MO High School Sectional 1 XC Meet: Déjà vu of District 2 Meet

If you happened to be on the Parkway Central High/Middle School campus in Chesterfield the last two Saturday mornings, October 20 and October 27, for the Class 4 District 2 and Sectional 1 cross country meets, you may have been doubting your senses Saturday. It would have reasonable for one to think he or she was having a case of De Javu. That’s because things played out quit similarly both days, some would say eerily, just days before Halloween.

The Girls race got under way at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, just like it did the week before. And just like the week before, Hannah Long, the Eureka super-sophomore got out quick and never looked back. In fact, if you had been at the Suburban West Conference meet at Parkway Central on Monday, October 8^th, you may have really been questioning if you needed to see a head doctor Saturday. Long cruised to her third straight 5k victory on the course, all within 20 days and all while finishing in a time of 18:0-something. Saturday’s margin victory grew from 45 seconds at Districts to 52 seconds, while she crossed the tape in 18:03. Illness may be to blame for that expanded difference though, as Parkway West sophomore Maddy Brown struggled to a 27^th place finish Saturday, after her runner-up finish to Long at Districts. One coach from another school mentioned after the meet Brown had been sick all week.

Hannah Long won her third race in 20 days Saturday, all on the Parkway Central XC Course, all in 18:0x.

The girls’ team battle closely resembled the District 2 Meet with the top three all staying the same. The Eureka Lady Wildcats captured their second straight state series 1^st place trophy, scoring 56 points. A solid race from junior Lauren Von Seelen kept the Wildcats just 10 points above their District total with her 34^th place finish after stepping back into the varsity line up after some recent rest. Despite added competition from the District 1 qualifiers field, Eureka senior Angie Sumner improved upon her 4^th place District finish to take runner-up honors to teammate Long in 18:55. The Wildcats put four in the top 11 with senior Megan Cunningham finishing 7^th and sophomore Rachel Yergensen placing 11^th in.

Eureka senior Angie Sumner was 2nd.

After edging Eureka (who rested Angie Sumner) for the Suburban West title October 8th, the Marquette Lady Mustangs earned their second straight runner-up meet finish. The Mustangs had another solid showing and led by their fab four freshman totaled 65 points. Marquette put five runners from ninth to 20^th, with freshman Hannah Pierson leading the way placing 9^th in 19:34. The other three frosh were Danielle Mohrmann 12^th, Eryn Bass 14^th, and Lindsay Bass 20^th. A week after setting a 30-second 5k personal record, senior Ashley Bertich improved one more second, finishing 18^th in 20:12. Junior Shelby Hummel wasn’t far back in 25^th as the sixth scorer.

After capturing the District 2 title a week ago, the Eureka Lady Wildcats won Sectional 1 Saturday, October 27.

After 3^rd place finishes at the Suburban West and District 2 meets, Lafayette earned their third straight third place meet finish behind Eureka and Marquette. The Lady Lancers added just five points to their District total to score 70 points. Lafayette was led by freshmen, with Sarah Nicholson finishing 4^th in 19:04, and Anna West who was 10^th in 19:37.

The Marquette Lady Mustangs earned the 2nd place team trophy at Sectional 1, Saturday, October 27. 

Rockwood Summit, the District 1 runner-up behind Lindbergh, was able to overtake the Lady Flyers and the District 2 4^th placers-Parkway West, to earn the final State Qualifying spot. Summit was led by All-Stater Alyssa Jones who took 3^rd place and freshman Melissa Menghini, who placed 17^th. Menghini is the sister of former St. Joseph High School star Krista, who helped St. Joe to a Class 4 State Trophy in cross country with an all-state finish before heading to Kansas City to help St. Joe to the volleyball title in the same day in 2010. Rockwood Summit totaled 102 points to best Parkway West, 5^th-144, Lindbergh, 6^th-149, Jackson, 7^th-173, and Cor Jesu, 8^th-182.  

At 8/10ths of a mile some of the individual and team battle was on. 

In the Boys race, there were even more similarities compared to the District 2 Meet. The Marquette duo of Noah Kauppila and Adam Roderique ran side by side for most of the 3.1 miles.  The led a lead pack that passed the early race leader a half mile in. That pack included the familiar faces of Lafayette’s top three: Derek Legenzoff, Jordan West, and Dylan Quisenberry, as well as District 2 foes, Brian Hernan of Parkway South, Austin Del Rosso of DeSmet, and District 1 standouts Billy Leighton of Cape Central, and Fox’s Larry Lopez.

Just before 2 miles the Marquette duo of Noah and Kauppila and Adam Roderique led Cape Central's Billy Leighton.

At 1.9 miles, it was a three-man race, just like the week before, but instead of Lafayette’s Jordan West a step behind Kauppila and Roderique, it was Billy Leighton. The senior from Cape Girardeau Central appears to be back from a long road of recover from injuries that kept him out most of the season. A few seconds behind the top three were Lafayette seniors Legenzoff and West. With about 300 meters to go, Kauppila had pulled ahead of teammate Roderique by several seconds and just over 10 seconds ahead of Leighton.  Kauppila crossed the finish first in 15:51, the same time he captured the District 2 race in. Roderique was second in 15:55, just like at Districts. Leighton was 3^rd in 16:10 while Legenzoff was 4^th in 16:16, West 5^th in 16:21, Del Rosso 6^th in 16:23, Quisenberry 7^th in 16:33, Hernan 8^th in 16:36, and Lopez 9^th in 16:36.

Kauppila pulled away from teammate Roderique late and had a few second lead just before the 3 mile mark. 

With their top three going 4-5-7, and Derek Albright finishing 20^th and Jack Rogan’s 50^th place the Lafayette totaled 62 points to take the victory, like the week before. Marquette scored 80 to finish 2^nd again while the third and fourth place finishers from District 2 swapped spots and earned the final two State Qualifying spots. The two teams always seem to come on strong late in the season and make it to State. Parkway West placed 3^rd with a strong top three finish of Kevin Koboldt 11^th, Chris Carter 13^th, and Andrew Osborne 16^th. The Longhorns totaled 93 points while DeSmet scored 104 points to keep Lindbergh -113 points, Fox- 118 points, and Jackson – 120, from advancing. Oakville finished 8^th with 164.

The Lafayette Lancers captured the Sectional 1 Meet title after taking first at Districts

While the Sectional 1 meet Saturday wasn’t exactly the same as the District Meet the week before, the four District 2 boys teams advanced to the State Meet and 18 District 2 boys finished in the top 30 to advance to State. On the girls side, three of four District 2 teams advanced to State, as 20 District 2 girls finished in the top 30 to advance to State.

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