ADRIAN -- Dexter High School’s boys cross country team has for years been a force in Division 2, finishing first or second in the state championships seven of the past eight years, with five straight state titles from 2002-06.

But this year the Dreadnaughts have moved up to Division 1, making the season a bit of an unknown for the historically strong program.

Tuesday’s first Southeastern Conference jamboree at Heritage Park in Adrian was an opportunity for Dexter to see how it stacks up with elite Division 1 competition, with five of the top 16 teams from the 2009 Division 1 state championships competing.

More coverage at MLive.com: Results

The verdict: Don’t worry about the Dreadnaughts. They’ll be just fine.

With both Red and White Division teams competing in one race, Dexter finished in first place at the 11-team jamboree with 56 points.

“It’s a big jump,” said Dexter’s second-best finisher, Alexey Vermeulen, of the move from Division 1 to 2. Vermeulen finished in sixth place with a time of 16 minutes, 44 seconds, one place behind teammate Taylor Neely (16:38) and one ahead of teammate Parker Latshaw (16:53).

“We’ve been trying to pack up and run as a group and we succeeded. We had runners coming in together so that was good for the team.”

“Those three guys up front, Parker, Taylor and Alexey, they’ve been a great pack in training and workouts and they hit it again today,” said Dexter coach David Testa. “That’s some pretty stiff competition out there and to see it this early in the season is great.”

Chelsea’s August Pappas led Monroe’s Austin Whitelaw for most of the race, but Whitelaw prevailed down the final stretch to claim medalist honors at 16:00. Pappas came in second at 16:05, 23 seconds ahead of third place Nicholas Renberg from Saline.

"In the last mile, (Whitelaw) surged on me, then I surged back on him, he just had more left in the end than I did," Pappas said. "Obviously I would have liked to have won, but the fact that I was competing with a guy at that level makes me a lot more comfortable where I am. I’m happy as far as league standings go that I’m right with the top guy."

As a team, Chelsea finished in sixth place with 176 points.

With 66 points to Temperance Bedford’s 67, Saline narrowly edged the Kicking Mules for second place, but Hornet coach Carl Spina thinks his team is capable of more.

“I thought (Jonathan) Parker, (Matthew) Helms, and (Grant) Praschan would be a lot further up,” said Spina of his Nos. 4, 5 and 6 runners who finished 20th, 26th and 27th, respectively. “There were about eight to 10 guys ahead of them separated by only about eight seconds. They run like they could have, we’re talking 20 points difference right there.”

Pioneer finished in fifth place with 165 points, very unfamiliar territory for last year’s state runners-up. Considering he just lost his top six runners from that team to graduation, Pioneer coach Don Sleeman was satisfied with the showing.

“We did really well, I’ve got three freshmen and four sophomores running and they’re just being thrown into the stiffest competition,” Sleeman said. “We’re running against very, very strong competition in this league -- it always is -- and we’re doing it with very young kids and they’re improving. I’m not ecstatic, but I’m pretty pleased with what went on.”

Monroe finished in fourth (113) and Adrian in seventh (189), followed by Huron (191), Skyline (242), Tecumseh (255) and Lincoln (264). Ypsilanti did not compete in the varsity race.

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.