BIG RIVER 2009 RANKINGS #2
9.28.09
preseason rankings
rankings #1
For those of you who have followed our rankings over the past few years you know that these are just for fun and hopefully serve to give athletes a little extra motivation as the season rolls along. We will come out with the rankings every few weeks. For those of you who are new and checking out the rankings for the first time we hope you enjoy them and if you have anyone or any team that we missed let us know by emailing Ben at ben@bigriverrunning.com
TEAM RANKINGS
TOP 10 GIRLS TEAMS
#1) LEE'S SUMMIT WEST – LSW traveled to the Roy Griak Invite and came away just short of a victory, losing to Iowa power Dowling Catholic by only six points. The results are deceiving though as our State's best team had one of its top runners, Liga Blyholder, struggle less than a half mile from the finish before shuffling home in 172nd place. If she finishes in the top 10 they win handily.
#2) KICKAPOO – Kickapoo stayed close to home last week and scored a big win at the Richard Clark Invite over Rock Bridge.
#3) WEST PLAINS – The Lady Zizzers shoot up to number three after an impressive performance at the Frank Horton Invite where they scored a super low 34 points courtesy of a 1:06 spread.
#4) JEFFERSON CITY – The Lady Jays were a solid third at Rim Rock behind The Woodlands (TX) and Iowa City West (IA). They get the nod at #4 just ahead of Herculaneum who they had previously bested at home.
#5) HERCULANEUM - Herky was unranked in the last set of rankings but that is deceiving because their performance at Forest Park came without their #1 and #5 who ran in the freshman division. They really should have been ranked last time but we think we've got it right this time after they beat a very good Summit squad straight up at the Paul Enke.
#6) ROCKWOOD SUMMIT– Two big weeks for the Lady Falcons included a runner-up finish at Paul Enke and a win at Hancock.
#7) RAYMORE-PECULIAR – Ray-Pec gets sandwiched between Summit and Eureka after edging out the latter at the Southern Stampede. They also raced at Roy Griak but without their numbers one and two.
#8) EUREKA – The ladies with the big "E" come in at #8 after a runner-up finishes at the Southern Stampede and Hancock.
#9) ST. TERESA'S ACADEMY – This group from KC came over to Saint Louis to tackle the hills of Sioux Passage Park where they grabbed a third place at the Paul Enke. Then they stayed closer to home and finished fifth at Rim Rock over 4k.
#10 TIE) LIBERTY – Liberty was just three points back of St Teresa's at Rim Rock and bested Lee's Summit North on a tiebreaker. They also won the Tennessee Classic on a tiebreaker the week before.
#10 TIE) LEE'S SUMMIT NORTH – LSN was seventh at Rim Rock but that was without Taylor Hynes. Not sure if her knee injury is back or not...we hope not. They grab what was a tight battle for the tenth spot over Jackson, Lindbergh and Nerinx Hall.
.............................................................TOP 10 BOYS TEAMS
#1) LEE'S SUMMIT NORTH – This ended up being an easier choice than we thought it might be. These guys traveled to Nike Pre-Nationals in Portland, Oregon and finished a solid third with a 15:54 top five average and a 44 second spread. Those numbers are tough to argue with even if the course played a bit fast.
#2) LIBERTY – The Bluejays notched a convincing win over SLUH at Rim Rock Farm on the strength of a 46 second spread over the difficult layout. They also easily outdistanced the field at the Tennessee Classic in Nashville.
#3) SLUH – The Junior Bills looked almost unbeatable after Forest Park but missing number one man Caleb Ford at Rim Rock they were bested by Liberty. The "what-if" game makes it a lot closer but they will have to wait until State to show what they've got at full strength against the two Kansas City schools ahead of them.
#4) ROCK BRIDGE – Rock Brige looked very good in beating a solid Kickapoo team at the Richard Clark Invite in Springfield. Their 42 second spread and tough one-two punch makes them a very legitimate bunch.
#5) WEST PLAINS – The Zizzers move up one spot to number five after a dominating win at the Frank Horton Invite in Tennessee.
#6) FESTUS - Festus leapfrogs Parkway West for a pretty simple reason. They won the small schools race at Hancock and West won the big schools race. On the same course Festus averaged seven seconds faster through five and had a tighter spread.
#7) PARKWAY WEST– West nailed down two nice victories over the last two weeks at Parkway Central and Hancock. The Longhorns seem to always peak well so they should only get better from here.
#8) ROCKHURST – Rockhurst now looks like the third best time in KC after a very convincing win at Grandview courtesy of a 44 second spread.
#9) JEFFERSON CITY- The Jays finished seventh at the tough Rim Rock meet.
#10) KICKAPOO - Kickapoo looks better than they did early on, perhaps mirroring the rise of their number one man Danny Thater. They were second to Rock Bridge at the Richard Clark Invite and get the tenth spot just ahead of Cape Central, Herculaneum, Hickman and Lindbergh among others.
Individual Rankings
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 Ben at ben@bigriverrunning.com if you know someone who should be on the Big River Top 15. Enjoy!!
TOP 15 GIRLS
#1) Emily Sisson, SR, Parkway Central – Sisson has yet to race and rumors have her nursing an injury but with a track record like hers you stay at #1 until you get beat. You might recognize that sentence from two weeks ago but it reamains the case here at the end of September.
#2) Diane Robison, SR, Parkway Central – Robison rolled an 18:12 on her home course in a race that saw her beat a quality field by nearly a minute and a half.
#3) Courtney Wood, JR, Neosho - Wood jumps up to #3 after a 48 second win at Nixa and a big win at the Stampede where she ran 18:13.
#4) Megan Yohe, JR, Liberty - Yohe took top honors at the Tennessee Classic and followed it up with a third place finish at Rim Rock.
#5) Samantha Nightingale, SO, Blue Springs South - The BSS sophomore scored a 26-second win at Grandview over Ray-Pec's Coutrney Dickerson.
#6) Colleen Quigley, JR, Nerinx Hall- Quigley moves up to #6 after notching two more wins at Edwardsville and Hancock. Her 18:51 on the Edwardsville course is a very high level performance.
#7) Chelsea Phoebus, JR, Lee's Summit West - Phoebus earns the #8 spot after a fourth place finish at the loaded Roy Griak meet in Minnesota.
#8) Conradette King, SO, Jefferson City- The Jeff City soph was just three ticks back of Yohe at Rim Rock, good enough for a fifth place finish.
#9) Liz Reida, JR, Kickapoo- Reida is back on track with a big win at the Richard Clark Invite in 19:10.
#10) Krista Menghni, JR, St. Joe's Academy- Menghni is back in the rankings after opening her season with runner-up finishes at Parkway Central and Hancock.
#11) Sarah Jacobsen, FR, Potosi- Jacobsen moves up the ladder a few spots after a win on the tough Paul Enke course at Sioux Passage Park and at the almost as tough Hancock course at Jefferson Barracks.
#12) Jenny Govero, JR, Rockwood Summit- The Summit junior remains at #12 after a runner-up finish at the Paul Enke and a third place finish at Hancock where she led her squad to victory.
#13) Colleen Riley, JR, Lindbergh- Riley joins the rankings after a strong perfomance at Parkway Central where she finished third behind Robison and Menghini.
#14) Rachel Carpino, SR, Lee's Summit North- Just the third senior on the list, Carpino was only eighth at the Stampede but came back strong to nab sixth at Rim Rock.
#15) Briana Watson, JR, Jefferson City - Watson was eighth at Rim Rock but has the talent to win almost any race she enters as we saw when she won the Forest Park Cross Country Festival. The mid-season rankings are always the toughest and this was no exception as we had to choose between a ton of worthy candidates including up-and-comers Saga Barzowski of Arcadia Valley, Jenny McCarty from Fulton, Summit's Alyssa Jones, LSN's Tessa Riley and Eureka's Angie Sumner. Also just missing the list were Liga Blyholder, Grace Bridwell, Courtney Dickerson, Johanna Kleinsasser, Olivia McCormick and Alex Moase.
TOP 15 BOYS
#1) Caleb Hoover, JR, College Heights Christian- Is this guy a high school junior or a machine? He added to an already long list of accomplishments over the last two weeks with a 30 second win at the Southern Stampede and a course record at the Richard Clark Invite where be bested Kickapoo's Danny Thater.
#2) Maksim Korolev, SR, Harrisonville – It's a shame we haven't seen a Hoover v. Korolev matchup yet because the Harrisonville senior has looked just as dominant as evidenced by his 18 second win at Rim Rock and his 15:35 at the Wildcat Invite at Lake Jacomo.
#3) Kevin Colon, SR, Lee's Summit West– Colon was second to Hoover at the Stampede where he just dipped under 16 minutes. He had a bad one at Roy Griak but he and his teammates were sick so you have to throw that one out.
#4) Ben Chapman, SR, Glendale – Chapman was just a few ticks back of Colon at the Stampede to keep his spot at number four.
#5) Danny Thater, SR, Kickapoo – Thater jumps up to number five after coming closer to Hoover than anyone else has been able to so far this year at the Richard Clark.
#6) Caleb Wilfong, SO, Rock Bridge– Wilfong finished behind his teammate Jordan Cook at the Richard Clark in 16:27 but he stays high in the rankings on the strength of that unreal performance at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival.
#7) Jake Benton, SR, Fort Zumwalt North– Benton goes from unranked to number seven after a big couple of weeks where he took home titles at the Paul Enke and at Hazelwood West.
#8) Collin Hubert, JR, Lee's Summit North– Hubert led LSN to a third place finish at Nike Pre Nationals where he ran 15:46 for tenth place in a solid field.
#9) Brent Collins, SR, Hermitage– Collins remains in the top ten after a dominating victory at his home invite.
#10) Hossam Hassan, SR, Liberty– The number one man on the current number two ranked team, Hassan had two solid performances at the Tennessee Classic and Rim Rock.
#11) David Lambus, JR, University City– Lambus continues to climb the ladder in these rankings as all he seems to do is win. He took home the title at Lutheran North in 16:10 and followed it up with a big win at Hancock over Festus' Cole Allison and Cape Notre Dame's Wynn McClellan.
#12) Devon Young, JR, Ray-Pec– Young is our second first-timer in this set of rankings. The Ray-Pec junior was fourth at the Stampede in 16:09 and followed it up with a win at his home invite.
#13) Jacob Shultz, SR, West Plains– Shulz led his Zizzers to a big victory down in Tennessee at the Frank Horton invite with a runner-up finish in 16:21.
#14) Ethan Lambert, SO, Eureka– We've had our eye on this sophomore all year and after narrowly missing out in the last set of rankings he makes it here after his 16:10 at the Stampede and his 16:20 victory at Fox's Ed White Invite.
#15) Kevin Krumrey, SR, Parkway Central– Krumrey is another guy who jumps into the rankings this week after a nice win at his home invite over Jake Lamke of Parkway West. This was one of the toughest set of rankings we have ever done on the boys side in four years of doing this with so many great runners beating up on each other over the last couple weeks. Some of the boys that just missed out this week were Cole Allison, Alloch Burton, Jordan Cook, Daniel Everett, Caleb Ford, Jake Lamke, Brett Klosterhoff, Wynn McClellan, Trenton Morris and David McAdams.
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