Wildcats' Johnson wins Chapman Invitational
The Emporia Gazette
Northern Heights runner Justin Johnson, a contender for the state title this year, edged out another title favorite at the Chapman Invitational on Thursday.
Johnson finished first in the senior boys´ 5K race, clocking a time of 16 minutes, 40 seconds, nearly 10 seconds better than Bellvue´s Tony Hoops.
“It was a really great race,” said Northern Heights coach Kristi Lockyear.
Finishing fourth in that race was Wildcat Ryan Marcotte, who finished wit a time of 17: 48.
On the girls´ side, nine of the 10 Northern Heights runners medaled.
Amy VanGundy won the senior girls race, as the Wildcat finished the two-mile run in 12:38. Teammate Kari Robidou was third with a 13:12, Morgan Howard took fourth in 13:13 and Amie Jackson finished out the Heights team with a 15th place finish with a time of 15:11.
“Everyone ran very well,” Lockyear said. It was awfully windy, and there was a stretch when they had to run right into the win. So, I was pleased with everyone´s times, especially under those conditions.”
In the junior boys´ race, Caleb Clock finished 11th for Heights in 18:51, while teammate Jerad Blaufuss was 14th (19:21), Jarrod Commerford was 22nd (19:59) and Travis Shafer placed 31st (22:20).
Garrett Frank took second in the boys´ sophomore race with a time of 17:46 while teammate Randy Redelfs placed 11th in that race with a 19:14.
Bryan Jones placed ninth in the freshman boys race.
In the girls´ frehsman/sophomore race, Heights had five runners.
Ashley Johnson paced the team with a fourth place finish in 13 minutes, 30 seconds, while Brenda Pracht was fifth (13:36), Megan Hedberg placed ninth (13:47), Sara Lockyear was 13th (13:56) and Sierra Torrens was 30th (16:10).
Northern heights will be off until Thursday, when the team will travel to Mission Valley for the Midwest League meet. The girls will race at 4:30 p.m. and the boys will run at 5 p.m.
Lebo
The Lebo High School girls´ cross country team won the Jayhawk-Linn Invitational on Thursday with a team score of 25.
The Wolves finished ahead of Pomona (40), Jayhawk-Linn (71), Central Heights (76) and Prairie View (113).
Nichole Combs led the way for Lebo, taking fourth place with a time of 13:26, while Skye Egan was in eighth at 14:09. In addition, Scarlett Colstrom was ninth (14:17) and Casey Strawder 11th (14:22).
Other results for Lebo were Megan Novotny in 19th at 14:58 and Angela Sullivan 24th (15:54).
Waverly´s Jessica Mingle also competed in the race and was 36th in a time of 16:32, while Lebo´s Timmy Steven participated in the boys´ junior varsity race and was 15th (15:31).
