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Several runners stayed grouped together through the first two laps around the ball fields Saturday at Forest Park. Stewart and SLUH’s Matt Nicholson built a small gap over the final mile, and Stewart solidified his place among the state’s elite with a strong finish in 15:57. “My strategy was to gel with the lead pack and stay focused and get my rhythm up, and the last mile was where I picked it up,” Stewart said. “I wanted to win and keep my streak going. It keeps my momentum going.” Nicholson couldn’t match Stewart over the final 400, but he was able to close strong in 16:01. “When Nick Stewart went, I knew I was going to try to go with him and cover his move,” Nicholson said. “I made it most of the way, not quite all the way, but I was still happy with the race. It played out similarly to what I expected.” Nicholson didn’t have to wait long for the rest of his SLUH teammates to join him at the finish line. The five scoring Jr. Bills finished in the top 11 with a spread of 41 seconds, which nearly matches last week’s 40-second spread at districts. That tight pack up front netted SLUH the sectional title with 30 points. “They really wanted to work on some of the things we felt like racing-wise we hadn’t done well – covering moves and closing gaps – and so that was the focus going into today, and I felt like they did that,” SLUH coach Joe Porter said. Webster Groves secured runner-up with 68 points to guarantee the Statesmen their fourth consecutive trip to the Class 4 state meet, which will be held next Saturday in Jefferson City. Now with three seniors leading the charge, Webster Groves has climbed the ranks of state contenders and has moved into position to challenge for a spot on the podium. “We seem to be in good form going into the state meet; last year we were kind of tired,” Webster Groves coach Dan Sebben said. “Expectations are higher, the preparation was better; we were able to do more things in the early part of the season, which gets you ready for the second half. All those things came together this year.” Holding strong in the lead pack Saturday were Webster Groves seniors Dillon Williams and Jimmy Rizzo, who were third (16:15) and fifth (16:25), respectively.
“Last year we didn’t do enough over the summer and took the beginning of the season too seriously, so by the end we were just burnt out,” Williams said. “This year we’re pretty focused. We did a lot of hard work over the summer, and we’ve gotten really close as a team. The last two years we haven’t done very well, so we want to come back and show the state what we can do.” There was little separation for the final team spots. Hazelwood West took third with 116 points, and after a little drama, Ft. Zumwalt East was sitting in fourth with 117 points while Timberland just missed advancing to state with 118 points. The early results posted had Ft. Zumwalt East and Timberland tied with 117 points for the fourth and final qualifying spot, and Timberland had the sixth-runner edge. Because of some lost timing chips during the race, TRXC Timing went back through the video to ensure the places and times were correct. A correction was made when SLUH’s Jack Sullivan was given a .02 second advantage over Timberland’s Aaron Owens with a lean at the line. The resulting switch in places moved Ft. Zumwalt East into sole possession of fourth for the Lions’ first trip to the state meet. “I was walking to get the boys together to tell them, and I thought, ‘This is going to be the worst conversation to have with these kids,’” Ft. Zumwalt East coach Robin Putnam said. “Bottom to top in seconds, and that was exciting.”
Complete Class 4 Section 2 Coverage |
ST. LOUIS – The race at Forest Park remained jumbled up front until the final few hundred meters when McCluer North’s Nicholas Stewart put his stamp on the Class 4 Sectional 2 meet.