Friday, the Dexter Track & Field team competed in the Region 4 Division 1 championships. The 15 team field was largely made up of Mid-Michigan schools.  The boys finished the day in 10th place, behind this year's Champion Grand Ledge, and the girls were 8th, with Okemos crowned this year’s girls champion. In addition to the team competition there were 7 individuals that qualified for the State Championships for the Dreadnaughts.

Beginning with the boys competition, the field events kicked off with a huge throw from Cameron Clark in a highly competitive Discus field that saw 6 of the top 8 qualify for the Championships. Finishing the competition in 3rd place, his throw of 160’ 9” not only exceeded the qualifying standard for the state meet, but smashed the previous Dexter school record of 146’ 7” set 32 years ago in 1993. Dexter had another thrower score points and place in the Discus, Robert Karageorge threw 142’ 1” for 8th. Clark also placed in the Shot Put, taking 5th with a throw of 47’ 11”.

Dexter Pole Vaulters had a good showing as well, with Anthony Delarca-Hernandes and Alex Trisdale both finishing in the top 8 with Delarca-Hernandes in 3rd place with a jump of 12’ 3”, and Trisdale in the 6th spot clearing 11’ 3”. Both were personal bests.

Runners were represented by Coen Hill’s 6th place finish in the 3200m run. Running a personal best time, he finished his race with a time of 9:33.58, and the 4x200m Relay team finished in the top 8 with Noah DePestel, Connor Kril, Dylan Darby, and Josh Graybill crossing the finish line in 1:32.54, for 8th.

Out on the Track, the girls had plenty of excitement of their own. The 4x800m relay team of Amelia Cribbins, Claire Steinbrecher, Lillian Mitchell, and Vivian Hoffman broke another school record. Not only did the team qualify and are heading to the state championships, but their time of 9:35.84 beat the previous school record of 9:38.76 that was set last season. The 4x400m placed with Cribbins, Claire Gibson, Hoffman, and Steinbrecher taking 8th with a time of 4:18.32.

Steinbrecher and Mitchell both continued to compete, with Steinbrecher running a personal best of 1:01.17 in the 400m run to place 5th, while Mitchell’s time of 2:21.67 was good for a 7th place finish in the 800m. The other individual placer on the track was Kodie Snyder in the 3200m run. She finished in 7th place with a time of 11:52.91.

Girls field events began with thrower Kera Root as a double placer. Starting off her day, she finished in 3rd place in the Shot Put tying her career best of 35’ 1”, and followed that up with a 5th place performance in the Discus with a 109’ 0” throw. The Dexter trio of Pole Vaulters Raiden Kipfmiller, Debbie McCoy, and Madelyn Simons dominated the points in that event. Kipfmiller was 2nd with a jump of 12’ 6”, McCoy 3rd at 11’ 6”, and Simons was 7th at 9’ 3”. Both Kipfmiller and McCoy have qualified, and are heading to the state championships.

The Dreadnaught State Team is set with Cameron Clark, Raiden Kipfmiller, Debbie McCoy, Amelia Cribbins, Claire Steinbrecher, Lilly Mitchell and Vivian Hoffman headed to the Division 1 State Championships on May 31st in East Kentwood.

For full results from the Regional Championships, please visit Dexter Track & Field on Athletic.net