4A Sectionals

4A Sectional 4
Blue Springs Lake
Blue Springs, MO
11-02-02
5,000 Meters (sleet and near freezing temps)

Girls -
The showdown between the Kansas City area girls teams lived up to its expectations. Beginning with the individual race, front runners Jamie Hoffman (Sr, Liberty), Stephanie Lavin (Jr, Blue Springs) and Kaly Prather (So, Raymore - Peculiar) controlled the early movement. These three runners eventually shook off the chase pack and broke it into isolated competitors. Freshman sensation Whitney Danze (Liberty) appeared to lock-up during the race and did not finish. Her running mate, Hoffman, took Prather to a photo finish victory with respective times of 18:37.52 and 18:38.66. With consistent finishes all season long, Danze's was expected to finish within the top five. As Prather and Hoffman changed gears, Lavin held on and fought to an 18:48.86 effort. With her first sub 19:00 performance, Lee's Summit North Freshman Lindsay Pierson finished in fourth place. Nearly 7 seconds separated Lee's Summit teammates Kelli Denny (Jr. 19:03.11) and Amy Stetzler (Sr. 19:10.99). Their fifth and sixth place finishes helped the Lady Tigers to 53 points and sectionals championship. Blue Springs finished in second place with 68, St. Joseph Central was third with 84 and Lee's Summit North finished with 96 points. All four teams qualified for the state meet, which left a Danze-less Liberty (97 points) squad out by a 1 point margin.

Boys -
With a week before the state meet, the individual bout for the boy's side was a test to determine wheter any Kansas City competitor(s) can run with Adam Perkins. By putting nearly 19 seconds between him and Tony Camareno, Perkins disproved the notion while cruising to victory in a time of 15:35.51. All credit goes to Camareno because the Blue Springs senior had to fight off a couple of genuine underclassmen at the finish line. Camareno's 15:54.28 was closely followed by sophomore Chris Pullen (St. Joseph Central) in 15:55.93 and junior Adam Scrogham (Lee's Summit North) in 15:56.43. The defending 4A state runner up, Marc Tegenkamp, was the fifth and final runner under 16 minutes. If the Lee's Summit senior shows the strength and conditioning from which he showed during midseason, he can very likely challenge Perkins. Nearly two and a half seconds divided sixth and eleventh place. In a close race for sixth, Liberty senior Jason Simpson finished in 16:01.08 out kicking Travis Crutcher (Jr, Blue Springs, 16:01.42) and Micah Schmidt (Jr, Raytown, 16:01.80). Junior Ryan Binkley was Liberty's third top ten finisher with a 16:02.11 effort. Junior Jared Kreissler (Truman,
16:03.05) and senior Brennan Metzler (Rockhurst, 16:03.55) also added to the photo finish. In the team standings, Liberty captured another title with 40 points and will go into the state meet undefeated. The Blue Jays finished by having their top five within 14th place and with a 16:00 average. Blue Springs finished as the runner-up with 61 points and St. Joseph Central finished with 86 points. As in the girl’s race, the race for the final state qualifying spot went down to the wire. With an average time of 16:26.13 Lee's Summit North ironically fell to Lee's Summit who average 16:26.25. Only 1 point separated the two teams in a 105 to 106 point standing.

4A Sectional 3
Bethel Park, MO
11-02-02
5,000 Meters (very flat)

Girls -
On Saturday, the West Plains girls continued their undefeated streak in a 24 point victory over Jefferson City (92). The familiar duo of sophomore Jennifer Harper and freshman Mindy Lahey gave the Lady Zizzer another one-two finish. Twenty-five seconds separated the two as Harper dashed to blistering 18:16 finish leaving Lahey behind in 18:41. Hickman high school finished in third place with 97 points. Led by Jennifer Reekie's third place finish, the Fort Zumwalt South ladies caputured the final state qualifying spot with 112 points. Sara Hiller (4th, 19:01) and Amanda Henbest (5th, 19:02) will be two of
three runners representing Kickapoo high school. Rounding out the top eight finishers were all West Plains runners: Erica Young (6th, 19:03), Tara Collins (7th, 19:04) and Amy Hall (8th, 19:05). The top ten was filled with six of West Plains's seven runners.

Boys -
Yet again, the West Plains boys eased to victory with 23 points and five runners within twelfth place. The race was dominated by the undefeated Josh Harper who put 26 seconds on second place teammate Matt Brown. Harper's remarkable 15:19 effort will place him in good standing against Adam Perkins at the state meet. The premptive showdown between 9:15 two-miler [Harper] and the 3:49 metric-miler [Perkins] looks to be a coin toss. West Plains seniors Brain Roe and Matt Brown completed the Zizzer's trifector with respective times of 15:46 and 15:45. With a 15:51 effort, Hickman senior Nate Smith earned fourth place. Francis Howell North's Kevin McNabb edged out Tim Cornell of Hickman as both finished with times of 15:53. In seventh place was West Plains's Ian McFarland (15:55) out kicking the likes of John Clayton (Parkview, 15:55), Carl Specking (Fort Zumwalt South, 15:56), and Nathan Frejo (Glendale, 15:56). The runner-up in the team standings, with 96 points, was Fort Zumwalt South. Along with Specking, Zumwalt South was helped by the 16:00 performance of Chris Stearns. Adam Pace (16:03) of West Plains sprinted ahead of Jake Garner (Rolla, 16:03), Alex Morris (Kickapoo, 16:04) and teammate Ryan Williams
(WP, 16:05) to finish twelfth. Morris led Kickapoo to third place with 106 points and Jeff City captured the final state qualifying spot with 110 points.

4A Sectional 2
Sioux Passage, MO
11-02-02
5,000 Meters (hard, very hilly)

Girls -
McCluer North senior Laura Ruf (20:21) comfortably won with a 17 second vicotry over Kierra Hanley (20:38) of Pattonville. Finishing third was Courtney Ayers of Pattonville in a time of (20:50). Webster edged Pattonville for the team title. Cor Jesu and Ursuline finished in the final state qualifying spots.

Boys -
It appears as if St. Louis University high school will take another deep team back to the state meet. Aided by Peter Schaefer and Drew Noblot's one-two finish of 16:33 and 16:40, S.L.u.H. defeated Chaminade. Billy Bell (16:41) of Parkway Central finished in third place while Mark Buha (16:47) of Chaminade finished in fourth. Christian Brothers finished in third place as a team and DeSmet finsished fourth.

4A Sectional 1
Jefferson Barracks, MO
11-02-02
5,000 Meters (Moderate, many hills)

Girls -
In an 18:57 effort, defending 4A state champion Katy Bundy cruised to a sectional victory. Bundy also led Marquette high school to short margin victory over rival Lafayette, 46 to 48. Sophomore Jennifer Pancoast finished in second place in 19:18. Washington high school finished in third place with 114 points and Cape Central finished in fourth with 120 points. By gaining 122 points, Parkway South placed fifth and barely missed state qualifying status.

Boys -
The Parkway South boys claimed their sectional championship by finishing with four runners within the top eight. However, the race was won by Eureka senior Tony Payton (16:32) who was followed by Ross MacDonald of Parkway South (16:35). The Kirkwood boys placed second with 69 points just ahead of Marquette (77) and Fox (122).