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Dexter XC seniors leave mark on program, younger Bearcats
Thursday, November 28, 2024
Dexter High School senior cross country runners Cameron Bell and Ben Dowdy (fourth and fifth from left, respectively) pose with their Bearcat teammates during their final practice of this season earlier this month at Dexter High School.
Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com
Some marriages don’t last six years, so the fact that Dexter High School senior cross country runners Ben Dowdy and Cameron Bell have spent hours each day, training side by side, for that many years, it’s impressive that they still speak, let alone, still like each other.
“Cameron and I,” Dowdy said earlier this fall, “we’ve run miles together since we were in the seventh grade. Just about every mile we ran, we’ve been together.”
That amount of time spent together made it fitting earlier this month when the two seniors achieved their dreams, not just individually, but in guiding the Bearcat program to heights never reached.
“There have been plenty of teams that had this shot,” Dowdy said of recent Bearcat squads. “I’m just happy to be able to end it like this and go out with a bang.”
After finishing in fifth place and seventh place in two of the past three seasons at the MSHSAA Class 3 State Finals, Dexter finished fourth at this year’s competition, which was held at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia earlier this month.
The achievement was a culmination of years of aspiring – and working toward – achieving that goal.
“I’ve definitely thought about it,” Dowdy said of grasping the finality of his career prior to the State Finals. “There is definitely some emotion there. This has been my whole life for six years.”
Bell closed his Bearcat cross country career as the fastest runner in program history and finished eighth at the State Finals for the second consecutive season to earn All-State honors.
He ran a 16:47.9 at this year’s meet.
Dowdy achieved All-State status in the final race of his career, as he placed 17th overall, 10 places higher than last fall. His time was 17:20.4.
“It’s been all that we have worked for and all that I have worked for,” Dowdy said.
Prior to this season, both Bell and Dowdy spoke of the positive influence that they received from former Bearcat runners, and they wanted to mentor this year’s team in the same way.
“We kind of owe it to the guys who have come before us,” Bell said, “to be able to hold up a plaque and to leave our mark on Dexter High School.
“We want to be the first (Dexter) cross-country team to get a BIG trophy.”
Bell and Dowdy used their lessons learned to guide this year’s group, which included juniors Jaxon King and Blake Lee, sophomore Peyton Ballance, and freshmen Gabriel Proctor and Daniel Williams.
Now it is up to those younger runners to emerge from the shadows of Bell and Dowdy and become mentors of future Dexter runners.
“We love to watch the (younger runners) grow,” Dowdy said, “and that is what this season has become. They haven’t been here with us forever, but we are trying to bring them along and being a mentor to them.”
Bell and Dowdy said their leadership didn’t end following the team warm-down each day.
“Not just in the running,” Dowdy said of teaching leadership, “but them seeing us in the hallways and how we interact with people. Hopefully, we are good role models to those guys.
“It’s not just how much they improved (in running), though that was awesome, but hopefully, they have improved a little bit as people, too.”