PERRYVILLE BOYS WIN OWN MEET

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- For the first time in the seven-year history of its own meet, the Perryville High boys track team has captured the championship.

The Pirates scored 89 points Saturday to edge Jackson (84) in the seventh annual Perryville Invitational, which featured 21 squads in both the boys and girls divisions.

Rounding out the top five were Northwest (80), Park Hills (73) and Kennett (59).

Farmington captured the girls title with 113 points, followed by Northwest (87), Jackson (71), Ste. Genevieve (62) and North County (56). Perryville was sixth (41).

"It's very exciting for our program," said Perryville boys coach Lance Bell. "It's a really good meet and to win it is a nice accomplishment."

Depth boosted the Pirates as they prevailed despite having no individual champions. The Pirates got second-place performances from Kyle Dobbelare in the triple jump, Nathan Moore in the 1,600-meters and the 800 relay team of Andy Cranick, Brian Hadler, Kevin Bohnert and Jessie Whistler.

Jackson's boys were led by Mario Whitney, one of the state's premier sprinters. He captured the 100 and 200 while anchoring the victorious 400 relay team that also featured Michael Schuette, Brian Randolph and Ray Goodson.

On the girls side for Jackson, winning efforts were turned in by Heidi Jansen in the shot put and Jessica Bill in the discus.

Perryville's girls got first-place performances from Susan Miller in the 400 and the 1,600 relay team of Emily Amberger, Sarah Lappe, Gina Buerck and Miller.

Complete results of the meet are in Scoreboard on Page 6B.

BOYS TENNIS

Central ties for first

FARMINGTON, Mo. -- Cape Girardeau Central and Rolla tied for first place in the four-team Farmington Tournament that featured only singles play.

Winning titles for the Tigers were Andrew Eaton at No. 4 and Paul Hagler at No. 5. They both went 2-0 in the tourney.

Eric Daume (No. 3) and Calvin Maginel (No. 6) both placed second while Trevor Blattner (No. 1) and Andy Tansil (No. 2) each were third. All four of those players went 1-1.