STATE RUNNERS PACK SPIKES FOR STATE

Saturday's state cross country meets in Jefferson City will be flooded with area runners as athletes from Cape Girardeau Central, Notre Dame, Jackson, Perryville, Kelly and Advance high schools all qualified.

Kelly figures to have the best chance at bringing home the most team success as both the school's boys and girls teams captured Class 1A-2A district championships last weekend.

Kelly's boys won last year's 1A-2A state title and figure to have a solid chance of repeating. Kelly's girls should also have a strong shot at finishing high at state.

Jackson advanced its entire girls team for the Class 4A meet while the Indians had one boy qualify.

Two girls and one boy from Cape Central also made the 4A state cut.

Meanwhile, one girl from Notre Dame and two boys from Advance qualified for the 1A-2A meet while, in 3A, Perryville qualified its entire girls team along with three boys.

Kelly's boys, which returned most of their key runners from last season, appear primed for a strong run at a second consecutive state championship.

"I think we have a real good chance," said Kelly coach Bill Davis. "It should be between us and Willow Springs. They hammered us at Hancock (earlier in the season), but the same thing happened last year and we got them at state."

Michael Riley, who was second in the district meet, finished third in the state last year.

Russ Mothershead and Nathen King were seventh and eighth, respectively, at districts. King was 24th at state a year ago.

Also placing in the top 30 at districts were Denver Stuckey (11th), Luke Choate (21st), Jobi Berry (22nd) and Chad Felter (26th). Stuckey was 32nd at state last season.

"It's just a matter of our guys being really focused," said Davis. "We've got a lot of experience."

On the girls side for Kelly, Amy Arteme brought home the Lady Hawks' first-ever individual district title last weekend. She was 27th in last season's state meet.

Kelly freshman Laura Ruff finished eighth in the district, followed by April Cousins (12th), Megan Nelson (18th), Melissa Garner (19th), Melissa Melton (21st) and Beth Glueck (36th).

"This is the first time we've taken our entire team to state and we're excited," Davis said. "We're hoping to get in the top four. And I think Amy Arteme has a really good chance to do well."

Jackson's girls, who placed second in their district, were led by Julie Wunderlich, who was sixth. She finished 34th in the state last year.

Jennifer Brown finished eighth at districts, followed by Sarah Schlick (14th), Sarah Stiegemeyer (15th), Lisa Sappington (26th), Christy Thoma (45th) and Sarah Strack (59th).

"Our girls did a good job at districts and hopefully we'll run well again this weekend," said Jackson coach Jim Stoverink.

On the boys side, Jackson's Mark Sander was 24th at districts.

Cape Central's girls will be led by Tobie Bittle, who became the school's first four-time state qualifier as she finished fourth in districts. Teammate Myka Bohnsack was 29th to barely make the state cut.

Cape Central's Rory Kipper will be taking plenty of momentum to state after finishing third on the boys side in districts.

Joining Kelly's runners in the 1A-2A field will be Notre Dame's Susan Judd, who was sixth in districts, and Advance's Ross McFerron and Chad Johnson, who placed 11th and 14th, respectively, at their district meet.

Perryville will have a strong contingent in the 3A competition, led by its girls squad. At districts, Jen Hadler was third, Andrea Weibrecht eighth, Kara Steffens 10th, Renee Schlichting 14th and Sara Hadler 34th. Dawn Berkbigler and Melissa Hahn, who did not compete in districts, will participate in the state meet.

"Our girls making it to state is super," said Perryville coach Dean Lewis. "They never finished higher than fifth in any meet this year before districts, when they got second."

For Perryville's boys at districts, Ryan Hohenadel was fifth, Nathan Davis sixth and Jared Tanz 13th.

STATE NOTES: Here is the time schedule for Saturday's races:

10:30 a.m., 1A-2A boys; 11 a.m., 4A girls; 11:40 a.m., 3A girls; 12:20 p.m., 1A-2A girls; 1 p.m., 4A boys; 1:30 p.m., 3A boys.