TIGERS, LADY INDIANS TOP FIELD IN SEMO CONFERENCE MEET

BENTON -- Jackson High's girls cross country team and Cape Girardeau Central's boys team each won SEMO Conference titles today at Kelly High School.

Boosted by sophomore Julie Wunderlich's excellent first-place time of 19:19.9 over the 3.1-mile course, Jackson totaled 25 points, beating Central (43), Kelly (65) and Poplar Bluff (111).

Rory Kipper's time of 16:51 won the boys event as Central totaled 36 points, edging Kelly's 38. Jackson totaled 46.

The top 10 runners in each event earned all-conference honors. In the girls race, the top five were: Wunderlich, Central's Tobie Bittle (19:46.5), Kelly's Amy Arteme (20:01.3, a Kelly school record), Jackson' Jennifer Brown (20:13.1) and Jackson's Sarah Schlick (20:17.1).

Rounding the top 10 were: Central's Myka Bohnsack (20:36.9), Jackson's Christy Thoma (20:40.9), Jackson's Sarah Stiegemeyer (20:47), Central's Kristin Tallent (20:57.1) and Jackson's Sarah Strack (21:22).

Other finishers for Central were Leanne Lee (11th, 21:23.6) and Elizabeth Meyr (15th, 22:05.9)

Also for Kelly were April Cousins (13th, 21:52.9), Laura Ruff (14th, 21:56), Melissa Garner (17th, 22:58.4) and Megan Nelson (18th, 23:29.2).

The top five boys finishers were: Kipper, Jackson's Mark Sanders (17:25.4), Kelly's Nathen King (17:34.6), Kelly's Russ Mothershead (17:42.5) and Kelly's Michael Riley (17:46.2).

Completing the top 10 were: Central's Mark Stone (17:48.5), Central's David Stahr (17:51.7), Jackson's Blake Popp (17:52.2), Central's Matt Hawkins (17:52.7) and Jackson's Jon Shearon (17:53).

Jeff Haycraft (18:04.7) finished 13th for Central. For Jackson, Steven Adams (17:53.6) finished 11th and Zac Friedrich (18:25.3) placed 15th.

Other finishers for Kelly were Denver Stuckey (12th, 18:01.1) and Lucas Choate (14th, 18:22.6).

Jackson's girls JV team won with 26 points. Central (31) and Kelly (109) followed. Central's boys won with 32 points, beating Kelly (43), Poplar Bluff (71) and Jackson (85).

For Jackson's girls, Lisa Sappington finished first (21:18), Jodie Brunke second (21:42.2), Amanda Lowes fifth (22:52.4), Shannon Stover eighth (23:24.4) and Martha Huck 10th (23:35.9).

For Central, Bethany Caplan placed third (22:26.4), Katie Hawkins fourth (22:30.8), Amanda Hutteger sixth (23:04.5), Courtney Langston seventh (23:05.2) and Bethany Hicks 11th (23:41.2).

For Kelly, Melissa Melton placed ninth (23:35), Nancy Lewer 19th (24:13.7), Amber Scherer 27th (26:47.1), Brooke Nelson 28th (27:14.6) and Allison Burger 29th (27:42.9).

Jamie Higgins (18:11) placed second led Central's boys. Also for Central, Justin Hawkins finished third (18:12.7), Nathan Skinner sixth (18:36.3), Ross Tilghman 10th (18:49.8) and Jared Keller 11th (19:09.8).

For Kelly, Jobi Berry placed first (18:02.1), Daniel Mothershead fifth (18:26.5), Jamie Essner ninth (18:43.7), C.O. Scheffer 13th (19:16.5) and Richard Reeves 15th (19:25.5).

For Jackson, Chris Calahan finished eighth (18:42.9), Doug Cary 12th (19:13.7), Ryan Walters 14th (19:21.1), Andy Wine 22nd (20:14.2) and Scott Lane 29th (20:54.9).

BOYS SOCCER

Jackson 2, Cape Central 0

Jackson in all likelihood secured the top seed for the Class 4A district tournament with its win at Central on Thursday.

Jackson improved to 10-3-6, snapping Central's five-game winning streak and dropping the Tigers to 8-12.

Raju Dirnberger scored in the first half on an assist by Spencer Knowlan and Nathan Windeknecht, Jackson's record-holder for goals in a season, scored in the second half on a pass from Dirnberger.

Jeremy Balsman earned his seventh shutout of the season.

"We were pretty excited," said Jackson coach Bonnie Knowlan. "It was a really good game and a good win for us."

Central (4-6-3) won the JV game 1-0 on Matt Kennard's penalty kick.

A JV tournament hosted by Central will begin on Monday.

Notre Dame 3, Marion (Ill.) 1

Zach Miller scored his team-leading 13th and 14th goals as Notre Dame won at home on Thursday.

The Bulldogs improved to 13-2-3.

Miller scored his first goal on an assist by Jason Garner with four minutes left in the first half, making the score 1-0 at halftime.

Halfway through the second half, Miller was successful again. Then, with three minutes left, Tommy Wencewicz scored on a pass from Adam Obermiller.

Marion also knocked off the Bulldogs in JV action 3-1. Luke Oliver had the only goal for the JV, which fell to 8-3-2.

VOLLEYBALL

Perryville 13-15-15

Jackson 15-10-10

PERRYVILLE -- Perryville won a long match at home on Thursday and improved to 14-8-3.

Renee Kaempfe totaled nine kills and five blocks, Shannon Dreyer had 14 assists, Laura Ernst had 12 kills and Amy Versman finished with 12 kills and 15 assists.

For Jackson (16-7-4), Valerie Jansen had 12 kills and Becky King and Chrissi Glastetter each added eight kills

Perryville's JV won 12-15, 15-5, 15-10 and Jackson's freshmen won 15-11, 15-3.

Bell City wins two

MEADOW HEIGHTS -- Bell City won two matches in the Meadow Heights tournament Thursday.

Bell City beat Charleston 15-1, 15-3 and Zalma 15-3, 15-4.

Notre Dame beat Charleston 15-8, 15-4 in losers' bracket play after losing to Zalma 15-6, 12-15, 6-15 in the first round.

Clearwater 15-9-15

Woodland 4-15-1

MARBLE HILL -- The Lady Cardinals extended Clearwater to three games before falling at home Wednesday night.

Woodland's record fell to 8-12-2.

Leaders for Woodland were Sarah Booth with 11 digs, Lilo Whitener had seven kills and Toni Cowell eight assists. Dianna Lukefahr played a solid all-around game with seven points, eight kills and six digs.

Woodland plays at Bernie Monday.

FOOTBALL

Jackson wins two

JACKSON -- Jackson's eighth-grade team (4-1) beat Perryville 30-0 and its freshman (3-3) won 38-20 on Thursday.

In the eighth-grade game, James Love had a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown and Josh Parnham, Jeff Edmundson and Brad Berry each had scoring runs.

In the freshman game, John Jackson threw three touchdown passes to Patrick McComas, Mark Wade had a 70-yard touchdown run and Jessie Phillips a 15-yard scoring run.

JR. HIGH BASKETBALL

Lady Tigers at .500

Cape Central's eighth grade girls have split their first two games of the season, beating Dexter 40-31 Tuesday and losing to Poplar Bluff 62-15 Wednesday.

Against Dexter, Lainie Bohnsack scored 14 points and Trisha Klipfel had 13.

In `B' action, Central lost to Dexter 67-13 and to Poplar Bluff 57-4.