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Jayhawk-Linn girls win team title
Jayhawk-Linn took first place in the girls' varsity race at the Fort Scott Cross Country Invitational at the Great West Insurance building Thursday afternoon as the Jayhawks took four of the top 11 places, finishing ahead of Southeast Kansas League power Labette County.
For Fort Scott, senior Catherine Sercer finished in fifth place in the girls' varsity race while her brother, sophomore Charlie, placed 10th in the boys' varsity run.
Chanute's Brooke Sharp won the four-kilometer girls' race in 17 minutes, 34.92 seconds. Stephanie Mayhugh of Jayhawk-Linn came in second in 17:57.73 followed by teammate Meriel Long in 18:03.12. Brecken Larsen of Iola was fourth in 18:09.81 and Sercer ran an 18:18.21 for her fifth-place finish.
"Catherine had a good finish," Fort Scott head coach Tracey Bogina said. "I thought she ran pretty solid all the way through. It was a good girls' race. And the way I see it, at any race, any of those girls in the top five could switch places easily. There's going to be a lot of jockeying for position at different meets. What's fifth today at Fort Scott could be first or second at another meet.
"Catherine's been really solid these first two weeks and I feel really good about that for her. She should feel good about the way she's competing right now."
Madison Beckman took seventh place for the Jayhawks, going 18:36.25 while Sylvia Grant was 11th in 19:10.99. Skipping the teams without enough runners to be eligible for the team titles, the Jayhawks scored the first three places and four of the top six for points.
For those not familiar with the way cross country hands out points, it's on a scale where first place gets one point, second place two, and so on. Like in golf, the low score wins and Jayhawk-Linn had 23 points (a "perfect" score, where a team takes the top five places, is 15 points). Labette County, the only other school present with a full varsity squad scored 33 points but the Grizzlies are almost always in contention for the Southeast Kansas League championship, so this was a big win for the Jayhawk team. Labette County's best runner, Leah Charles, finished in ninth place overall in 18:46.26.
Daisy Jones finished 18th for Fort Scott, running the 4K route in 20:13.13. Sarah Gray rounded out Fort Scott's results with a 20th-place time of 21:00.39. Samantha Green finished up Jayhawk-Linn's tally with a 25th-place 22:22.93.
Sercer, running as Fort Scott's only entrant in the varsity boys' race, finished his 5K run in 20:46.80. Phillip Banowetz of Labette County was the winner in 18:29.56 with David Keach of Neodesha second in 18:30.67 and Trace Redburn of Chanute third in 19:11.50.
"He's a sophomore running varsity and he's been in the top 15 in both the races," Bogina said. "Some kids his age could be running JV at this point. But he's going a half a mile farther each week and at a high level. While you might place higher on the JV but that doesn't mean as much as being 10th in the varsity meet on a tough course."
Brandon Early was Jayhawk-Linn's high finisher with an 18th-place mark of 21:41.57. David Troth finished 21st in 22:00.74 for the Jayhawks.
Pleasanton saw Travis Bradley finish 20th in 22:00.21, Kelly Wadel 28th in 23:30.91 and Dennis Moore 30th in 21:18.42.
Chanute, with four runners finishing in positions three through eight, won the team title with 31 points. Iola was second with 50 points followed by Labette County with 59 and Neodesha with 84.
Kaylie Harper was the high finisher for Fort Scott in the 3,200-meter girls' JV race, placing fourth with a time of 14:44.69. Kim Henry was eighth in 16:09.27 and Erica Davis placed 13th in 16:33.49.
"Our JV girls are solid," Bogina said. "They're basically three brand-new girls and they're running really well. They're still trying to figure this out but they're doing a good job to be in the medals. All three of those girls run really hard and that's a good thing to say about JV girls at this point. Those girls will be able to help us out on the varsity later on."
For Pleasanton's JV girls, Rachel Richmond placed 14th in 16:41.75 and Cheyanne Reynolds was 25th in 19:35.85.
Chanute won the team title with 26 points, followed by Labette County with 41 and Iola with 53.
The top area finisher in the 4K boys' JV race was Jayhawk-Linn's Mason Craig, who finished 13th in 17:04.31. Teammate Bryce Northcutt was 20th in 18:02.42.
Rance Schoenhals of Pleasanton finished 34th in 19:35.24. Fort Scott's Colton Ballou was 40th in 20:28.92. Cole Nickell of Pleasanton was 45th in 22:33.13 with James Spears of Jayhawk-Linn 46th in 22:47.51.
"Colton Ballou was running his second JV race and ran very competitively," Bogina said. "He's our only freshman and I feel good about the job that he's doing."
Iola was the best of the JV boys' teams with 38 points with Labette County right behind with 40. Chanute scored 64 points to take third while Marmaton Valley was fourth with 96.
Fort Scott's team travels to Big Hill Lake near Cherryvale next Thursday for the Parsons Invitational. Jayhawk-Linn's squad will travel to Wellsville while Pleasanton is scheduled to take part in a meet sponsored by Allen County Community College at Iola.
Girls' varsity
4,000 meters
Team scores
1. Jayhawk-Linn (JL) 23, 2. Labette County (LC) 33.
Incomplete teams: Chanute (CH), Crest (CR), Erie (E), Fort Scott (FS), Iola (IO), Neodesha (N).
Medalists
1. Brooke Sharp, CH, 17:34.92; 2. Stephanie Mayhugh, JL, 17:57.73; 3. Meriel Long, JL, 18:03.12; 4. Brecken Larson, IO, 18:09.81; 5. Catherine Sercer, FS, 18:18.21;
6. Italy Loving, CR, 18:32.19; 7. Madison Beckman, JL, 18:36.25; 8. Paige Adkins, N, 18:39.82; 9. Leah Charles, LC, 18:46.26; 10. Chelsey Lompe, LC, 18:52.19;
11. Sylvia Grant, JL, 19:10.99; 12. LeighAnn Omarkhail, LC, 19:19.67; 13. Shayla Smith, LC, 19:30.61; 14. Bethany Franke, CH, 19:36.75; 15. Amy McVey, N, 19:41.41
Boys' varsity
5,000 meters
Team scores
1. Chanute (CH) 31, 2. Iola (IO) 50, 3. Labette County (LC) 59, 4. Neodesha (N) 84.
Incomplete teams: Crest (CR), Erie (E), Fort Scott (FS), Jayhawk-Linn (JL), Pleasanton (PL).
Medalists
1. Phillip Banowetz, LC, 18:29.56; 2. David Keach, N, 18:30.57; 3. Trace Redburn, CH, 19:11.50; 4. Max Vaughn, CH, 19:38.21; 5. Cody Dimond, CH, 19:42.17;
6. Kent Toland, IO, 19:45.65; 7. Joel Tidd, IO, 20:14.32; 8. Andrew Rutter, CH, 20:15.91; 9. Cody Spencer, LC, 20:40.04; 10; Charlie Sercer, 20:46.80;
11. Chris Altis, IO, 20:57.80; 12. Mark Ward, CH, 20:58.74; 13. Josh Tidd, IO, 21:00.77; 14. Nate Lea, CH, 21:07.76; 15. Logan Britton, LC, 21:12.25.