Aug 08, 2012

Parkway Central Girls

The Colts could surprise a couple of teams this year. They are led by Elaine Riechert who finished 52nd at state in her first year of running. During that season she beat some of the top runners in St. Louis such as Maddy Brown and Brianna Hickey. Next they will have Kayla Friesen. While she only has a 22:29 5K PR, she showed signs of being capable of much better than that this spring. In her first year of track she ran 11:47 for the 3200m. Taylore Burke, who holds a PR of right over 20 minutes, ran a best time of 5:25 this year in the 1600m. Those three will lead a relatively young team behind them.

Coach Banta Says...

"We should be solid, and if our number two runner returns on paper we will have the strongest top 13 to start a season in our programs history. My goals when Coach Greathouse asked me to coach with him was to get a team to a top ten finish at state in five years. If we qualify as a team this year we will be on the right track. Obviously, before Coach Greathouse retires in a few years I would love to bring home a state plaque. However, we might be a couple of years away from that dream goal."

"First goal of mine as a coach is to limit injuries to our runners. I take pride in being a small school in a large school divison. Our enrollment numbers at PCH are inflated and we offer every sport except for field hockey. Being a small school with so much to offer its important we keep as many people healthy in order to keep our top seven strong and of course keeping practice competitive. I believe our move to most to training only on soft surfaces went a long way in keeping us healthy

Second Goal is to finish in the top four of every meet we compete this season.

Third Goal would be to win conference. We were able to win the JV level last year and came up short on the varsity level (finishing second) on a suprisingly fast course at Kirkwood Park. Kirkwood is loaded and I love when our kids toe the line with them. Its turning into a fun rivalry that they certainly gotten the best of us in track and XC.

The last goal is to help give people younger then me a level of fitness that gives them the ability to be healthy and fit for the rest of their lives. I believe that XC is life changing and for many young people a life saving sport."

"We will still stick to our relatively low key schedule allowing our younger runners to naturally extend their race distance. Coach Greathouse has set up the season in a way that our JV kiddos dont race a 5k until we reach the Ladue Invite."

2012 Returner's Top Times

5K XC

	Parkway Central High School
	1) Elaine Riechert		19:51.94
	2) Taylore Burke		20:04.22
	3) Allison Bain		20:40.88
	4) Cecilia Tarlas		21:03.49
	5) Elizabeth Gibson		21:11.20
	Average Time: 20:34.35 -- Total Time: 1:42:51.73 -- 1-5 Split: 1:19.26
	6) Erin Friesen		21:16.99
	7) Taylor Burlis		21:24.87

3200 Meters

11:47.15	Friesen, Kayla	Class 4 District 4	2012-05-12
12:09.09	Burke, Taylore	Ladue Brusca/Strohbach Invitational	2012-04-21
12:43.01	Gibson, Elizabeth	DeSoto Invitational	2012-04-20

1600 Meters

5:25.23	Burke, Taylore	Class 4 District 4	2012-05-12
5:30.71	Roberts, Clare	Eureka Girls Invitational	2012-04-26
5:53.28	Riechert, Elaine	MS-Berkeley Season Opener	2012-03-17
5:55.98	Gibson, Elizabeth	DeSoto Invitational	2012-04-20
5:57.94	Goldberg, Jessie	Holt Invitational	2012-03-31

More Coverage

Parkway Central HS Team Page

<p> <em>Coaches - Interested in featuring your team? -  Please contact David @ deverett@milesplit.com</em></p>