AREA RUNNERS COMPETE AT HANCOCK INV.

ST. LOUIS -- Several area cross country teams competed well at one of the largest meets of the year Saturday during the Hancock Invitational at Jefferson Barracks.

"It's the biggest race in the state of Missouri every year," said Central coach Mark Hahn. "There might have been 300 or 400 people in a race.

"The quality is very similar to the state meet. You see where you stack up at this meet."

The local talent stacked up fairly well on the 3.1-mile course, earning medals for their individual efforts. The top 40 individual finishers earned medals in both the boys and girls races.

Central's Rory Kipper and Tobie Bittle both placed 18th in their respective races to earn medals. Kipper led the Tigers to an 11th-place team finish with a time of 17:27. Bittle led the Lady Tigers to 12th-place as a team with a time of 20:30.

Kelly brought home three medals from the meet, competing in the small school division of enrollments below 1,000. Michael Riley and Nathan King earned medals for the fifth-place Hawks. Riley placed 18th in a time of 18:05. King took 21st in 18:11. Perryville's boys placed fourth as a team.

"This was quite an improvement over last year," said Kelly coach Bill Davis. "Most of our district schools were here and they finished below us so that was good to see."

Kelly's Amy Arteme was the only Lady Hawk to earn a medal, placing 10th in a time of 21:31. The Lady Hawks as a team placed 15th out of 21 teams.

"That was Amy's second-best time ever," said Davis. "There was only one district team that beat us (John Burroughs) so we felt real good about that."

Central's freshmen/sophomore boys placed 11th and Kelly's freshmen/sophomore boys 25th. Central will compete at Anna-Jonesboro (Ill.) Thursday. Kelly goes to Chester (Ill.) Thursday.

Top five finishers for each team:

Central boys

18. Rory Kipper, 17:27; 59. Mark Stone, 18:29; 72. David Stahr, 18:47; 78. Gabe Austin, 18:53; 80. Matt Hawkins, 18:54

Central girls

18. Tobie Bittle, 20:30; 49. Myka Bohnsack, 21:49; 57. Leanne Lee, 22:06; 91. Elizabeth Meyr, 23:24; 98. Lorie Bittle, 23:47

Kelly boys

18. Michael Riley, 18:05; 21. Nathan King, 18:11; 42. Russ Mothershead, 18:50; 47. Denver Stuckey, 19:00; 55. Chad Felter, 19:20

Kelly girls

10. Amy Arteme, 21:31; 84. Laura Ruff, 23:53; 88. April Cousins, 24:04; 112. Melissa Garner, 24:56; 114. Melissa Milton, 25:08

SOCCER

Jefferson City Tournament

JEFFERSON CITY -- Cape Central's scoring drought continued in three losses at the Jefferson City Tournament this weekend.

The Tigers faced tough teams in their three tourney loses, including eventual champion Kansas City-Park Hill and runner-up Jefferson City.

Central lost two games Saturday, the first to Greenwood 2-1 and then to Park Hill 3-0. Friday night, Central lost to Jefferson City 3-0.

Central trailed 1-0 at halftime of all three tourney games.

"We played a really good first half," said Central coach Tom Doyle. "We outshot (Greenwood) 12-1 but were still losing 1-0 at the half."

Nathan Gibbar scored Central's only goal of the tourney in the second half against Greenwood to tie the score 1-1. Greenwood scored six minutes after the Central score to take back the lead.

Central will be at home Tuesday to face Carbondale, (Ill.) at Lou Muegge Field

GIRLS TENNIS

Parkway Invitational

ST. LOUIS -- The Cape Central Lady Tigers nearly came away with the Parkway Invitational on Saturday, but fell to Parkway Central 5-4.

Central finished tied with Charleston for second place. Both teams beat Parkway West. Cape and Charleston did not play each other.

"We had a perfect day to play and we played very well," said Central coach Annette Slattery. "Parkway Central has three really strong players and its hard to beat a team with three top players."

Central plays at Jackson Monday.

Results verses Parkway West

Singles

Lisa Ahstrom (C) def. Shipra Roy 6-1, 6-2

Laura Golike (C) def. Laura Levitt 6-1, 6-0

Summer Chaudhari (C) def. Lorie Hongh 6-2, 6-1

Rachell Thomas (C) def. Molly Butler 6-0, 6-1

Elizabeth Russell (C) def. Katie Barry 6-1, 6-1

Jessica Campbell (C) def. Mollie Goldfoed 6-4. 6-1

Doubles

Ahstrom-Chaudhari (C) def. Roy-Levitt 8-1

Golike-Thomas (C) def. Hongh-Barry 8-2

Russell-Julie Lessmann (C) def. Butler-Goldfoed 8-1

Results verses Parkway Central

Singles

Aleka Tsouvanos def. Lisa Ahstrom (C) 6-0, 6-0

Rachell Hammerman def. Laura Golike (C) 6-0, 6-0

Carrie Taylor def. Summer Chaudhari (C) 6-1, 6-2

Rachelle Thomas (C) def. Anita Ravi 6-3, 6-2

Elizabeth Russell (C) def. Katie Harris, 6-0, 6-1

Jessica Campbell (C) def. Janie Saltman, 6-3, 6-2

Doubles

Hammerman-Taylor def Ahstrom-Chaudhari (C) 8-1

Tsouvanos-Harris def. Golike-Thomas (C) 8-1

Russell-Julie Lessmann (C) def. Saltman-Ravi, 8-3