More from Portage: Varsity has record day; reserves run up season best times

By Barbara Read / For WLD

While finishing at the Portage Invitational is an impressive accomplishment, the Dexter boys’ cross country team also crossed the line into school history on Saturday. The weather at Portage was nearly a perfect day for running, neither hot nor cold, with a breeze and a nice dry course.

And the Dreadnaughts took advantage of the weather.

Dexter’s Owen Huard was third overall in the race. And his time of 15:04.0 set a new high school record. He now sits atop the list, ahead of Dan Jackson (15:15.7 in 2006) and Bobby April (15:16.2 in 2007). Nathan Larson ran his way to 8th fastest Dexter runner ever with 15:41.9 on the course.

Not only did Huard reach the top of the Dexter record books, but three other Dexter runners joined the school’s senior elite list. Nathan Larson is now fifth best after his 15:41.9; Seth Read is 16th with his 16:07.8; and Liam Buller is 20th with his 16:15.9.

Dexter coach Drew Collette says the Dreads are “looking forward to another great week!”

“We have two weeks of hard training and then we taper for the home stretch,” he said. “Congrats to all for those PRs this weekend! Trust the process and push yourselves, fastest times are yet to come!”

Reserve

The Dexter reserve team hasn’t peaked yet, so it will be exciting to see how much more they have to show before the season ends in three weeks. But their showing on Saturday at the Portage Invitational was another huge step for the young Dreadnaughts.

With three sub-18:00 runners (Nathan Gariepy 17:26.9, Adam Hauser 17:31.3, and John Harm 17:43.1), 17 of 25 runners setting a new PR, and five more running season best times, the Dexter cross country team has astonishing depth.

In a group of best times in the reserve race, Luke Petrinko stands out with his two minute improvement over his previous season best time. Runners cutting more than a minute from their times are Holden Hughes, Emerson Nguyen, Andrew Petik, Kaden Jensen, Nathan Robke, and Vincenzo Sencich. Quentin Hurdle shaved off just under a minute for a new PR.

The next race will be on Saturday, October 12th, at Hudson Mills with JV running at 1:10 and varsity at 2:20.

Photos by Barbara Read

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