Shemonia, Leighton wage battle at Notre Dame Invitational cross country meet

A friendly rivalry is brewing between Scott City's Brandon Shemonia and Central's Billy Leighton.

Both are state-ranked runners, and they proved it Saturday at the Notre Dame Invitational cross country meet.

Shemonia, a senior, and Leighton, a junior, are fierce competitors and impressive runners, but the two admit it's a friendly rivalry.

"Before the race, we get together and go over it a little bit and kind of discuss how we're going to race and then kind of work together and race each other and have fun," Leighton said.

Shemonia got the better of Leighton on Saturday, crossing the line in 15 minutes, 44 seconds, which was 6 seconds shy of the meet record but good enough for first place. Leighton finished second in 16:05.

Oak Ridge's McKenzie Elam, left, leads a pack of runners during Saturday's girls race.

"It's awesome, especially for cross country around this area, that me and him are both state-ranked guys, top guys," Shemonia said. "It gives us each someone to push through each race and it gives us good times. It's always a friendly rivalry. After we'll go cool down and run, so it's really exciting to have somebody like that."

The two were near the front of the pack all race, hanging behind Ryan Jackson and Jacob Hoffman of Herculaneum. That quickly changed around the mile when Shemonia made his push and Leighton followed.

"We got off to kind of a fast start," Leighton said. "There's not a whole lot of room to maneuver around, so that took up quite a bit of energy. We came to the mile in I think a little under 5 minutes, and Brandon started to pull away from me a little bit. I tried to close the gap a little bit, but I spent so much energy the first mile it was hard to catch up."

Shemonia gained separation from there out, leaving little doubt who was coming across the finish line first. It's something the Scott City runner is becoming accustomed to achieving.

"It didn't go near as even close to what I wanted," Shemonia said. "I wanted to break 15:25. At the 2 mile, we kind of came through slow with the wind, and it threw me off. Then after I pulled away, my legs didn't feel that great. I'm happy with it, though.

Scott City's Brandon Shemonia pulls ahead of Herculaneum's Ryan Jackson, left, and Central's Billy Leighton during Saturday's race.

"For me, I wanted to go out in the mile at 4:50 and come through the 2 mile under 10 [minutes] was my big goal. I probably should have made my move before I did, but I probably could have got it. With a race like this, it's about going out and getting a good time and getting a workout in."

Shemonia admits he has to find ways to stay mentally focused in a smaller race like Saturday's.

"You just have to picture the race through your head," Shemonia said. "Just remember your workouts. You're running hard all week. Mentally you just have to focus on anybody ahead of you. I don't care if it's someone in the crowd or not, and just pull yourself around them."

Leighton, an equally impressive runner, admits it's difficult to catch Shemonia once he breaks away. Sometimes it's not in his best interest to dart after him.

"It's hard then," Leighton said. "There's people chasing you and you're trying to catch him, but by then you're just trying to hang on and not lose any more ground. By then, it's over. It's really hard to come back from a gap like that. It's kind of demoralizing, but you have to stay loose and make sure you run your own race from there and have a good day anyway. I'm not too disappointed with my time."

Farmington's Katherine Sitzes, left, and Notre Dame's Elizabeth Kiblinger race to the finish line Saturday. Sitzes finished second, while Kiblinger was third.

While the two local runners placed high on the individual ranks, Notre Dame took second in the team standings, with Central placing fifth, Saxony Lutheran seventh and Delta eighth.

The Bulldogs were led by Jacob Meadors, who was 12th.

Notre Dame's Elizabeth Kiblinger stole the show in the girls race.

The senior finished in third place, crossing the line in 18:57 to shatter her personal best of 19:18.

"Before the race, coach just told me to stick with the Farmington girls," said Kiblinger, who broke the school record Saturday. "So I tried to latch on to their top girl and just stay with her."

Fans cheer on Notre Dame's Jacob Meadors and Cole Ross and Central's Brandon Bryant, from left, during Saturday's boys race.

Kiblinger is putting together an impressive senior campaign, which she credits to a large workload during the summer.

"Coach really stresses summer miles," Kiblinger said. "So I ran over 500 from June to August, and I think that's helping a lot now."

Kiblinger also is aided by teammate Breanna Conklin. The junior finished fifth.

"The past years I've been up running by myself," Kiblinger said. "There hasn't been anyone close to me. But Breanna has been able to run with me and really push me this year. It's so much better. She pushes me to run the first mile faster and just stay with her."

Notre Dame's girls were the top local team with a third-place finish. Central took seventh, while Saxony Lutheran was ninth.

BOYS

Team standings -- 1. Mehlville 45; 2. Notre Dame 67; 3. Herculaneum 82; 4. Poplar Bluff 99; 5. Central 109; 6. Farmington 126; 7. Saxony Lutheran 183; 8. Dexter 225

Top 10 -- 1. Brandon Shemonia (SC) 15:44.31; 2. Billy Leighton (C) 16:05.20; 3. Ryan Jackson (H) 16:12.07; 4. Jacob Coffman (H) 16:18.18; 5. Kirk Smith (JB) 16:27.13; 6. Nick Zewiski (M) 16:39.59; 7. Nick Bewen (M) 16:47.02; 8. Brandon Bryant (C) 16:50.07; 9. Bailey Davidson (PB) 16:51.24; 10. Drew Wohlschlaeger (M) 16:58.11

Local top five

Scott City -- 1. Brandon Shemonia 15:44.31; 17. Eric Essner 17:29.42; 36. Tyler Adams 18:15.73

Central -- 2. Billy Leighton 16:05.20; 8. Bryant Brandon 16:50.07; 32. Riley Duncan 18:03.13; 52. Hezekiah Wood 19:20.64; 53. Austin Pittman 19:22.68

Oak Ridge -- 11. Ethan Seyer 17:09.80; 18. Corbin Schoen 17:31.36

Notre Dame -- 12. Jacob Meadors 17:16.18; 16. Cole Ross 17:27.27; 20. Jacob Cieslewicz 17:36.14; 21. Adam Raines 17:42.16; 22. Nate Lincoln 17:43.40

Advance -- 25. Braden Bien 17:46.92; 39. Curtis Gilliland 18:32.54; 62. Tyler Middleton 19:57.26; 69. Zachary Cato 22:31.41

Saxony Lutheran -- 29. Sam Breite 17:53.40; 47. Aaron Koehler 19:01.13; 50. Brandon Fritsche 19:16.02; 64. Anthony Etzold 19:58.79; 65. Zachery Vogel 20:53.97

St. Vincent -- 35. Jon Mienhardt 18:14.29

Kelly -- 38. Juan Campos 18:26.71

Meadow Heights -- 42. Ryan Foltz 18:45.96; 60. Chris Bollinger 19:53.72

Delta -- 51. Dwight Nance 19:16.63; 63. Jesse Nance 19:57.51; 66. Jeremiah Peikert 20:55.54; 67. Caleb Amelunke 21:00.40; 68. Frank Rozmirsky 22:04.00

GIRLS

Team standings -- 1. Farmington 49; 2. Herculaneum 56; 3. Notre Dame 96; 4. Poplar Bluff 113; 5. John Burroughs 120; 6. Mehlville 130; 7. Central 153; 8. Arcadia Valley 192; 9. Saxony Lutheran 244

Top 10 -- 1. Saga Barzowski (AV) 15:55.16; 2. Katherine Sitzes (F) 18:57.54; 3. Elizabeth Kiblinger (ND) 18:57.83; 4. Katlyn Fischer (H) 19:10.89; 5. Breanna Conklin (ND) 19:38.48; 6. Emily Harris (F) 19:49.25; 7. Jetaime Hovis (F) 19:56.86; 8. Annalise Wagner (JB) 20:03.93; 9. Allison Huskey (PB) 20:06.28; 10. Laura Steele (SV) 20:16.50

Local top five

Notre Dame -- 3. Elizabeth Kiblinger 18:57.83; 5. Breanna Conklin 19:38.48; 24. Ali Norder 21:31.34; 34. Alicia Landewee 22:05.41; 43. Taylor Mayfield 22:34.55

St. Vincent -- 10. Laura Steele 20:16.50

Central -- 16. Laura Chavez 20:58.00; 28. Maddy McDonald 21:39.56; 39. Bridget Trepasso 22:21.61; 41. Mallory Dickson 22:24.08; 49. Chleo LeGrand 23:11.29

Oak Ridge -- 23. McKenzie Elam 21:30.36

Chaffee -- 42. Molli McGowan 22:25.24; 57. Lyndsey Statler 24:08.73; 63. Holly Rutherford 24:32.01

Saxony -- 45. Reagan Obermann 22:49.16; 56. Dakota Werner 23:53.59; 60. Kristen Gruenwald 24:17.40; 61. Breanne Etzold 24:18.30; 66. Sarah Winningham 24:57.01

Meadow Heights -- 59. Valerie Hernandes 24:12.83; 62. Makayla McGruder 24:27.84