Thomas Jefferson’s Kip Atteberry and College Heights Christian’s Jayli Johnson repeated as the individual champions and the College Heights girls and McAuley Catholic boys captured the team titles at the Ozark 7 Conference Cross Country Championships on Friday at Missouri Southern’s Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course.
It’s the second straight team championship for the CHC girls, while the McAuley boys won a conference title for the first time.
TJ’S ATTEBERRY SETS NEW PR
It’s safe to say Kip Atteberry was pleased with his performance.
A senior standout at Thomas Jefferson, Atteberry set a new personal best time of 16 minutes, 40 seconds en route to cruising to a first-place finish in the boys 5K.
“It feels great to PR,” Atteberry said. “I came out with a different strategy this time. I decided I was going to book it for the first mile and then see where it went from there. And I really know this course well and that helps a lot. I always know where I’m at.”
Atteberry, competing on a familiar home course, had a large group of TJ students waiting to congratulate him just seconds after he crossed the finish line all alone. His time was 20 seconds better than he recorded at last year’s event.
“I’m really happy,” Atteberry said. “I’ve got my friends here this time. It was huge to see my friends here. And since this is the Ozark 7 race, I know all of these guys. So I feel really good. It was a great atmosphere.”
“I’m really proud of Kip,” Thomas Jefferson coach Clayton Carnahan said. “He’s been working hard to get a PR for a while. We’re trying to work up to state at this point, where we think he can be a top three contender.”
Thomas Jefferson had the top two finishers in the boys race, as freshman London Rodriguez was the runner-up in 17:53. TJ’s Braden Honeywell-Lynch took seventh in 19:05 to give the Cavaliers three medalists.
“I’m really proud of how our team has supported each other this year,” Carnahan said. “I think they’ve continued to improve because of all the hard work they’ve put in.”
MCAULEY BOYS WIN FIRST TEAM TITLE
The McAuley boys made history by securing the program’s first conference title in cross country.
The Warriors, with five runners in the top eight and all seven in the top 14, finished with 26 points. Thomas Jefferson was second (42) and College Heights (58) was third. There were three teams with full squads.
“One of our team goals was to win a conference championship,” Warriors coach Andy Youngworth said. “We’d never won one. There’s not even a board on the wall at the school for cross country yet. So I told our kids they had to win something before we get a plaque up there. I’m happy for our guys. We’ve got four seniors and they’ve worked really hard. They committed to the offseason program. We ran pretty well today…not great. We didn’t run our best race of the year, but we trained really hard this week.”
McAuley’s Michael Parrigon led the way by placing third in 18:16. Finishing fourth, fifth and sixth were Trae Veer, Phillip Motazedi and Joe Staton, while Drew Zeb was eighth.
Also finishing in the top 18 for the Warriors were Alex Bohachick (13th), Connor Taffner (14th), Cliff Nolan (15th), Grant Horinek (16th) and Kable Reichardt (18th).
College Heights Christian’s Colton McMillan and Josiah Thomas finished ninth and 10th, respectively, to earn medalist recognition. CHC’s Caleb Quade and Steven Calandro were 11th and 12th.
“We’re running some good times and we’re getting better,” College Heights coach Phillip Jordan said. “We’re trying to put ourselves in a position where maybe we can qualify next week.”
JOHNSON REPEATS, LEADS CHC GIRLS TO TEAM TITLE
A senior at College Heights, Jayli Johnson repeated as Ozark 7 girls champion by touring the course in 21:37.
“I’m pleased,” Johnson said. “It was definitely a goal to repeat, but I knew I just needed to go out there and do my best. It’s my senior year, so it’s a little sad that this is my last season. I’m just thankful for the season we’ve had and I’m thankful for all the time we’ve spent together.”
Johnson said her race strategy was simple.
“I really wanted to go out harder than I usually do,” Johnson said. “I knew there was some good competition today and I knew I needed to start well. I just kept pushing myself. I went out quickly and just hoped I could maintain it.”
College Heights sophomore Marla Anderegg was the runner-up in 21:40 and McAuley Catholic’s Kendall Ramsey took third in 23:05.
CHC’s Jesalin Bever and Madelynn Jordan finished fourth and fifth, while Thomas Jefferson’s Sarah Mueller was sixth. Rounding out the top 10 were Wheaton’s Lakeisha Wise, McAuley’s Marbellie Villanueva, TJ’s Samantha Seto and CHC’s Madi Carson.
College Heights finished with 19 points and McAuley was second with 38. They were the lone full squads.
“I thought we were prepared and ready to go out and compete and defend our conference championship,” Coach Jordan said. “I thought our top three girls ran very well. Jayli is a senior and she’s used to being in big races. And she knows how to win. Marli ran one of her best races of the year and she continues to get better. Jesalin and Madelynn also ran very well. We had some other kids who weren’t feeling well, but they fought through it, so I’m proud of all of them.”
Mueller and Seto gave the Cavaliers two medalists.
“I’m really proud of Sarah and Samantha,” Carnahan said. “They’ve both been nursing injuries this whole season. I think they’re finally feeling stronger.”
The Warriors also had two medalists in Ramsey and Villanueva.
“This was the first time ever our girls had a full team at the conference meet,” Youngworth said. “I was proud of them. Kendall’s had three volleyball matches this week. She’s been busy. But I’m happy that Kendall and Marbellie were medalists. It was a pretty good day for our program overall. Our middle school girls won and our boys were second. So, as a program, we’re getting there.”
FULL RESULTS: https://mo.milesplit.com/meets/496184-ozark-7-conference-meet-2022/results#.Y1M8ZtfMJD9
