LS West sweeps Suburban Small 6 Conference
LS West's Kevin Colon won a stirring duel against Kearney's Dalton Moberly on Thursday at Swope Park, leading the Titans to the boys Suburban Small 6 Conference title.
Brittany Tate of LS West easily won the girls race; the Titans took the team title.
After his race with Moberly, Colon, a sophomore, said he knew he "needed to gap" the Kearney senior during the second and third miles, to make sure Moberly couldn't push past him with a strong finishing kick.
That's exactly what happened.
Moberly led Colon at the mile mark, 5:19 to 5:23, but Colon had moved ahead at 2 miles, 10:37 to 10:38. Colon then stretched his lead to pull away over the final part of the 5k race.
Colon's winning time was 16:39.8. Moberly finished in 16:45.
Rounding out the top five were LS West juniors Jake Henry (17:07) and Phil Miller (17:18), followed by Excelsior Springs freshman Jacob Colvin (17:29).
In the team competition, LS West finished with 21 points, followed by Kearney, 51; Ruskin, 84; Excelsior Springs, 91; and Hickman Mills, 132.
Colon said he was looking forward to the State Series, saying he'd like to win Districts next week at Lake Jacomo and finish in the top 3 at Sectionals, also at Jacomo.
Colon will face tough challenges at both races, of course. At Districts, he'll face off against Raytown South's Steven Saylor and Blue Springs' Philip Hickman. Add in Liberty's Stanton Ragland and Oak Park's Will Hansen at Sectionals, and the KC area's 4A races will be top-notch cross country events.
In the girls race, Tate led fellow Titan Johanna Kleinsasser at the mile mark, 6:16 to 6:18, then stretched the lead a bit by the two-mile mark, 12:32 to 12:37. Tate then used a strong, last mile to pull away and win in 19:39.5, setting a course record.
Kleinsasser, a freshman, finished second at 20:12, followed by LS West's Chelsey Phoebus, also a freshman (20:21), Kearney's Buerky Brooke (20:35) and LS West's Ashley Holtz 20:56.
In junior varsity contests, LS West's Cameron Cox won the boys title in 18:09 and Kearney's Courtney Reckrodt triumphed in the girls race in 22:08.
Yael T. Abouhalkah