Boys Cross Country - 11/3/2007 State Finals

State Champions - Fremont 105, Dexter 138.

Temp – low 50s with some breeze

It is a title that was earned by this years Cross Country team. The boys weathered setbacks throughout the season and right up to the Finals, but they never gave up hope. It sure did frustrate me that just when we seemed to get a groove going we would have another issue. I think it showed some light on these boys determination to win that they just kept plowing forward.

Going into the State Finals we knew that we were possibly at our most vulnerable do to some injuries to key people. By the day of the meet the guys just wanted to get out there and race.

At the mile mark we were not where we had hoped to be. James was a little off the lead pack, which contained Dexter’s 1 and 2. Dexter’s 3 was just behind James with a little gap to Erik and then to Mike. Davis was well behind D’s 4th and Nick was running with their 5th and 6th. Charlie and Matt were ahead of D’s 7th in the pack.

At the 2 mile things looked worse for us up front with D’s top 3 in front of our 1st who was now Erik. Mike was just a little behind Erik and James was struggling to keep contact with Mike.

Things were looking better at 4 and 5 as Davis was quickly closing the gap to D’s 4th and Nick was now pulling away from their 5th and closing the gap to Davis and D’s 4th.

After entering the track with ¾ of a mile to go not a lot changed for Erik, Mike and James, the big moves were being made in the front of the bubble. Davis blew by Dexter’s 4 and was really passing tons of kids. Nick also was really moving and put Dexter’s 4th away. On the charge home we were now getting it done, while at the 1000 to go mark Dexter’s 4th went down and was out of the race.

At the finish we were not sure as to the outcome, having some pessimistic tendencies I thought we were in 2nd. Some fans that had done some counting and thought we won. As the boys cooled down I went to get the results. STATE CHAMPIONS Fremont 105, Dexter 138.

Dexter’s Coach and athletes are class acts and were very gracious in defeat.

Team Scoring placing and times.

9th	Erik Westbrook	15:58
11th	Mike Morgan	16:02
12th	James Lanciaux	16:11
32nd	Davis Lindsay	16:27
41st	Nick Butcher	16:40
87th	Charlie Fias	17:22
88th	Matt Carlson	17:22

Erik, Mike and James were All-State

For overall placing go to http://www.mhsaa.com/sports/bxc/07d2b.txt and follow links to sports, cross country, results

Athletes of the Meet – Erik Westbrook, Davis Lindsay, Nick Butcher all recording lifetime prs.

There was a fantastic parade through town following the fire truck and police cars through town and reception at the High School. Thanks to all the supporters at the school, in the community, and the alumni.

Coach Somers