BROOKLYN - The Saline High School girls cross country team finally broke through to a state championship level on Saturday afternoon while the boys teams from Pioneer and Dexter showed what a difference expectations can make after a second-place finish.

Top-10 finishes from seniors Alex Leptich and Kate Carter, plus some surprising performances from three young runners, led Saline to a 2009 MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 state championship at Michigan International Speedway.

The Hornets have been among the top programs in the state over the past decade, but hadn’t claimed first-place hardware before beating Rockford by 51 points (141-192) on Saturday.

“When you’ve been that close and then you finally win it, that makes it even sweeter in some ways,” said Saline coach Mike Smith.

Pioneer finished second to Detroit Catholic Central in the Division 1 boys standings, ending their day in a tearful group hug in the infield area at MIS. Just moments earlier, the Dexter boys had whooped up its second-place finish in Division 2, carrying the runner-up trophy high over their collective heads into a sea of loudly-appreciative supporters.

“It’s all about perspective. A second-place finish is great. It’s awesome,” said Pioneer senior Nick Kern, who led the Pioneers with a fourth-place individual finish. “But with the talent that we have, the depth that we have … second place is a bittersweet win. We didn’t run like we normally do.”

Unlike the top-ranked Pioneers, Dexter surprised even itself with its runner-up finish.

“It was a complete surprise. We were thinking if we get seventh, we’re golden,” said senior Ben Carruthers, who finished seventh. “We ran tough, and all our guys just had the mentality that if we run strong we can do great stuff.”

In all, 12 Washtenaw County high schools were represented at the state meet. Below is a division-by-division roundup of highlights. Click each header for complete team scoring, All-State finishers, and all local runners’ places.

DIVISION 1 GIRLS The least surprising aspect of Saline’s girls state title was the performance of Leptich and Carter. Leptich earned her fourth All-State accolade by finishing fifth in 18 minutes, 19.1 seconds and Carter’s 10th-place performance in 18:39.9 earned her a third All-State medal.

“Alex and Kate are the best 1-2 runners in the state and they’re very consistent,” said Smith. “So we thought it was totally up to our third, fourth and fifth runners. If they did what they were capable of, we would have a good shot to win. And that’s what we did.”

Saline’s next finisher was freshman Alyssa Cummings, who was 31st in the team scoring and 40th overall. Freshman Emily Reyst (41st/50th) and sophomore Katie Colosimo (54th/69th) followed.

“As a senior, obviously it’s anyone’s dream,” Leptich said of the team title. “We have a strong front with me and Kate, and we knew that we needed to come together behind us, too. The girls did it. We told them and told them and told them that they needed to run together, and they did it and pulled through.”

Carter said the team wanted to win for Smith, “because he’s been coaching for millions of years.” It’s actually only 35 years, Smith noted, but he did agree it was a day for the ages.

“We ran about as well as we could have and it turned out the way we hoped,” he said.

Pioneer senior Elizaveta Boudreau earned All-State status with her 15th-place finish in 18:50.9. Boudreau was 14th in the team scoring, leading the Pioneers to a 10th-place finish.

Huron’s two junior individual qualifiers left Brooklyn with All-State medals, as well. Karyn Rapundalo finished 23rd in 19:09.3 and Annie-Norah Beveridge was 30th - the final All-State position - in 19:18.8.

Megan Goethals of Rochester (16:54.8) broke her own state record while winning the Division 1 individual title for the second straight year, with a 75-second cushion.

DIVISION 1 BOYS Catholic Central placed its five scoring runners among the top 24 team runners to outscore the defending Division 1 state champion Pioneers 68-96 in the final standings.

“They were very disappointed because they wanted to win, knew they could win, but Catholic Central just flat out ran better man-for-man than we did,” Pioneer coach Don Sleeman said. “You don’t want to come to the state meet and not have your best day. That’s all there is to it.”

Nick Kern (4th, 15:59.2), Adam Kern (13th, 16:08.9) and Nathan Karr (21st, 16:15.6) each earned All-State accolades for Pioneer.

Saline senior Andrew Harper finished 26th (16:18.8), leading the Hornets’ boys team to a ninth-place finish. Huron senior Kevin Egedy’s 44th-place finish (16:35.7) helped the River Rats finish in 14th place.

DIVISION 2 BOYS Strong winds and a muddy infield portion of the speedway course slowed down individual times, leaving most of the top local runners shaking their heads over their performance Saturday.

But there was nothing but celebration coming from the large and loud Dexter contingent gathered near the awards stage. “Running makes me happy,” is what the Dreadnaughts’ T-shirts read. And even though Division 2 champion Ionia doubled Dexter’s score, 92-184, a second-place finish exceeded the expectations of a team ranked No. 9 entering the competition.

“We just had Dexter Pride in our minds,” said Carruthers, whose seventh-place finish (16:11.5) was good for fourth-place points in the team scoring.

Count Chelsea junior August Pappas among the disappointed. He finished fourth in 16:03.8, and said his training for a better finish next year begins on Monday.

“I was happy with my effort, but I wasn’t happy with my time or place,” he said. “Maybe I need to work on my training toward the end of the season.”

His Chelsea teammate Bryce Bradley, sporting a matching Mohawk hairstyle, finished 19th (16:27.2) to give the Bulldogs a pair of All-State runners and help them finish 16th in the team standings.

Christopher Burns of Pontiac Notre Dame Prep won the D2 boys race in 15:47.8.

DIVISION 2 GIRLS Dexter’s Kristen Yarows put a bad state meet memory behind her. One year ago, Yarows entered the meet suffering from a week-long illness. She collapsed and withdrew from the race at the three-mile mark.

On Saturday, she kicked strong down the homestretch to finish fifth in the D2 girls race in 18:47.4.

“I was really nervous coming into it because of last year, but I was really happy with how it turned out,” Yarows said. “I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I wanted to do well and hoped to get top 10.”

The Dreadnaughts finished eighth overall. East Grand Rapids won the team title and Taylor Pougue of Goodrich was the individual champion in 18:11.0.

Skyline’s Madison Mayleben was the county’s next best individual, finishing 31st - one spot shy of All-State honors - in 19:42.0.

DIVISION 3-4 During the morning session, two Washtenaw County runners - Whitmore Lake’s Zach Carpenter and Greenhills’ Jeffrey Bord - finished fifth in their respective boys races.

Results: Division 3 boys | Division 4 boys | Division 3 girls | Division 4 girls

Carpenter’s finish in the Division 3 race was the culmination of a four-year All-State high school career while Bord jumped into the Division 4 leader mix after placing 34th a year ago.

Carpenter was fifth in Division 4 as a freshman, 28th in Division 3 as a sophomore and ninth in Division 3 last year. He said his second fifth-place finish, in 16:13.9, felt like it completed a four-year cycle.

“It’s a great feeling, but very different with it being my last year,” Carpenter said. “I’m going to miss the excitement and atmosphere. But, at the same time, it’s kind of a good feeling to be done with four successful years.”

Bord, who finished in 16:33.5, said his 10-second and 29-place improvement over last year’s finals was made in the offseason.

“A lot of training, trying to get my times up there, and it turned out pretty well,” the junior said. “I’m happy with my position, but hopefully I can improve more on the time next year.”

Whitmore Lake finished seventh in Division 3 boys team standings. Benzie Central won. In the Division 3 girls race, Manchester finished 19th and Whitmore Lake 26th. Hanover-Horton won the team title.

Sophomore Jackie Timoszyk (51st) and her sister, senior Liz Timoszyk (60th) paced the Flying Dutchmen. Whitmore Lake’s Keralyn Totten (46th) was the county’s top finisher.

Greenhills was 18th in the Division 4 boys race, won by Concord. The Greenhills’ girls team was 22nd in the Division 4 final standings, led by Maddy Kelley’s 88th-place finish.

Rich Rezler covers sports for AnnArbor.com. Contact him at 734-623-2553 or richrezler@annarbor.com.