Week 10 Wrap-Up: 28 Meets, 28 Pages


Parkway West Sweeps Sectional 1; Oufattole Ends Koester's Streak

After disappoint races for the Parkway West Longhorns at District 2 on both the boys and girls side, they were able to grab some redemption at Class 4 Sectional 1 on Saturday at Parkway Central High School as both teams brought home victories. The 46 second 1-5 split from the boys was very uncharacteristic for them - 46 seconds for Parkway West is comparable to around 3:00 for any other team - and contributed to their loss, but this Saturday, the pack was back and better than ever as only 16 seconds and 7 places separated Andrew Lofgren in 4th (16:12) and their 5th man Cerow Aligab in 11th (16:25). In between those boys were Matyas Csiki-fejer, Kyle Andersen, and Blake Selm in 7th, 8th, and 9th respectively. Saturday's race and last week's race showed that on any given week any of these West boys could be 1-7 and pick each other up each time one goes down. West may not put any boys in the top 10 or even in the top 15 for that matter, but with 5 capable of running between 15-40 at the worst, they could absolutely use their pack to lock up their first state title since 1990. Lafayette finished 2nd to make their 6th straight trip to state, Kirkwood was 3rd making their first team trip to state since 2004, and Marquette sneaked in for 4th to make their 9th straight trip to the state meet. We spoke to them after they received their first place plaque:



The individual title, though, came down to a battle between Lafayette's duo of Harrison Brown and Nassim Oufattole versus Hillsboro's Kevin Koester. The favorite coming into the race after running his 5K win streak to 10 at District 1, Koester immediately jumped out to the front but was met by Oufattole and Brown who helped bring it through in 4:58 through the first mile. The boys were then met by Marquette senior Nick Warmann who was flying high coming off his narrow 3rd place finish at District 2. As they rolled through the second mile in 10:26, Oufattole and Koester had pulled away with Brown just trailing, but Oufattole was able to pull away as they popped out of the final woods segment. Oufattole was able to end Koester's streak with his smoking fast 15:58 for the individual title. Parkway Central being fairly comparable to the state course, Oufattole's 15:58 puts him in the driver's seat for a top-10 finish at the state meet and potentially top 5 (Oufattole was ranked #5 this preseason). Koester made a valiant effort to regain the top spot, but was unable to catch Oufattole as he came across in 16:06. Warmann held on for third in 16:12 and Parkway West's Lofgren edged out Brown for 4th. Incredibly, it took a 17:01 to make it out of this Sectional, making it probably the fastest Sectional comparatively on the day. We spoke with Oufattole and Koester after their races:




Much like their male counterparts, the Parkway West girls were able to grab their own team title, finishing 14 points ahead of the team who took them down in District 2 last week, Washington. Led by Claire Smout in 4th this time, the West girls used a 46 second 1-5 split to hold off the Blue Jays. Smout's #1 finish in this one was the third different #1 that the Longhorns have had in the last three races and shows that, also much like their male counterparts, they can shuffle places in and out in their top 5 and still have success. Emily Dickson was 5 seconds behind Smout's 19:28, coming in 5th, and Chloe Hershenow was their #3 in 9th running 19:46. Parkway West has enjoyed an enormous amount of success on both sides coming off 5th and 6th place finishes at last year's November classic and are set up well to avoid that happening in 2017. They will make their 4th straight trip to state and look for their first championship since 1990. Washington's 2nd place finish locks up their 3rd straight trip to state and 6th overall as they look to match or improve upon last year's 3rd place trophy. Eureka was 5 points ahead of Kirkwood for 3rd and will make their first trip to state since 2014 with Kirkwood making their first trip since 2011. We were able to catch up with the Parkway West girls and chat about their victory:


In any race with a multiple time state champion (on the course and track), one has to point to them as a favorite. Mikayla Reed left no doubt about where her fitness is heading into next Saturday as she was able to run away with another victory in Sectional 1 in 18:48. The Washington senior and Mizzou commit led from start to finish and solidified her status as one of the three girls who will compete for the state title in Jefferson City. She will be looking to defend her big win in 2016. We were expecting a blow-out, but were treated to an exciting race as Lindbergh junior Abigail Juedemann made it very interesting in the last mile. Juedemann was able to make a huge push in an effort to close the gap, and, while she eventually fell short, was able to go under 19:00 (18:59) and take 2nd. Her impressive race sets her up as one of the top 15 girls to watch heading into next Saturday as Coach Fischer has worked her magic once again.

Lafayette senior Mollie Rogan continued her run of success of late as, after a bit of a clunker at Suburban Conference, she has parlayed a great race at the Parkway South Classic into two top 3 finishes in a row. Washington junior Claire Ayers has been slowly regaining her mojo and finished 6th after taking 6th at District 2 and the Eureka duo of senior Adyson Delaney and freshman Kayla Voelker took 7th and 8th respectively.

Again a fast race overall, the top 30 in this one all were under 20:20. We spoke with Reed and Juedemann about their races.


Photos