The Emporia Gazette

The Wildcats swept their regional meet as the boys´ team edged out Central Heights for the team title and the Heights girls´ beat out Mission Valley for the regional crown.

“You have to be proud of the effort,” said Northern height cross country coach Kristi Lockyear. “We have a young team that is running really well right now.”

Also competing at the regional were a handful of Lyndon runners, three of which qualified individually for the state meet.

On the girls´ side, sisters Desiree and Jessie Osbourne both ran to top five finishes.

Desiree Osbourne finished third in the two-mile run with a time of 12 minutes, 2 seconds, while Jessie Osbounre finished fourth in 12:10.

Lyndon´s Tim Cox also earned a spot at the state meet, finishing fifth in the 5-kilometer boys´ race in 16:28.

The Northern Heights boys´ had three runners in the top-10 and all three qualified will compete individually for the state crown this weekend.

Leading the way for the Wildcats was Justin Johnson, who took third place with a time of 16:15in the race. Also, Ryan Marcotte finished eighth (16:46) and Garett Frank took 10th with a time of 17:04.

In addition, Caleb Clock was 16th (17:34), Randy Redelfs 17th (17:41), Jerad Blaufuss 23rd (18:17) and Jerrod Commerford 39th (19:10).

Overall, Heights had an outstanding team score of 43, bettering second-place Central Heights´ 48, Wellsville´s 60, Mission Valley´s 78 and Pomona´s 118.

The Northern Heights´ girls dominated their race, placing four runners among the top 10 and taking first place four the fourth consecutive year with a score of 30 points. Mission Valley was second (38), Wellsville third (58), Pomona fourth (91) and Central Heights fifth (155).

Amy Van Gundy roared to a second-place finish (11:53) behind Mission Valley´s Blair Spencer (11:41), while Kari Robidou was sixth (12:18), Ashley Johnson eighth (12:27) and Morgan Howard ninth (12:45).

In addition, the Wildcats had three other runners in the top half of the race with Brenda Pracht in 16th (12:58), Megan Hedberg 20th (13:12) and Sara Lockyear 28th (13:34).

Both teams will be gunning for the Class 3A state championship Saturday at the Wamego golf course. The girls´ race will begin at 9 a.m., followed by the boys´ race at 10 a.m.

Class 2A-1A Regionals

The Olpe girls´ cross country team dominated the Class 1A regional in Topeka Saturday, posting a team score of 22 to win the event, while Lebo was second with a score of 51.

Hanover finished in third (90), Jeff County North (118), Highland (120), Onaga (126) and Jackson Heights (130).

On the boys´ side, Olpe was in third place (91) behind Kansas City Christian (35), Jackson Heights (74) and ahead of Onaga (128), McLouth (139), Jeff County North and Valley Heights (144), Hanover (168), Hartford (210), Northeast-Arma (230) and Highland (293).

Michelle Stueve rolled to the girls´ championship for Olpe, taking first place in a time of 12:27, while Allison Samuels was third (13:19) and Sheila Zeller eighth (13:46).

In addition, Monica Zeller took 11th (13:59), Kathy Slater 25th (14:27) and Natasha Stevenson 48th (15:33).

Dustin Ballinger also had an outstanding race, leading the boys with a first-place finish in 17:39, followed by teammate Trevor Schriner in fifth (17:53).

Also, Matt Medenciy was 21st (18:40), Charles Stephens 34th (19:21) and Reed Farr 43rd (19:41).

For the Lebo girls, Nicole Combs led the Wolves to second place with a time of 13:17, followed by Meagan Novotny in ninth (13:47).

“I was very pleased with our performance,” said Lebo coach Tammy Windle. “We ran better than we have all year.”