Fowlerville News and Views Online

Fowlerville Cross Country runner caps four-year career with All-State honors
By Aaron Rickens
Fowlerville High School Cross Country Coach
     Chris Davis, a senior member of the Fowlerville Cross Country Team, capped off an amazing four-year career by earning All-State honors at the MHSAA Division II State Finals held at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, Nov. 4. Davis completed the rain-soaked 5000m state championship course in 16:20.9 to become the first Fowlerville boy to earn All-State honors in 19 years. Former Fowlerville standout Nick Carson was the last to earn the honors in 1998.
    The race wasn’t all smooth running for Davis. The Boys Division II race was delayed 45 minutes due to lightning and heavy rain which turned the course slow and sloppy. The first mile was one of Davis’ slowest of the season as he crossed the timing mats in 5:27 and in 151st position. 
     From there, Davis started to gain momentum on the rolling second mile of the technical MIS course. As Davis approached the two mile timing mats, he had moved up significantly to 49th place with a time of 10:36. He negative split the hardest part of the course with a time of 5:10.
     As Davis entered back into the infield at MIS, he was in position to move into the Top 30 runners. With a kilometer to go, Davis was still on the outside looking in, running in 39th place. His career on the line, Davis decided to go all out to the finish by dropping a 5:17 last mile split and overcoming nine other athletes to finish the race in 30th place, edging out a competitor from Corunna by 0.005 seconds to claim his first All-State honor!
   Chris’s season is not done yet as he has plans to compete in the MITCA Team Michigan qualification race this weekend (Nov. 11) in Shepherd where the Top 10 senior runners will be given the opportunity to represent the state of Michigan at the Mid-East Meet of Champions later in the month. Davis will then travel to Racine, WI to compete in the Foot Locker Cross Country Midwest Regional in late November.
     Congratulations to all the Fowlerville Gladiator runners on a memorable and historic season!