Central girls, ND boys win SEMO Conference meet

The favorites didn't disappoint Thursday in the SEMO Conference cross country meet at Notre Dame.

The Central girls rolled to the team title with Veronica Schabbing pacing a 1-2-3 finish, while the Notre Dame boys repeated as league champions thanks to a record-setting run by Wynn McClellan.

Central's girls won the SEMO crown for the 10th straight year, picking up momentum for a tough postseason run which begins next weekend with the Class 4 district meet at Parkway Central.

The Tigers, who finished fourth in the state last year, flexed their muscles Thursday. Schabbing finished in 18 minutes, 32.27 seconds, setting the school record over a 3.1-mile course.

She was followed over the finish line by teammate Brittany Moreland (18:55.99), a fellow senior who was bidding for her fourth straight first-place finish in the meet. Moreland had set the school record in winning last year's race at Kelly.

Central sophomore Mary Dohogne (18:57.45) was third, more than 30 seconds ahead of the fourth finisher.

Victoria Schabbing, a junior, placed sixth in 19:55.57. After playing shortstop for the Central softball team and pulling double duty in th fall, she runs full time with the cross country team now that softball is over.

"Hopefully that will pay dividends," Central coach Mark Hahn said. "A couple of things came together nicely for us today that we were hoping to have teamwise. We look better than we did yesterday as far as competing among ourselves."

Jordyn Richmond and Jessie Hahn placed 11th and 12th for Central.

The Jackson girls were second, led by Tori Parry in fifth place and freshman Taylor Dickerson in 10th.

Tara Johnson of Kelly finished seventh, and Tori Pfau of Notre Dame was eighth.

Hahn also was pleased with his seniorless Central boys team, which beat Jackson for the first time this season to nab second place. Sophomore Roy Leighton was Central's top finisher in fifth place, while classmate Eric Schott was 10th.

But Notre Dame held off the field, as McClellan posted the best run in school history over a 3.1-mile course. His time of 16:01.46 bettered the 16:09 that Logan Davis ran last year to win the SEMO Conference meet.

"He is just really running great right now," Notre Dame coach Bill Davis said of McClellan. "The other kids just got the job done. The competition has gotten better. It's probably good that we run our best in these bigger meets. That's the way it's supposed to be."

McClellan made his move on Poplar Bluff's Travis Blalock and Jackson's Greg Gibson a little more than halfway through the race.

"I just kind of thought this is my spot," he said. "I noticed that Blalock and Gibson were breathing a little heavier than I was around then. I figured I'd take advantage there and see how it worked out."

Logan Davis finished fourth in 16:30.02 for Notre Dame, Ryan Johnson was ninth, and seniors Dillon Klaffer and Matt Reinagel placed 11th and 12th.

"We always run out here every day for practice doing laps around here," McClelan said. "You know where you're at the whole way. I constantly know where I'm at and how much I have left, where the hills are and where people tend to have troubles."

Greg Gibson led Jackson with a third-place finish in 16:18.06. Teammate Cody Green was seventh.

Kelly's Cody Kern placed sixth, while Tommy Bridges finished eighth.

SEMO CONFERENCE MEET RESULTS

BOYS

Team scores: Notre Dame 27, Central 44, Jackson 63.

Individuals

1, Wynn McClellan, Notre Dame, 16:01.46

2, Travis Blalock, Poplar Bluff, 16:11.92

3, Greg Gibson, Jackson, 16:18.06

4, Logan Davis, Notre Dame, 16:30.02

5, Roy Leighton, Central, 16:30.27

Area finishers

Notre Dame — 1, McClellan; 4, Davis; 9, Ryan Johnson, 17:00.13; 11, Dillon Klaffer, 17:10.73; 12, Matt Reinagel, 17:19.99; 16, Cody Moore, 17:48.90; 19, David Willems, 18:01.54.

Central — 5, Leighton; 10, Eric Schott, 17:00.59; 13, Collin Summers, 17:28.48; 14, Jordan Pope, 17:36.71; 15, Jared Saylor, 17:43.57; 17, Alex Crawford, 17:53.53; 18, Neil Bradley, 17:57.65; 22, Lars Monia, 18:29.22.

Jackson — 3, Gibson; 7, Cody Green, 16:51.50; 20, Chris Hurst, 18:15.34; 23, Jared Foust, 18:51.44.

Kelly — 6, Cody Kern, 16:49.79; 8, Tommy Bridges, 16:56.26; 27, Sam Nelson, 19:47.46; 29, Patrick Moore, 23:25.45.

JV — Notre Dame won with a perfect score (15)

GIRLS

Team scores: Central 20, Jackson 54, Notre Dame 72, Dexter 87

Individuals

1, Veronica Schabbing, Central, 18:32.27

2, Brittany Moreland, Central, 18:55.99

3, Mary Dohogne, Central, 18:57.54

4, Hannah Blalock, Poplar Bluff, 19:32.44

5, Tori Parry, Jackson, 19:55.10

Area finishers

Central — 1, Schabbing; 2, Moreland; 3, Dohogne; 6, Victoria Schabbing, 19:55.57; 11, Jordyn Richmond, 20:51.01; 12, Jessie Hahn, 21:11.04; 15, Audrey Westrich, 21:40.58.

Jackson — 10, Taylor Dickerson, 20:37.21; 13, Lindsey Seabaugh, 21:17.62; 17, Diane Strong, 22:05.46; 18, Jordan Whitener, 22:07.55; 23, Amber Crites, 23:13.64; 25, Emily Rodman, 23:38.75.

Notre Dame — 8, Tori Pfau, 20:25.67; 14, Tara Grojean, 21:34.72; 19, Jill Schnurbusch, 22:27.83; 20, Katie Obermark, 22:31.95; 21, Morgan Morris, 22:53.89.

Kelly — 7, Tara Johnson, 19:57.96.

JV — Central won for the 10th consecutive year.

VOLLEYBALL

Notre Dame 25 25

Festus 15 11

Notre Dame improved to 19-4 with a road sweep.

Meghan Dohogne and Lindsay Strieker each had five kills for the Bulldogs, while Allyson Bradshaw had four kills and 12 service points. Shannon Brennan collected 15 assists and Kaitlin Wibbenmeyer had seven digs.

JV — Notre Dame JV and freshman won in two sets.

Leopold, MH in final

Leopold beat Oak Ridge 25-20, 25-13 while Meadow Heights downed Zalma 25-19, 22-25, 25-19 to advance to the finals of the Mississippi Valley Conference tournament.

The championship match will be today at 7:30 p.m.

Casey Bucher had seven kills for Leopold (19-2-1). Danielle Beel added four kills and three blocks, while Lauren Seiler contributed nine assists and three aces.

Courtney Brune paced Meadow Heights (15-9) with 13 kills. Chelsea Kight added six kills and Ashley Doublin recorded 26 assists.

Bell City 25 25

Puxico 23 21

Bell City moved on in the Stoddard County Conference tournament.

Jasmine Johnson had 16 kills and 21 digs for the Cubs (17-6-2). Sherilyn Long added 20 digs and Cody Lancaster had 28 assists.

BOYS SOCCER

Notre Dame 1, Saxony Lutheran 0, 2 OT

Notre Dame survived an upset bid by host Saxony Lutheran. Brock Dirnberger scored off a cross from Josh Robert to lift the defending state champion Bulldogs, who improved to 15-3.Saxony fell to 14-5.

BOYS SWIMMING

Notre Dame 104, Central 72

Notre Dame eased past city rival Central.

— From staff reports