Cottner captures 400 title

FARMINGTON — Perryville's Kris Cottner did not feel 100 percent healthy Saturday, but he still was able to repeat as the Class 3 District 1 champion in the 400-meter dash.

Cottner, who's been dealing with a moderate hamstring strain that he suffered three weeks ago, crossed the finish line in 51.16 seconds — seven-tenths of a second ahead of Sikeston sophomore Ismail Johnson.

"I knew it was going to be a tough race going in, and coach just told me to make it through this week and we'll have another week to train and prepare for sectionals," Cottner said. "I got out well, and after about 300 meters, I noticed he [Johnson] pulled up beside me and I still felt well. My hamstring wasn't bothering me and I still felt like I had a lot of endurance left. So I just took off and made a great race of it all the way down here to the finish line, and I just edged him out at the end."

Cottner, who has signed to play football at Southeast Missouri State next fall, was forced to sit out practice two of the past three weeks with the injury. The injury forced him to miss the conference meet. His doctors told him he should not run for two weeks, but could do other training like swimming and riding a stationary bicycle.

Even with the layoff, Cottner looked impressive.

He also advanced to next week's sectional meet in the 200 by finishing fourth (23.52), and he was the anchor leg of the Pirates' 400 relay team, which finished in first place.

Cottner's effort helped Perryville to a fourth-place finish in the boys team standings.

"This week is the first time I ran on it," Cottner said. "I've just tried to use this week to get back in shape. It's been hard. Even the littlest things got me out of breath. And today in a lot of my races I started to pull up for the last 15 to 20 meters just because I was dying."

Perryville coach Wes Armbruster said: "For him to come out and win it with missing as much time as he has is pretty impressive."

Cottner was a member of Perryville's 1,600 relay team, which finished fifth, one place shy of qualifying for sectionals. If that relay team were to have advanced, Armbruster said he likely would not have ran Cottner in the 200 at next week's meet. But he likely will pencil him in now.

"I didn't run my best race," Cottner said about the 200. "I was off of my personal record by quite a bit. But I know with another week of training and some more competition to push me next week, I can hopefully do well and hopefully make it to state in that.

"Right now I just want to rest and recover and then next week just try to get in better shape once again. In some of those short sprint races, I don't want to pull up again and then be in better shape for the 400. At state, I'd like to be top three in the 400."

Cottner said he was happy with his team's fourth-place finish. Sikeston took first place. Potosi followed in second, while North County took third.

Besides Cottner, a few others on the Perryville team qualified for the sectional meet. Junior Josh Perreault moved on, capturing third in the 100 (11.63).

Perreault, Brandon Hudson, Ryan Lorenz and Brandon Kennon placed third in the 800 relay (1:32.68). Hudson also moved on in the 400, taking fourth (53.32).

Cottner, Perreault, Lorenz and Kennon finished first in the 400 relay (43.78)

Perryville also got a strong performance from junior Garrett Leible, who won the shot put (53 feet, 1 inch).

"I was pretty confident," Leible said. "This is my first year of varsity. ... I am pretty excited about sectionals. I'm looking forward to state."

The Perryville girls team finished tied for 12th place.

Davis headed to sectionals

Notre Dame junior Logan Davis ran his best time ever in the 3,200 to captured fourth place (9:50.30) and advance to next week's sectional meet.

"There were a bunch of good guys [in the race]," Davis said. "All of them were right around the same time when we went into the race. I knew it would be a big, deep pack. I was just trying to stay in there. ... It was so tight. I just tried to stay in there until about the last lap. It ended up working out for me in the end."

Davis thinks he has a good chance to advance to state.

"The past two years the other districts going to sectionals hasn't been that tough in the distance events," Davis said. "So I figure it won't be that hard of a road to get to state. I'll still try to run as hard as I can and PR again, but it definitely won't be as hard as this field today."

Notre Dame coach Bill Davis added: "We knew he could probably be ready to run well here. The 9:50 I thought was good."

The Notre Dame boys finished in seventh place, while the girls team captured 11th.

Other Bulldogs advance

In addition to Davis, others had strong meets for the Bulldogs.

Senior Matt Kiblinger won the discus with a throw of 149-4 1/2 inches, while senior Jeremy Sarno finished third in the discus (130-4).

Senior Shane Judd finished second in the shot put with a throw of 50-10, which set a school record.

Senior Mark Zimmer advanced in the 400 with a third-place finish (51.52). Zimmer also aided two relay teams to top-four finishes.

Zimmer was on the 800 relay team — along with Trenton Vance, Ricky Harrington and Blake Kirkpatrick — that placed fourth (1:32.99). Zimmer also helped the 1,600 relay team of Harrington, Kirkpatrick and John Unterreiner, which finished fourth (3:30.97).

Junior Jill Schnurbusch finished fourth in the girls pole vault (8-6).

"[The] seniors, I think they realized this was it and they stepped up and had a real good day," Davis said.