Leighton leads Central junior boys to win at Jackson Invitational

Roy Leighton blitzed through the 2.35-mile course at the Jackson Invitational on Saturday

He crossed the line in 12 minutes, 42 seconds to help the Central boys win the junior division.

"Basically I wanted to go out a little easier, but I kind of took off fast," Leighton said. "About the mile I took the lead because I wanted to go faster and then started hurting at the two mile pretty bad. Colton [Wooldridge] was coming close at the end. He's really good. I wanted to pick it up a little the last three-tenths and I did and I felt pretty good about it. I was getting scared though."

Leighton wasn't the only Tigers runner in the top three. Eric Schott ran a 13:03 for third place.

Schott started off back in the pack, but made his move as the race progressed.

"When I started, I was 10th or so for awhile," Schott said. "I slowly started picking people off and kept moving up."

Central coach Mark Hahn said the team's strong finishes were a result of following a game plan and hard work over the years.

"They both followed their plan, they ran the Cape Central way," Hahn said. "They ran a good, hard first mile then pushed it after that. They continue to improve because they continue to stay in the program and train. There wasn't some secret race strategy they executed today. They put themselves in position for today because of what they've done since junior high school."

Lars Monia (ninth) and Collin Summers (10th) rounded out the Tigers' scoring.

Delta's Zach Reigert was the only other local runner to finish in the top 10, coming in sixth (13:19).

On the girls side, Jackson took home first place with two finishers in the top five.

Lindsey Seabaugh, a sophomore who ran in the junior race for team purposes, finished fourth (15:29). Teammate Tori Parry claimed fifth place (15:41). Kasey Crowden finished 14th to round out the Indians' scoring.

"I just tried to keep up with my teammate," Seabaugh said. "And when you hear encouraging words, you want to go faster."

"We tried to pace off each other, help each other go faster," Parry added. "We were trying to be in the top five and we got there."

Indians coach Andrea Talley thought the practices leading up to the race paid off, and was pleased with the way Seabaugh and Parry ran together.

"They've just had good weeks of training," Talley said. "They both ran strong. I knew that Lindsey and Tori were pretty equal, so instead of Tori running by herself, Lindsey would push her and they would run better races. They did well. I'm pleased with all the girls."

Saxony Lutheran's Kristin Dippold also cracked the top 10, placing eighth (16:16).