CHS SQUADS TRACK DOWN SEMO TITLES

JACKSON -- Same song, fourth verse.

Cape Central's boys and girls track teams knocked off each of their three conference opponents for at least the fourth time of the year Friday, officially claiming SEMO Conference championships at Jackson.

For the boys, it was the Tigers' sixth consecutive SEMO Conference title. It was the girls' fifth straight.

Central's boys won 10 of 18 events and scored 102 points, while the Lady Tigers won nine events and scored 109.

As expected, Poplar Bluff's boys came in second with 77, followed by Sikeston with 56 and Jackson with 37.

For the girls, Jackson took second with 83 points, followed by Poplar Bluff with 57 and Sikeston with 21.

"I was very pleased," Central boys coach Jerry Dement said. "We thought if we had a good day, we'd have a good chance to win. But we won by more points than I thought we would. The kids really stepped up today and came to compete. We had some nice performances."

"I was a little bit concerned with our distance events," said Central girls coach Lawrence Brookins. "We have a little bit of a bug going around and some of our girls struggled a bit. But those are thing that will correct themselves."

Central excelled in the field events Friday, particularly in the throws.

On the girls side, sophomore phenom Heather Jenkins improved upon a performance that didn't meet her standards last week at the Kirkwood Invitational.

Jenkins, who has some of the best throws in the state this season, took the conference title in the shot put with a throw of 38-9. She threw the discus 137-9.

"I had a low last week, but my confidence is coming back up," Jenkins said. "I'm physically fit, I just need to work on getting focused."

"Heather did much better today," Brookins said. "This is good for her to get some confidence back."

On the boys side, Central's Craig Knoth threw the shot 49-9 1/2, a personal best.

"He's a senior and it's time for him to peak and he's doing that," Dement said of Knoth. "He's been shooting for the 50-foot mark and he's real close."

In all, Central won all four throwing events.

"Coach Vince Powell is our throws coach and he does an excellent job," Dement said. "Our boys and girls throwers are having a great year and have been consistently good over the last several years."

Jackson got first-place finishes from Jennifer Love in the 300 low hurdles (:48.15), Annie Stoverink in the 800 (2:31.12), its 4x800 and 4x100 relay teams.

"I thought we competed well," Jackson coach Bob Sink said. "We had to pull one of our better runners (Sarah Stiegemeyer), and she would have put us a little closer to Cape Central. But we don't have as much depth as they do and that was the whole difference. You can't take anything away from them."

Other first-place finishers for Central's boys were Chris Allen in the long jump (21-5); Demarco Williams in the discus (142-9); Steve Criddle in the 100 (:10.96) and the 200 (:22.76); Gabe Austin in the mile (4:38.55) and Ross Tilghman in the 800 (2:04.01). Central's 4x800, 4x200 and 4x100 relay teams also took first.

Central's Dionna Webb -- after breaking her own school record with an 18-6 jump last Saturday -- continued her excellence in the long jump, leaping 17-2 for first. Also for Central, Courtney Haman took first in the 100 high hurdles (:15.97); Brittany Ballard ran a personal best in the 3,200 for a first-place finish of 12:20.55;

For complete results, refer to Scoreboard on Page 2B.