Sharon Zeller, Olpe girls win Class 1A cross country championships in Wamego
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Originally published 03:54 p.m., October 29, 2007
Updated 03:54 p.m., October 29, 2007
The Olpe girls cross country team won the Class 1A State title Saturday at the Wamego Country Club on the strength of senior Sharon Zeller’s first-place finish.
Olpe, which entered the race as the No. 2-ranked team in Class 1A, scored 27 team points to edge Burrton (33) by six points. The Olpe girls, who last won titles in 2004 and 2005, finished third at State a year ago. Olpe now has won five State titles.
Zeller led the way for the Lady Eagles, finishing the 4-kilometer race in a time of 16 minutes, 1.30 seconds to beat out Hillary Callaway of Rock Hills by eight seconds.
Zeller became the first individual State cross country champion for Olpe since Michelle Stueve, now an All-American basketball player at Emporia State, won the title in 2002.
Freshman Katelyn Henderson was not far behind Zeller, finishing fourth in a time of 16:19.93. Junior Nicole Wendling was 12th (17:09.64), sophomore Kelsey Camien was 21st (17:25.69) and freshman Angela Bartley was 37th (18:19.82) to round out the scoring for the Olpe girls.
On the boys side, the Eagles finished seventh as a team. South Gray won the team title.
Sophomore Ethan Hall was the top finisher for Olpe, placing 31st in a time of 19:15.33. Freshman Colby Nuessen was 41st (19:27.34), senior Trey Stead was 47th (19:53.16), freshman Glen Haag came in 53rd (20:04.53) and sophomore Colton Bess was 62nd (20:33.75), rounding out Olpe’s scoring.
Area football teams set to begin playoff action
Seven area football teams advanced to the State playoffs, which begin with first-round games on Tuesday.
In 8-Man Division I, four teams from the area will be competing for a State title: Madison (8-1), Flinthills (7-2), Marais des Cygnes Valley (5-4) and Lebo (8-1).
At least one of the four will see its season end Tuesday, as Madison and Flinthills will play in Madison for the chance to meet the winner of the Hanover-St. Johns game.
Marais des Cygnes Valley will travel to take on Clifton-Clyde (9-0), while Lebo will journey to Moran to play Marmaton Valley (9-0).
In Class 2-1A, the Olpe Eagles (6-3) and the Lyndon Tigers (8-1) each return to the playoffs after both schools made it a year ago.
On Tuesday, Lyndon will travel to take on Wathena (8-1), while Olpe will play host to Canton-Galva (4-5) in Olpe.
The final area team in the playoffs is Northern Heights (6-3). The Wildcats will get perhaps the toughest test of all the area schools, as they must travel to play Silver Lake (9-0), the defending State champions.