BIG RIVER 2009 RANKINGS #3
10.13.09
preseason rankings
rankings #1
rankings #2
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 – Any of you who have followed these rankings know how highly we think of the LSW girls. It was unfortunate that they didn't get to show the nation what they were truly capable of at Griak but they came back to Missouri and showed us with dominating performances at KC Metro and at the KC Mid 6 Conference Meet. At the former, arguably the best meet all year in Kansas City, they scored just 24 points and put four runners under 19 minutes.
#2) KICKAPOO – As fans we got the matchup we wanted to see at the Ozark Conference meet between Kickapoo and West Plains. The ladies from Springfield triumphed over the Zizzers by five points to retain their #2 ranking. A week earlier they bested a very deep field at the Cowboy Jamboree and turned away the best Arkansas and Oklahoma had to offer in convincing fashion.
#3) WEST PLAINS – The Lady Zizzers gave #2 Kickapoo all they could handle at the Ozark Conference meet and look like a solid pick for #3.
#4) HERCULANEUM – Herky continues to climb the charts, this time after a fantastic performance at the Disney World Classic in Orlando where they bested a field full of teams from all over the country. They ran the small schools race but would have won the big schools race as well when you look at the times.
#5) JEFFERSON CITY – Jeff City brought their A squad down the road to Camdenton and scored a nice win courtesy of a 20:02 top five average time.
#6) EUREKA - The Lady Wildcats make the jump to #6 after a very impressive performance at the Ron Jorgensen Meet where they scored only 28 points led by freshman Angie Sumner.
#7) JACKSON - Jackson is back in the rankings after a big rebound performance at the Parkway West Invite where they bested Rockwood Summit by 23 points. They also looked good at Potosi where they scored only 32 points for the win.
#8) RAYMORE-PECULIAR – Ray-Pec won a tight battle at the Big 7 Gold meet over LSN by just two points.
#9) LEE'S SUMMIT NORTH – LSN moves up a couple spots on the heels of a narrow defeat to Ray-Pec at the Big 7 meet. They bested Liberty to get the nod over the Bluejays.
#10 TIE) ROCKWOOD SUMMIT– Summit still looks very strong with a great one-two punch; Jenny Govero and Alyssa Jones. Those low sticks will prove very valuable at State.
#10 TIE) KEARNEY–This squad makes its first appearance in the rankings this year after a 24 point performance at their home invite where they produced a 46 second spread and a 19:53 average. They, along with Summit, get the nod over a whole host of schools that are knocking on the door including Bowling Green, Kirkwood, Liberty, Nerinx Hall, Rock Bridge and St. Teresa's Academy.
.............................................................TOP 10 BOYS TEAMS
#1) LEE'S SUMMIT NORTH – The LSN boys backed up their #1 ranking in a big way with a head-to-head win over #2 Liberty at their conference meet. It was actually a fairly dominating performance as they won by 14 points in a pretty small meet with a 46 second spread.
#2) LIBERTY – The Bluejays may have finished second at their conference meet but it was to #1 Lee's Summit North. Their performance there was awfully good as they laid down a 40 second spread with all five at 17:08 or better.
#3) SLUH – The Junior Bills did not race their A squad between Rim Rock and their conference meet which was postponed until Tuesday October 13th as a result of the heavy rains last week. The block of training apparently treated them well as they completely dominated the Metro Catholic Conference meet going 1-2-3-4-7 for a crazy low 17 points to beat a very good DeSmet squad.
#4) ROCK BRIDGE – Rock Bridge scored two big wins over the last two weeks at Parkway West and at the Border Wars Meet. They bested an up-and-coming DeSmet squad at the former and easily outdistanced the entire field at the latter. Their spread was under a minute at Border Wars which puts them in the hunt with the three teams ahead of them, especially considering their number one man is Caleb Wilfong.
#5) WEST PLAINS – The Zizzers retain their spot at #5 thanks to a very impressive win at the Ozark conference meet over rival Kickapoo. Never underestimate the power of a Joe Bill Dixon squad.
#6) KICKAPOO - Kickapoo rises to #6 after a big win at the Cowboy Jamboree led by Danny Thater's individual victory. The field they beat there was full of good squads from Arkansas and Oklahoma which shows not only how solid these guys are but also how powerful Missouri is right now.
#7) ROCKHURST – Rockhurst was second best at KC Metro and at the Carl Owczarzak meet in Kansas. Their spread is under a minute and they look like a squad that on a good day could snag a State trophy in Class 4.
#8) JEFFERSON CITY- The Jays looked as good, if not better, than they have looked all year at the Camdenton Invite with a solid 1-2 finish from David McAdams and Alloch Burton and a 1:11 spread.
#9) FESTUS - Festus scored a mere 41 points at the Potosi meet. They looked good but will need to shore up their spread a bit to move higher.
#10) DE SMET - The only new team on the boys side, De Smet showed a lot of improvement at the Parkway West meet where they were runners-up and bested good squads from Blue Springs and Parkway West. The Spartans are at #10 just ahead of the two aforementioned squads as well as the boys from Herculaneum and Hickman.
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 – She raced! The three-time Foot Locker finalist and defending Missouri State Champ opened her 2009 campaign at the Ron Jorgensen meet where she traversed the fairly difficult course in 18:04 on her way to a nearly two minute victory.
#2) Diane Robison, SR, Parkway Central – Over the last two weeks Robison showed that she may have made the jump to her teammate Sisson's level with a 17:37 third place showing at the Great American XC Festival in North Carolina and then a 17:23 3 mile at Border Wars on a sloppy course and during a solo effort.
#3) Courtney Wood, JR, Neosho - We couldn't find results for Ms. Wood over the last couple weeks so she'll remain at #3 based on her early season performances which were very high level.
#4) Chelsea Phoebus, JR, Lee's Summit West - Phoebus jumps from #7 to #4 after big wins at the KC Metro meet and at the Mid 6 Conference meet. She ran especially well at the latter where she bested teammate Liga Blyholder and Blue Springs South sophomore Samantha Nightingale.
#5) Liga Blyholder, SR, Lee's Summit West - The LSW senior finally makes her way back up to her pre-season ranking after an 18:21 runner-up effort at KC Metro and another second best at her conference meet. Each time she was only beaten by teammate Phoebus and each time she beat some top notch competition, many of whom are also on her team.
#6) Megan Yohe, SR, Liberty - Yohe rolled to victory at the very competitive Big 7 conference meet. It speaks pretty well to the depth in Missouri when Yohe, a fantastic runner and a Nike Nationals individual qualifier from a year ago, is ranked #6 right now.
#7) Samantha Nightingale, SO, Blue Springs South - The BSS sophomore went up against the powerful LSW squad at the KC Metro meet and finished a very solid third in 18:36.
#8) Liz Reida, JR, Kickapoo- Reida is clearly getting healthier and fitter by the week as evidenced by her runner-up finish at the Cowboy Jamboree and her dominating victory at the always tough Ozark Conference Meet. Her 11:25 3200 in Stillwater puts her in the 18:30s for 5k.
#9) Colleen Quigley, JR, Nerinx Hall- Quigley was held out at the Priory meet to nurse an injury that is reportedly only minor.
#10) Conradette King, SO, Jefferson City- King continues to lead a strong Lady Jays squad. The sophomore scored a win at the Camdenton Invite in 19:03.
#10) Krista Menghni, JR, St. Joe's Academy- Like Wood we could not find results for Menghini over the past two weeks but her talent and consistency keep her in the top ten.
#11) Sarah Jacobsen, FR, Potosi- Jacobsen made the most of an anticipated showdown against fellow freshman Saga Barzowski of Arcadia Valley with a 30 second win at the Potosi Invite.
#12) Jenny Govero, JR, Rockwood Summit- The Summit junior remains at #12 for the third set of rankings in a row after notching a win at the Parkway West Invite.
#13) Eileen Schweiss, SR, Herculaneum- Schweiss was runner-up in the small schools race at the Walt Disney World Classic and led her team to a victory in the process. Her time was among the top 20 on the day at a meet that included schools from 10 states.
#14) Briana Watson, JR, Jefferson City- If you take out any meet that LSW attended the Camdenton Invite may have been the deepest girls race over the last two weeks. Watson was second there, behind teammate King but ahead of a solid pack that included Hickman's Nicole Mello, Lebanon's Kendra McClure and Waynesville's Brianna Heikkinen.
#15) Alyssa Jones, FR, Rockwood Summit- Jones has been on the edge of the rankings all year long but she jumps in this time after yet another solid performance, this time at Parkway West where she was just 5 ticks back of her teammate Govero.
The list of girls capable of running well under 20 minutes on just about any course and being in the hunt for top 15 include Saga Barzowski, Grace Bridwell, Rachel Carpino, Courtney Dickerson, Brianna Heikkinen, Johanna Kleinsasser, Kendra McClure, Olivia McCormick, Nicole Mello, Alex Moase, Colleen Riley, Tessa Riley and Mackenzie Weis.
TOP 15 BOYS
#1) Caleb Hoover, JR, College Heights Christian- Hoover seems to do two things this year. He runs fast and he wins. His latest highlight was a scorching 15:03 at East Newton and though you may think the course is fast, which it is, keep in mind that his teammate Trenton Morris who is pretty darn good in his own right ran 16:07.
#2) Maksim Korolev, SR, Harrisonville – The fact that Korolev went out at KC Metro and destroyed the field on his way to a 15:26 and it didn't even seem like a big deal is a testament to how consistently amazing this kid has been all year. Is it too early to start talking about the hallowed State meet course record?
#3) Danny Thater, SR, Kickapoo – The Kickapoo senior makes the jump to #3 based on his big victories at the Cowboy Jamboree and at the Ozark Conference meet. He bested a very deep field in Stillwater and now looks to be the top dog in Class 4 heading into the championship season.
#4) Kevin Colon, SR, Lee's Summit West– Colon was second to Korolev at KC Metro and followed that up with an individual conference title.
#5) Caleb Wilfong, SO, Rock Bridge– Wilfong was back at the front of the pack over the last two weeks, notching wins at Parkway West and Border Wars.
#6) Caleb Ford, SR, SLUH – Ford missed the Rim Rock meet due to an injury and we hadn't seen him at his best since the first meet of the year. He looked like he is back on track at the MCC meet where he cruised to victory to establish himself once again as a Class 4 title contender.
#7) Jacob Shultz, SR, West Plains– Shulz was second to Thater at the Ozark Conference meet.
#8) Brett Klosterhoff, SR, St. Charles West – The guys are so close that once you get past the top five that it is very difficult to rank them. Case in point- Klosterhoff who was unranked two weeks ago but jumps to #8 after a close second to Wilfong at the Border Wars Meet and a win over Herky's Alex Mason at the Warrenton Invite.
#9) Brent Collins, SR, Hermitage– Collins won at the Pleasant Hope Invite and then again at the Springfield Catholic meet. His best performance though was his 16:05 victory in the small schools division at the Camdenton Invite where he had the fastest time of the day over David McAdams and Alloch Burton of Jeff City.
#10) Ben Chapman, SR, Glendale– Chapman was third at the Ozark Conference meet behind Thater and Schulz.
#11) David Lambus, JR, University City– Lambus had won a lot of smaller early season races but stepped up to the challenge at the Border Wars meet where he hung with #5 Wilfong and #8 Klosterhoff for much of the race before finishing a solid third.
#12) Daniel Everett, JR, Westminster Christian – Everett had a string of bad luck after an outstanding opening performance at First Capital and subsequently dropped out of the rankings for a few weeks. He's back after a solid second place performance at the Ron Jorgensen meet where he was bested only by O'Fallon's Michael Scolarici who ran sub 16 there.
#13) Ethan Lambert, SO, Eureka– Lambert was just three ticks back of Everett at Jorgensen so the super soph stays in the top 15 for another set of rankings.
#14) Kevin Krumrey, SR, Parkway Central– Like a couple of the girls in the top 15 we could not find results for Krumrey over the past couple weeks but we'll keep him at #14 for now.
#15) Kolton Sheldon, SO, Lee's Summit North – The Kansas City boys made it tough on themselves to get into the rankings this time around when the LSN sophomore got the best of many of the big dogs on the west side of the state at the Big 7 Conference meet. Sheldon had a great day to win the a very close battle over Ray-Pec's Devon Young, LSN's Collin Hubert and Connor Moylan and Liberty's Matt Armstrong and Hossam Hassan. Sheldon essentially pushed several of the aforementioned runners out of the top 15 with his win. We'll see what happens the next couple weeks!
Some of the other boys that just missed out this week were Cole Allison, Jake Benton, Alloch Burton, Jake Lamke, Wynn McClellan, Trenton Morris, David McAdams and Ryan Podjenski.
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