BIG RIVER 2008 RANKINGS #1 #2) WEST PLAINS – The Lady Zizzers put four in front of Jefferson City's number two at the Capital City Classic for a commanding win. At the Forest Park Cross Country Festival Jeff City won the meet against a really great group of teams. Then this group dominated in Memphis at the Brooks Twilight Meet scoring only 61 points in a 28 team meet. #10) FESTUS – Part of a tight 4-5-6 battle at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival the ladies from Festus were sixth this time but only one point from fifth and two from fourth. With Alyssa Allison leading the way up front this group will be dangerous in every meet they enter. #2) WEST PLAINS – The Zizzers had an absolutely dominating peformance against a very good Jeff City team at the Capital City Classic. With five in the top nine and a tight spread they showed enough to move up a spot to number two in the rankings. This past week they dominated at the Brooks Twilight Meet in Memphis scoring only 59 points with a 45 second spread. #4) JEFFERSON CITY – Second to West Plains at their home meet and third to SLUH and Kickapoo at the Festival you certainly can't accuse these guys of ducking the competition. Plus, they have a number one man who survived a lightning strike this summer. If the rest of the team is half as tough as David McAdams they are going to be tought to beat all year long. #6) COLLEGE HEIGHTS CHRISTIAN – The Class 1 powerhouse keeps their spot at number six. We are waiting to see how they run at the Southern Stampede this weekend. If they perform like they did a year ago they will be at least number six when the next set of rankings are released. #7) LEE'S SUMMIT NORTH - A runner-up finish at Bob Craddock and a big win at the University of Central Missouri Mule Run puts the LSN boys in the top ten for the first time this year. INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS #3) Alyssa Allisson, SR, Festus - Allison has two races under her belt and two run-away victories. First a 40 second win at 1st Capital over St. Clair's Ashley Scott and then another 40 second romp over a loaded field at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival. #11) Rachel Carpino, JR, Lee's Summit North - It always gets tough to rank these last few spots but Huddleston has more than earned the benefit of the doubt after an incredible career that has seen her finish All-State nine times individually including a 3200 meter championship in 2007. #13) Erin Huddleston, SR, Branson - The senior from Branson was a solid seventh at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival. #15) Sarah White, SO, Potosi - White is probably better than 15th but suffered from some dehydration issues at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival and finished 27th. She'll be back. #1) Jacob Swearingen, SR, Potosi – Swearingen held off an extremely tough challenge from Kickapoo's Danny Thater to capture his second straight title at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival. Thater made several surges over the last mile and the Potosi senior answered the bell every time and eventually sprinted away for the win. #3) Nick Happe, SR, Francis Howell North – Happe kicked off the year with a dominating win at the 1 st Capitol Invite in his own backyard. The FHN senior followed it up with a third place finish at the Festival, dipping under 16 minutes in the process. #4) Connor Callahan, SR, DeSmet – Callahan ran a smart race at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival, choosing not to follow the searing early pace set by Swearingen. Instead, the DeSmet senior worked his way up from the second pack and briefly overtook Happe for third only to be bested in the final 100 meters. #6) Max Storms, SR, O'Hara – Storms had many people at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival saying, “Who's that guy in the Celtics jersey?” We knew who he was and he certainly came to play. Not intimidated at all by the quality of the field Storms hung on to the lead pack for much of the race en route to a sixth place finish in 16:09. #7) Kevin Colon, SR, Lee's Summit West- Colon notched two wins in the first two weeks. The first was over 2 miles at the Bob Craddock Invite and the second was a 27 second dominating win at the Missouri XC Challenge. His 16:17 at Mizzou is very solid considering the high humidity during the race. #8) Matt Estlund, SR, Chaminade – Unfortunately Estlund had to drop out at Forest Park due to illness so he drops a few spots in the rankings. Surely he will rise again once healthy. #9) Maksim Korolev, JR, Harrisonville – Korolev kicked off the year by winning the Cass County Invitational handily over 2 miles. His 10:38 there suggests he is in near 16:00 shape. #10) Phillip Palomino, SR, West Plains – Palomino, the number one man on a very tough West Plains team, gets the nod at #10 after a win at the Capital City Classic in Jefferson City and a fourth at the Brooks Twilight Meet in Memphis. #11) Michael Weis, SR, Lebanon – Weis debuts in the rankings this week at number eleven after a seventh place finish at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival. #14) Jake Lamke, JR, Parkway West – We had Lamke as the first guy not to make the rankings in the pre-season only because he had been hurt during track and it wasn't clear whether he was fully recovered. With a runner-up at the Parkway Quad and a win at the Stan Nelson he may not be back in full form but he is at least healthy and will likely be improving all year. #15) Stephen Saylor, SR, Raytown South – We know this may be a bit controversial as we are leaving out a few guys who beat him at Forest Park but Saylor is a 9:20 3200 guy and a perennial All-Stater. He was only four seconds back of Colon at the Bob Craddock so we'll just chalk up Forest Park as an off day. 5352 Devonshire Ave
09.17.08
TEAM RANKINGS
TOP 10 GIRLS TEAMS
#1) LEE'S SUMMIT WEST – The Titans were impressive at the Missouri Cross Country Challenge, taking seven of the top eleven spots. Meet Champion Chelsey Phoebus makes the LSW ladies even tougher than we thought.
#3) PARKWAY CENTRAL - The Lady Colts have raced twice already, at the Parkway Quad and at the Webster Invitational. They looked good each time out and unveiled individual #1 Emily Sisson at Webster where she led a 1-2 sweep with Diane Robison.
#4) EUREKA– Eureka looked good at the Stan Nelson Invitational, scoring just 26 points and besting a pretty good runner-up squad from Lafayette.
#5) JEFFERSON CITY – We predicted this squad would likely move up after the Forest Park Cross Country Festival. Sure enough, they not only ran well but they won the meet thanks to a tiebreaker over Kickapoo.
#6) KICKAPOO – Well you cannot get much closer than a tie to show that Kickapoo should be the next team after Jeff City. Putting only 96 points on the board at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival was very good, just not quite enough to top Jeff City as it came down to the sixth runner to decide the meet.
#7) LINDBERGH – We received lots of emails telling us to watch out for these ladies at the Festival. Their fans were right as their third-place showing at Forest Park puts them in the upper-echelon of Missouri teams for sure.
#8) LEE'S SUMMIT NORTH – The LSN girls traveled across the State this past weekend to test their mettle against many of the top teams in State at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival. They certainly held their own with a fourth-place showing which bumps them into eighth in the Big River Rankings.
#9) CAPE CENTRAL – Cape drops a couple of spots to number nine but was only one point behind LSN for fourth at the Festival. We still think this squad is in the top ten to stay and could move up as the year goes along.
.............................................................TOP 10 BOYS TEAMS
#1) SLUH – It must be nice to lose your number one runner to a stress fracture, lose your number four man to a dehydration-caused DNF and still win one of the biggest meets in the region handily. That's what SLUH did at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival where they won by 62 points. Did we mention that they scored only 22 points at the 1st Capitol Meet the week before? These guys are good.
#3) KICKAPOO – Kickapoo proved they are a top-notch squad with a second place showing at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival. They also have the advantage of frontman Danny Thater who looked great getting second and should be an extremely low stick at every meet.
#5) LEE'S SUMMIT WEST – The LSW boys put on a clinic at the Missouri XC Challenge by taking six of the top eight spots. Kevin Colon and Jake Henry provide a nice 1-2 punch and a 1-2 punch always plays well in November.
#8) ROCKHURST – On the strength of a fifth place showing at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival these very deep squad moves up two spots to number eight.
#9) ROCK BRIDGE – Sixth at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival these guys showed that they belonged in the rankings. A tighter spread next time out and they may be able to move up even further.
#10) POTOSI – There is good news and bad news for the Trojans. The bad news is that this is their lowest ranking since we began the Big River Rankings in 2006. The good news is that they still have tons of firepower up front and rumor has it that their five man is just now running again for the first time since middle school. If his times continue to drop then Potosi will continue to rise in the rankings.
08.13.07
All season long (though maybe not as often as the team rankings) we will try to keep an eye out for the top 15 runners in the State. Again, these are the top 15 regardless of Class. It is a lot easier to miss a runner or two so we apologize if we shorted you or your teammate. Feel free to email us at info@bigriverrunning.com if you know someone who should be on the Big River Top 15. Enjoy!!
TOP 15 GIRLS
#1) Emily Sisson, JR, Parkway Central – Sisson lived up to the hype with a dominating win at Webster over teammate Diane Robison. We could see a lot of course records go down this year with this young lady around.
#2) Diane Robison, JR, Parkway Central – Robison should not be overlooked as an absolutely huge talent just because she is number two on her team. To run 19:00 on the Webster course is quite an accomplishment and any course that Sisson breaks a course record on it is likely that Robison will go under the old mark as well.
#4) Veronica Schabbing, SR, Cape Central- Schabbing nabbed second behind #3 Allison at the Festival to earn her number four ranking.
#5) Ashley Scott, SR, St. Clair - Scott had the misfortune of facing #3 Allison at 1st Capital and Forest Park. Good competition brings out good performances though and two sub 20 minute clockings is not bad at this point in the season.
#6) Briana Watson, SO, Jefferson City- A win at Capital City followed up by fourth place at Forest Park gives this sophomore a spot in the rankings for the first time.
#7) Natalie Becker, SR, Parkway West - At the Forest Park Cross Country Festival Becker did what she always seems to do in big meets which is run well. Her fifth place showing and sub 20 clocking earns her seventh place here.
#8) Chelsea Phoebus, SO, Lee's Summit West – The rich get richer as LSW adds the sophomore Phoebus to the top of their lineup. She notched victories at the Bob Craddock and at the Missouri Cross Country Challenge to shoot up the rankings.
#9) Brittany Tate, SR, Lee's Summit West - Second to teammate Phoebus at Bob Craddock and then an uncharacteristic seventh at Mizzou. Her history keeps her at number 9.
#10) Johanna Kleinsasser, SO, Lee's Summit West - Kleinsasser completes the LSW triumvirate at #10. The sophomore was second at Mizzou and third at Bob Craddock.
#12) Megan Yohe, JR, Liberty - Yohe was the champ at her home invite to open the season and won by 28 seconds over just 2 miles.
#14) Rebecca Senn, JR, Kickapoo - Just three ticks behind #13 Huddleston at the Festival, Senn earns a spot in the rankings for the first time.
TOP 15 BOYS
#2) Danny Thater, JR, Kickapoo – Thater looked great at Forest Park and even though he couldn't pull off the upset over #1 Swearingen he still beat a whole host of top guys. Plus, 15:46 on that course on a hot and windy day is a heck of a time.
#5) Nick Niggeman, SR, Potosi – Niggeman moves up a spot this week after a fifth place finish at the Festival. As is his M.O. the slender senior moved straight to the front at Forest Park and was a mainstay in the lead pack late into the race. Plus, he held off Max Storms of O'Hara who figures to be the biggest threat to a Potosi 1-2 finish at State.
#12) Austin Cookson, SR, SLUH – Cookson crossed the line in eighth at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival. A top ten finish there typically means a top ten finish at State.
#13) Kevin Krumrey, JR, Parkway Central- Krumrey kicked off the year with a surprising win over Parkway West's Jake Lamke at the Parkway Quad. Krumrey ran solid in the 800 last spring and now looks to be figuring out cross country as well.
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