Central girls settle for second place

~ Lindbergh won the district title, while Jackson finished third.

Central assistant track coach Mark Hahn knew his girls were in the thick of the title race in the Class 4 District 1 meet Saturday at Oakville, Mo.

"I wish I could hear the girls team scores," said Hahn, who was acting as head coach while Lawrence Brookins attended the graduation ceremony for his son and daughter-in-law at Southeast Missouri State. "They keep announcing the boys scores. I think we are right there with Lindbergh and Jackson."

When the scores were finally announced with just two events remaining, it was apparent Central would finish ahead of Jackson but could not be prevent Lindbergh from winning its sixth consecutive district team title.

The Flyers won with 148 points. Central was second with 126 points, while Jackson was third with 109.

"We were hoping to win, of course, but the girls really competed hard today," Hahn said. "Lindbergh is just so solid in every event. It is no shame finishing second to them.

"District and sectional meets feature the best of times and the worst of times. We had both today, but there were more good than bad. The majority of the kids who competed here will be getting on the bus to head to Farmington next weekend."

Farmington will host the sectional meet, which will match the top four finishers from each event at two districts in battles for four state berths.

Among the highlights for the Central girls were victories by Nicole Jackson in the 200-meter dash and by Emma Porter in the pole vault.

Central finished in the top two in each of the four relay events. Nadia Cox, Nicole Jackson, Roxanne Jackson and Dani Gross finished first in both the 400 and 800 relays.

Tiffany Mead, Renee Moreland, Lisa Langenfeld and Linnea Woldtvedt were second in the 1,600 relay, while Woldtvedt, Rachel Burchyett, Langenfeld and Brittany Moreland finished second in the 3,200 relay.

Nicole Jackson qualified in four events. Roxanne Jackson, Gross and Woldtvedt qualified in three each.

Kahle leads Indians

It was a good day as well for the Jackson girls. Rachel Kahle led the way with four top-two finishes. She won the 100 and the triple jump and finished second in the 200 and the long jump.

The Indians had a 1-2 finish in the discus as Katelynn James won and Amanda Peiffer finished second. Both of those girls also qualified in other events -- James in the triple jump and Peiffer in the shot put. Heather Hileman qualified in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles along with the high jump.

"I came into today with visions of getting no boys through to sectionals and maybe only four girls," Jackson coach Bob Sink said. "We qualified a lot more than I expected with both the boys and the girls. It was a good day."

The Indians had four fourth-place finishes in the boys meet with freshman Greg Gibson qualifying in both the 1,600 and 3,200. The Jackson boys finished eighth.

The Central boys were fifth, just one point behind Northwest.

The Tigers had a pair of district champions: Tyler Terry won the triple jump, and Matt Willingham was victorious in the pole vault.

The Tigers also qualified in the 400, 800 and 3,200 relays.

Terry will be competing in four events at sectionals: triple jump, long jump, 400 relay and 800 relay.