BIG RIVER ATHLETES AND TEAMS OF THE DECADE
For those of you who have follow our website you know that we put together rankings during the cross country season each year highlighting top teams and individuals. As the 2000s come to a close we thought it might be fun to come out with our top ten Missouri High School cross country/track and field athletes of the decade as well as the top five cross country teams. To come up with the top ten idividuals we put a big emphasis on national rankings, State titles, State records and overall best times/marks. For the teams we looked at their 1-5 spread, their national ranking, their average time at State and the strength of their number one runner. Below you'll find the individual rankings. The cross country teams are coming soon....
TOP 10 GIRLS
#10) Shannon Leinert, Eureka, 2001-2005, Cross Country/Distance - Leinert earned the ten spot just ahead of a pair of sprinters from Gateway Tech; Kyra Sullivan and Olivia Lewis. Both sprinters had great careers but in the end Leinert had comparatively better marks and was a little higher on the national lists. The Eureka distance star's career kicked off with a bang in the fall of 2001 when she won the Class 3 cross country title. She would go on to finish All-State two more times on the grass including a Class 4 third place finish in 2004. On the track she was an 800 meter phenom, winning three Class 4 titles in a row from 2002-2004. Her post-season 2:08 as a sophomore ranked her tenth in the nation and Eureka's 4 x 800 and DMR were second nationally.
#9) Shaneatra Neely, Hickman Mills, 2000, Sprints/Hurdles - There have been a number of athletes who have one four events in one State Meet but one of the wins is usually a relay. In her senior year Shaneatra Neely won the Class 3 100, 200, 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. She set then-overall State records in both hurdle races going 13.97 and 42.52. She might be higher on the list but that was her only year of the decade.
#8) Precious Selmon, Crystal City, 2006-2009, Sprints/Jumps/Hurdles - What are the odds that two of the best athletes of the decade would hail from Class 2, that their careers would overlap and that they would compete in the same events? We don't think they are very high but it's exactly what happened and our #8 athlete is the first half of that dynamic duo. Crystal City's Precious Selmon graduated in 2009 with a total of nine individual State track titles in four different events. Her senior year she won the 100, 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles and long jump setting Class records in the latter three. She was ranked 11th nationally in the heptathlon as a junior and seventh as a senior.
#7) Lindsey Vollmer, Penney, 2008-2009, Sprint/Jumps/Hurdles - She's only a current junior but Lindsey Vollmer has certainly made the most of her first two and half years in high school. As a freshman she won the Class 2 300 hurdles, long jump and high jump leading her Penney squad to a State title. In the postseason she posted a 4736 at US juniors in the heptathlon, a mark that ranked her fourth nationally. In 2009 she defended her State high jump title and took second in both hurdle races and the long jump to her rival Selmon. Her 4775 heptathlon was second at the Great Southwest meet and ranked her fifth nationally. Just to show you how versatile she is Vollmer also runs cross country in the fall and has finished 20th, 28th and 34th in her three trips to the Class 1 State Meet.
#6) Makeatha Cooper, Grandview, 2000-2003, Hurdles - Cooper was undoubtedly the best female hurdler of the decade in Missouri. She won a total of five State titles in the 100 and 300 hurdles and she set overall State records in both events that still stand. Her senior year she was ranked in the top 15 in the country in both events.
#5) Muna Lee, Kansas City Central, 2000, Sprints – Missouri had two Olympians at the 2008 Games in Beijing but both of them only spent one year as high schoolers in the 2000s. One was distance ace Matt Tegenkamp and the other was the best female sprinter in Missouri State history, Muna Lee. It was difficult to decide whether or not to put Lee on this list based on only one season. However, when you consider that the season in question included four State titles and a win at the National Scholastic Meet (now Nike Outdoor Nationals) in the 100 meter dash there was no question she belonged. Did we mention she beat two of her future Olympic teammates, Sanya Richards and Lauryn Williams in that race?
#4) Merideth Snow, Eureka, 2003-2006, Cross Country/Distance– The Eureka standout came to Missouri for her sophomore year after beginning her career in the State of Nebraska. She wasted no time cementing her status as the best distance runner in the show-me state, a title she would hold on to from 2003-2006. Snow won three individual State cross country titles, seven individual State track titles, was a part of two winning 3200 meter relay squads and set a State cross country course record that still stands. Nationally she was a Foot Locker finalist in cross country, ran on national runner-up DMR and 3200 relay squads for Eureka and was the fifth fastest 2-miler in the US her senior year.
#3) Emily Sisson, Parkway Central, 2008-2009, Cross Country/Distance – Like Snow, Sisson was a Nebraska transplant but she did not arrive until her junior year. Since her senior track season will be in a different decade that leaves her with only three seasons as a Missouri high schooler in the 2000s. She sure did make the most of them though. In the fall of 2008 she won the State cross country title and qualified for the Foot Locker finals. In 2009 she won two individual State track championships, one of which was a 10:24 3200 that broke Meghan Thompson's long-standing State record in the event. She was also a member of Central's state record-setting 3200 relay. Nationally she won the 5k at the Nike Outdoor Nationals and qualified for the US team at the junior Pan-Am games with a runner-up finish in the 3k at the US junior champs. She saved her best for the very end of the decade however with another State cross country title and a third place finish at the Foot Locker championships, the second-best finish ever by a Missourian.
#2) Amarachi Ukabam, Marquette, 2000-2002, Throws – The Marquette star was hands-down the best overall thrower, male or female, Missouri had to offer this decade. She was ranked in the top ten nationally in the discus her sophomore, junior and senior years. In the 2000s she won two State titles in the discus and three in the shot put. Her 175-2 discus toss as a senior is one of the best female performances of the decade and her 165-1 State meet mark as a junior still stands as the State record.
#1) Alishea Usery, McCluer South-Berkely, 2005-2008, Sprints – Picking the girls number one was not easy. Any of these ladies have good claims but it's hard to argue with the sensational sprinter from McCluer South Berkely, Alishea Usery. From 2005-2008 her unique arm swing and picture perfect stride were all over the Lincoln University track on the last weekend in May. She won a total of 15 State titles including relays. Her only loss, if you want to call it that, was a second place in the 1600 meter relay her freshman year. She and her Berkeley teammates hold the overall State record in that relay at 3:45.78, a mark they set in 2007 that ranked 12th nationally. Usery herself holds the overall State records in the 200 and 400 and has the Class 3 mark in the 100. Nationally she was 4th at the US junior champs in 2007 and had the eighth fastest 400 time in the country. She currently runs with her sister Ashley at the University of Florida.
............................................................. ..........TOP 10 BOYS
#10 TIE) James White, Grandview, 2006-2009, High Jump – In putting this list together there were a lot of factors we had to take into consideration. One of those factors was overall best marks and it is hard to argue with the two folks we have tied at #10. Grandview's James White popped off the best high jump not only in Missouri history but the highest high school jump ever as recognized by the NFHSA when he lept 7-5 and 3/4 in 2009. The jump was the best mark in the nation, the only Missourian this decade to achieve such an honor. He only has one State title in the decade but when you jump 7-5 you make the top ten.
#10 TIE) Matt Tegenkamp, Lee's Summit, 2000, Distance– Obviously Tegenkamp, the State cross country course record holder and arguably the best distance runner in Missouri history, would be higher on the list but for the fact that he only had one season in the decade. Of course that season saw him break Chris Borsa's hallowed 3200 meter record when he ran 8:58 at the rain-delayed State meet. That mark alone would probably net him a top ten ranking but he did go on to run 8:53 in the post-season, a time that ranked sixth nationally.
#9) Corey Jones, Boonville, 2006-2009, Throws – Jones launched the biggest shot put of the decade in Missouri; a 66-3 and 3/4 that netted him an overall State record and was the fifth farthest throw in the country in 2008. He was a three-time Class 3 shot put champion and won two titles in the discus. He also holds the Class 3 State record in the disc at 186-05.
#8) Andre' McDonald, Park Hill, 2005-2008, Jumps/Hurdles –A mulit-eventer, McDonald excelled in the 110 hurdles as well as all three jumps. As a freshman he took 7th in State in the hurdles. As a sophomore he was sixth in the triple jump. He exploded as a junior winning the high and long jumps and finishing second in the hurdles and in the triple jump.The 36 points he scored all by himself netted Park Hill a trophy. It was certainly one of the best single year State meet performances of the decade. His senior year did not quite measure up to 2007 but he had set the bar awfully high for himself. He was still able to defend his high jumps title and finished in the top six in his other three events.
#7) Richard York, St. Clair, 2006-2009, Jumps/Hurdles –The media loves to declare the Olympic decathlon champion the "best athlete in the world" and for good reason. To excel at ten different events is no easy task and St. Clair's Richard York was Missouri's best multi-eventer of the last decade. As a senior York helped lead St. Clair to a share of the Class 3 State title by finishing first in the 300 hurdles, second in the 110 hurdles and the pole vault and sixth in the long jump. He then went on to finish second in the decathlon at the prestigious Great Southwest Classic, beaten only by arguably the best high school decathlete of all-time, Curtis Beach. York's 7007 points at Great Southwest ranked him third in the country in 2009.
#6) Paul Chaney Jr, SLUH, 2003-2006, Sprints – Chaney will perhaps be best remembered for being a part of SLUH's State Championship team in 2006, a squad that scored a staggering 75 points to win a tight battle over Raytown South and Lee's Summit North. That year Chaney, a senior, defended his State titles in the 100 and 200, anchored a State-record setting 800 meter relay squad and then blitzed a 47.4 anchor leg in the 1600 meter relay to assure his team the overall title. His 21.04 200 was a then-State record-tying performance and ranked him 9th in the nation.
#5) Chris Rohr, Lee's Summit North, 2001-2004, Throws –It was a very close decision for best thrower of the decade between Rohr and Jones. Jones leaves the decade as the overall record holder in the shot put and a five-time Class 3 State champion. Rohr is a four-time Class 4 champ and holds the overall record in the discus. In the end it, as is the nature of the throws, it was best throw wins. Rohr's best discus toss, 209-8, was ranked second in the country in 2004 and his 201-4 at the State meet absolutely obliterated the old record held by Jeff City's Russ Bell.
#4) Josh Thebeau, Potosi, 2003-2007, Cross Country/Distance–Thebeau was a part of the dynamic duo that became known as "The Joshes" made up of of he and his teammate Josh Mathis. The two dominated the distance running scene mid-decade and put tiny Potosi on the National map. Thebeau won the State cross country title his senior year over his teammate Mathis in a spectacular 15:37. They led the Trojans to a seventh place finish at the Nike Team Nationals meet in Portland, Ore. a few weeks later. On the track Thebeau's star shone brightest bursting onto the scene with a 4:15 State win in the 1600 as a sophomore. His junior year he won the 1600/800 double pulling off a thrilling late-stretch run over Ladue's Josh Sams. He topped that and then some his senior year with an impressive 4:11/1:53 double in which he bested Mathis' 4:12 in the former. In the 800 it looked like Wesminster's Ryan Blackwell had things all wrapped up until Thebeau dug down deep and produced a last 100 of epic proportions to take the narrow victory. He went on to run 4:07 for the full mile in the post-season, losing only to future superstar Evan Jager from Illinois at the Midwest Distance Gala.
#3) Adam Perkins, Liberty, 2000-2003, Cross Country/Distance– Perkins was one of those guys who seemed like he was around forever. That will happen when you are All-State as a freshman. The Liberty star ran 1:57 for eighth in the Class 4 800 as a frosh but that was just the beginning. The following fall he was fourth at State in cross country which turned out to be but a prelude to a 2001 track campaign that saw him win the State 1600 in 4:11 and finish the season ranked as the number one sophomore in the country. He went on to win two more State cross country titles and pulled off a 4:07/1:53 double at the State meet his junior year. That year he ranked second in the nation in the mile. He chose not to compete in MSHSAA events his senior track season.
#2) Domenik Peterson, Jefferson City, 2000-2003, Sprints – Of all the accomplishments of all the outstanding athletes on this list there may be none that quite measure up to Domenik Peterson winning the 400 meter State title four years in a row. To win such a demanding event as a freshman, in 47.76 no less, was an unbelievable performance in its own right not to mention he also won the 200 that year. The Jeff City star dominated in his hometown at the State meet from 2000-2003 scoring four wins in the 400, a win and three runner-ups in the 200 and a win and two runner-ups in the 100. He still holds the State record at 400 meters, 46.81, a mark that ranked him 11th nationally in 2003.
#1) Maurice Mitchell, Raytown South, 2005-2008, Sprints – Raytown South star Maurice Mitchell was a picture perfect example of sprinting form. Even in high school he had seemingly mastered running as the pros do it; fast and relaxed, jaw bouncing up and down and no wasted motion. Mitchell finished as State runner-up to Chaney in both short dashes as a sophomore before dominating the meet the next two years. His junior year he set overall State records in the 100 and 200 and added a 400 title for good measure. He finished that year with the eighth-fastest 100 (10.42) and the third-fastest 200 (20.77) in the country. His senior year he torched a 10.40 early in the year before having to deal with an injury that forced him to hold back at the State Meet though he still defended all three individual sprint titles. Mitchell also showed some true grit by throwing caution to the wind and letting it rip on the anchor leg of the 4 x 100 to bring his squad a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Hazelwood East. We gave Mitchell the slight nod over Peterson at number one for his superior 100 and 200 meter times and higher national rankings.
COME BACK SOON FOR THE CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS OF THE DECADE.....
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