Dimambro Moves to Front of Fenton Pack
August 17, 2016
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
FENTON — Dominic Dimambro was the little kid who often tagged along with his older brother and his friends.
"When we were on the team, he was almost like a team mascot of sorts," said Fenton cross country coach Jesse Anderson, who ran for the Tigers from 2003-06. "We were able to pull out pictures of him out at cross country camp the first or second year he was running. I was on the team with his older brother, Joe. He's been around the running culture for a long time. He's always been very athletic. He's a kid who was able to breakdance and spin on his head when he was 4 years old, so that kept us entertained."
Ten years after Joe Dimambro and Anderson helped put Fenton on the state cross country map, the kid who used to be a source of amusement for the older boys is now the high school senior who has his sights set on big brother's school records.
Joe Dimambro, who went on to run at Michigan State University, holds Fenton's records in cross country (15:24.9 at the 2006 Portage Invitational) and 1,600-meter run (4:12.88 at the 2007 Midwest Meet of Champions). Dominic Dimambro's career bests are 15:48.5, which was good for a 23rd-place finish in last year's MHSAA Division 1 Lower Peninsula cross country meet, and 4:22.67 in the 1,600 from the Regional meet last spring. He went on to place 12th in the MHSAA LP Division 1 LP track and field meet in 4:23.43.
"He's always been coaching me and encouraging me," Dominic said of his older brother. "He wants me to go beyond what he did, so it's a friendly rivalry."
A decade ago, Anderson was a teammate who helped push Joe Dimambro to those school records. Now, he's a second-year coach who could help Dominic break two of the most impressive school records in the Flint area.
"It's great," Dominic said. "He's like a life-long friend of mine. He was friends with my brother growing up. I get to see a lot of him. I get him here at cross country. He's my boss at Red Fox (Outfitters, a Fenton athletic shoe and outdoor gear store). He's been my friend for life. He has a lot of running knowledge. He does a great job with everybody, not just the fast guys – everybody."
And there's one aspect of Anderson's training philosophy that Dominic particularly appreciates — the emphasis on keeping runners healthy.
"He's really done a great job," Dimambro said. "One thing that's been really good is injury prevention. We've had close to no injuries the past two years. He's helped us a lot."
That emphasis hits close to home for Dimambro, because his sophomore year of cross country and track was decimated because of an injury, then an illness. A problem with a nerve in his right leg shut down his 2014 cross country season after only four meets. His fastest time that season was 16:29.2, a time he eclipsed six times as a freshman, with a personal best of 16:17.6.
It was a devastating season for a runner who was the top freshman at the 2013 MHSAA Division 1 LP meet, placing 52nd in 16:24.5. He had to take six months off from running, smack in the middle of a promising high school career.
Once he returned to running, a bout of mononucleosis limited him to four meets the following track season. His best time that spring (4:42.37) was nearly 12 seconds slower than his best as a freshman (4:30.7).
"I was not happy during that time," Dimambro said. "It was really frustrating to see a couple of seasons slip through your hands. For a while, I didn't know if I'd come back to running. I'm really involved in the music program. I thought maybe I'll just stick with that. Now, I use it as encouragement, because I'm back in it and it's all the more reason to do better in the future."
One source of encouragement for Dimambro as he battled through that period was a group of fast running friends that included former teammate Jacob Lee, current teammate Andrew Bond and 2015 Grand Blanc graduate Grant Fisher. Lee was the MHSAA Division 1 LP champion in the 3,200 in 2016, Bond joined Lee and Dimambro on the all-state podium at last year's Cross Country Finals, and Fisher is a two-time national Foot Locker cross country champion who made All-America as a freshman at Stanford University.
"They helped me a lot get back on my feet after my injury," Dimambro said. "Just seeing the times they're posting and encouraging me. They're like, 'You've got to get back into it. You can be right there. You just have to spend some time getting back into it.' They're good training partners and also great friends of mine."
High school runners of Dimambro's caliber don't often have teammates who can keep up with them in workouts. He was blessed last season to have two teammates who could push him in practice and in meets.
At the Division 1 Cross Country Finals, Fenton had three all-state runners who were separated by only seven places and 4.9 seconds. Lee was 19th in 15:46.6, Dimambro 23rd in 15:48.5 and Bond 26th in 15:51.5 to lead the team to a ninth-place team finish. Dimambro and Bond are senior co-captains this year.
"It's always great to have people the same caliber all running together," Dimambro said. "When you have a bunch of other people you're training with, everybody else around you is going to push you. Having a bunch of guys running around the same time is good for the team. Last year, we had a lot of guys running around 18:30. Originally, they were around 20 minutes, but they were pushing each other in practice. No one wants to be the one losing to the others."
For all of Dimambro's accomplishments, he's never won a cross country race in high school. That will happen when you run for three years on a team led by someone like Lee, who now runs for the University of Michigan.
Dimambro had eight top-five finishes last year, with a second place to Lee in the Flint Metro League meet his best. He was third in the Regional behind eventual Division 1 Finals runner-up Mitchell Day of Alpena (now a senior) and Lee.
"I've always just been kind of like Jake's shadow in those races where we'd go 1-2," Dimambro said. "It'll be a little different this year. I wouldn't count out Andrew. He's in phenomenal shape. That kid's fit."
Anderson said he doesn't try to project a goal finish for Dimambro at the MHSAA Finals, because that can be dependent on other runners. He tries to get his runners to control what they can control.
"Our goal for him is to get an underlying strength that he can respond to different stresses in races later on in the year," Anderson said. "He's one of the smarter racers you'll encounter at the high school level. If he's in a pack of people in the same shape as him, I'll take him nine times out of 10. He's very tough and very smart."
Having two returning all-staters at the top of its lineup bodes well for Fenton, which won the Regional championship in Anderson's first season last fall. The Tigers ran in a Regional hosted by Bay City Western last year, but move to one hosted closer to home at Linden this season.
It's a Regional that includes White Lake Lakeland and Milford, two perennial powers who finished among the top seven in last year's Division 1 Finals meet. The top three teams from Regionals qualify for the MHSAA Finals.
"We've got our work cut out for us, but that's why we're here in the morning in the summer to take it day by day," Anderson said. "We'll worry about them when we get in a race."
Bill Khan served as a sportswriter at The Flint Journal from 1981-2011 and currently contributes to the State Champs! Sports Network. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Dominic Dimambro (55), flanked by teammate Andrew Bond (51), moves ahead in the pack during last season's Division 1 Cross Country Finals. (Middle) Dimambro works to stay ahead of a Northville runner during this spring's Division 1 Track & Field Finals. (Top photo by Carter Sherline/RunMichigan.com; middle photo by Bill Khan.)
Preview: Favorites Poised to Blaze Paths
November 2, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
If the projections are correct, two Michigan high school boys cross country teams will be celebrating MHSAA championships for the first time this weekend.
Chelsea and Hanover-Horton are the top-ranked teams in their divisions, and both are seeking to win Finals titles for the first time. Four more boys teams ranked among the top three in their respective divisions also could contend for their first championships in this sport at Saturday's championship races.
A total of 989 runners will take to the course at Michigan International Speedway, with the first boys race at 10:50 a.m. – the girls start the day with their Division 4 at 9:30. Below are some of the teams to watch and a glance at each of the individual fields. Click for all Finals qualifiers, a map of the course and links to buy tickets and watch the Finish Line camera on MHSAA.tv, and come back to Second Half later Saturday for coverage of all four meets.
Division 1
Reigning champion: White Lake Lakeland
2016 runner-up: Saline
2017 top-ranked: 1. Ann Arbor Pioneer, 2. Plymouth, 3. Romeo.
A yearly contender especially during the 1990s, Ann Arbor Pioneer is expected to claim its first MHSAA championship since 2008 after finishing fifth a year ago. The Pioneers have five of their top six back from last year’s Final and placed five of the top six and six of the top nine to take last week’s Regional, which also included No. 5 Saline. Neither Plymouth nor Romeo made the MHSAA Finals as teams last year; combined they sent three individual qualifiers. Senior Ethan Byrnes and sophomore Carter Solomon finished 10th and 18th, respectively, in 2016 for Plymouth, while Romeo sophomore Jack Wilson was 37th and returns to lead a team challenge. Romeo won its Regional last week ahead of honorable mention Clarkston, while Plymouth won its Regional putting six runners among the top nine as well to finish ahead of No. 11 Novi and No. 15 Salem. Neither Plymouth nor Romeo has won an MHSAA title in this sport. And don’t forget about last year’s contenders: Lakeland and Saline could figure into the mix again too, coming in ranked Nos. 4 and 5, respectively.
Individuals: Last year’s champion and runner-up graduated, leaving White Lake Lakeland junior Harrison Grzymkowski the highest returning finisher after coming in third. Ann Arbor Skyline junior Tristan Williams was eighth last year, followed by Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern now-senior Abdi Ahmed and Byrnes. Pioneer’s Nick Foster, Ahmed and Rockford’s Cole Johnson have the fourth, fifth and sixth-fastest times in the state this season, respectively. Johnson finished ahead of Ahmed at their Regional and was third at the 2015 Final. Other Regional champions last week were Foster, Grzymkowski, Alpena junior Aden Smith, Holland junior Sam Martens, Ann Arbor Skyline senior Anthony Giannobile, Novi senior Gabriel Mudel (ahead of Solomon and Byrnes), Birmingham Seaholm junior George Nummer and Rochester Hills Stoney Creek senior Harrison Steen.
Division 2
Reigning champion: Corunna
2016 runner-up: Fremont
2017 top-ranked: 1. Chelsea, 2. Corunna, 3. Lansing Catholic.
Chelsea has never won an MHSAA boys cross country championship but finished ninth last year with only one senior. Five of last year’s seven runners will return to MIS coming off a Regional title that saw five place among the top nine as the team finished ahead of No. 13 Dearborn Divine Child. Corunna graduated last season’s champion Noah Jacobs, but junior Ben Jacobs (Noah’s brother) came in eighth in 2016 and is one of four back from that winning team. The Cavaliers won their Regional last week with Jacobs the individual champion and three more teammates among the top eight against a field including No. 8 Flint Powers Catholic. Lansing Catholic was runner-up in Division 3 last season and moves into Division 2 this weekend paced by its top four from the 2016 Final and five of its top six off that team. The Cougars placed five runners between fifth and 12th in winning a Regional that included No. 11 St. Johns and honorable mention Haslett.
Individuals: Coldwater senior Shuaib Aljabaly and Otsego junior Alex Comerford have the fastest boys times in the state this season, both breaking 15 minutes at the Otsego Invitational on Sept. 30. They finished third and ninth, respectively, at last season’s Final, and Aljabaly is unbeaten this fall. The third fastest time statewide belongs to Fremont senior Ben Schmidt, who is coming off a 10th-place Finals finish a year ago. Joining those three and Jacobs from the top 10 are St. Johns senior Dillan Haviland (seventh) and Grosse Ile junior James Gedris (fifth). Schmidt, Aljabaly, Comerford, Haviland and Gedris joined Jacobs as Regional champs last week, as did St. Clair senior Brendan Parr, Linden sophomore Tyler Buchanan and Fruitport senior Cameron Oleen.
Division 3
Reigning champion: Saugatuck
2016 runner-up: Lansing Catholic
2017 top-ranked: 1. Hanover-Horton, 2. Caro, 3. Hart.
Hanover-Horton is predicted to take the jump from third last year to win its first championship in this sport with a lineup returning six of seven runners to MIS including 2016 sixth-place finisher Landon Melling. Now a senior, Melling won last week’s Regional followed by senior teammate Bo Shepherd as the Comets placed six of the top 12 individuals. Caro is paced by reigning individual champion Yami Albrecht, who led the Tigers to a fifth-place team finish at last year’s Final. He’s joined by three more returnees off that team, and he also won his Regional last week as Caro placed three of the top five while fending off No. 8 Shepherd and No. 13 Montrose. Hart didn’t make the Finals last year as a team, but now-sophomore Hunter Tubbs raced as an individual qualifier. He and his teammates put five among the top 20 to win their Regional ahead of No. 9 Clare, and they also come into this weekend seeking their program’s first MHSAA title.
Individuals: Junior Corey Gorgas is one of two returnees for reigning champion Saugatuck, which as a team is ranked No. 4. He finished fourth individually a year ago in leading the title effort, but actually finished second at last week’s Regional to freshman teammate Nik Pettinga. Holland Black River senior Joshua Fink joins Gorgas, Albrecht and Melling as returnees from the top 10 after coming in 10th in 2016. Harbor Spring junior Jeremy Kloss, the Division 4 Final runner-up last season whose team is now in Division 3, also was a Regional champion last week as were Clare junior David Good, Kent City senior Fraser Wilson, Ithaca junior Ransom Allen, Bad Axe junior David Knarian and Blissfield senior Casey Reed – Wilson in a field including Fink.
Division 4
Reigning champion: Pewamo-Westphalia
2016 runner-up: Harbor Springs
2017 top-ranked: 1. Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart, 2. Potterville, 3. Battle Creek St. Philip.
Pewamo-Westphalia and Harbor Springs both moved to Division 3 this school year, and Sacred Heart could join with its girls team for a Division 4 sweep after the boys finished 10th last season with only one senior. All five placers from 2016 are in the lineup again after the Irish placed six of the top 16 to win a Regional that included No. 8 Beal City and No. 13 Carson City-Crystal. Sacred Heart is running for its first MHSAA title since 1977. Potterville is seeking its first team title since claiming back-to-back in 2007 and 2008, and after placing 12th a year ago. Four of the top five are back from that team, and they placed five among the top 18 to win a Regional that included No. 5 Plymouth Christian Academy and No. 14 Dansville. St. Philip is seeking its first MHSAA title in this sport, having finished runner-up in 1969. The Tigers were 18th last year bringing three freshmen to MIS. All three are back along with two others from that lineup, and they followed senior Kenny Wojcik to a Regional win last week as he came in first and five more finished among the top 15.
Individuals: Even with Kloss running in Division 3 this weekend, four more from last year’s top 10 are back for this race led by Cass City senior and reigning champion CarLee Stimpfel. He’s joined by Ubly senior Alex Grifka (fifth), Bear Lake/Onekama senior Gary McBride (eighth) and Lansing Christian senior Davis Tebben (10th). Expect to see plenty of new names fill out the top of this year’s list. Stimpfel did win his Regional ahead of Grifka last week. But others to watch are Fairview senior Tylor Ross, Walkerville sophomore Shane Achterhof, Whittemore-Prescott senior Zane Aldrich, Bridgman senior Drew Dow, Plymouth Christian junior Luke Pohl, Sand Creek senior Travis Carson and Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest sophomore Ethan Rice. All won Regional titles last week, Achterhof ahead of McBride.
PHOTO: Coldwater’s Shuaib Aljabaly (center), holds off Novi’s Gabriel Mudel (left) and Chelsea’s Tom Oates to win the Spartan Invitational “elite” race on Sept. 15. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)