Fruitful day: EHS boys, girls win at El Dorado Invitational
By Michael Ashford
Monday, October 8, 2007
Both the Emporia High girls and boys cross country squads tasted sweet victory Saturday at the El Dorado Invitational.
As is customary at the El Dorado Invitational, the school with the lowest combined score wins a bushel of apples. And seeing how the Spartan girls and boys swept the invitational, taking both the individual and team titles, the EHS runners got to enjoy a tasty treat after the awards presentation.
The day started with yet another dominating performance from senior Michaela Reynolds in the girls 4-kilometer race.
Reynolds blew away the field with a time of 14 minutes, 41.70 seconds, nearly 30 seconds faster than the runner up, Emilee Morris of Hutchinson (15:10.32).
Emporia got another top-10 finish when Jenna Stanbrough crossed the line in 10th in a time of 15:59.25 in what could become a breakout race for her after she had been battling injuries for most of the season.
Abby Lake came in 13th (16:25) and Liliana Morales placed 19th (16:36) to give EHS two more top-20 finishes, and Joslyn Barton came in 32nd (16:57) as Emporia’s final scorer. Tanya Morales (53rd, 17:24) and Caesie Reynolds (64, 17:40) also competed for EHS.
All told, the No. 5-ranked (Class 5A) EHS girls finished with 75 points to get past Derby (92).
“The girls put together their best team race of the season,” EHS coach Mark Stanbrough said. “We established good position in the first mile and then raced over the last mile and a half.
“I was very pleased with the way the girls competed. We are getting better as a team.”
As for newly No. 1-ranked EHS boys in the 5K race, it wasn’t even close. Led by a first-place finish from Jacob Davies — his first victory of the season — in a time of 16:19.72, Emporia finished with all five scoring runners in the top 15 to total 36 team points, blasting second-place Campus (99) by 63 points.
Asher Delmott placed fourth in a time of 16:31.46. Mike Robinson was 11th (16:48), Tyler Anliker was 13th (16:49) and Lance Sadler was 14th (16:52). Andrew Wayman placed 29th (17:24).
“The boys dominated the competition,” Stanbrough said.
Also of note, EHS won the JV boys title as well, led by the 1-2 finish of Jack Heim (18:03) and Matt Wayman (18:05).
Emporia now sets its sights on the postseason races, starting with the Centennial League meet Saturday in Topeka. The EHS boys have won the League title five years in a row, while the girls are coming off a third-place finish a year ago.