Cross Country

POPLAR BLUFF — Things went from ugly to down right ghastly for the Poplar Bluff softball team Monday. Already trailing by eight runs, the Mules couldn’t get the first two outs of the fifth inning before Farmington hit a pair of grand slams. The Knights sent 17 batters to the plate, with 12 coming around to score in the inning, to beat the Mules 21-3 at Bobby Strenfel Field...

The Jackson cross country team continued its successful 2021 season with a sweep of both the boys and girls divisions at Saturday’s Cape Central Invitational. Addie Heisserer, Mallorie Metzger and Layla Fliege took first through third and Brooklyn Burgess finished fifth to give the Indian girls four placers in the top five...

The Jackson boys cross country team took first place at Saturday's Arcadia Valley Invitational, placing three runners in the top five. Junior Hunter Wendel was the top placer for Jackson, finishing the 5K in 16:59.80 to take second place. Sophomore Bryce Gentry finished just behind Wendel in third with a time of 17:02.35, and junior Evan Kiefer finished in fourth with a time of 17:14.55...

The road to Gans Creek and the MSHSAA state cross country championships will again be a little different this fall. The number of district meets around the state has been trimmed to four per class with the top 30 runners advancing to Columbia’s Gans Creek course. The top four teams in each district will also advance, unless there are fewer teams competing in a district...

There are few businesses anywhere in the world that haven’t had to think differently over the past couple of years in this ever-changing environment that we are all immersed in, more than likely, forever. And Semoball.com is not immune to that. The website devoted to providing sports fans thorough coverage of sports throughout Southeast Missouri is still going to make that its mission on a daily basis, however, the internal pieces are going to be doing some shifting moving forward.

JACKSON, Mo. — Jackson’s cross country team took first place in five divisions at Saturday’s Jackson Invitational meet. The Jackson boys took first place in the ninth, 10th and 11th-grade divisions while the girls took first in the 9th and 12th-grade divisions...

Jaden Deaton ran away from everyone in Southeast Missouri during the 2020 cross country season. The Poplar Bluff senior won seven of the nine meets he ran last fall, including a half-minute victory in the SEMO North championship race. On Saturday, Deaton was named the Semoball Awards Boy’s Cross Country athlete of the year and was also a finalist in track and field...

Prior to the MSHSAA Class 4 Boy’s Soccer state championship game last November in Springfield, Jackson senior goalkeeper Luke Mirly wasn’t exactly feeling great.

The Semoball Cup is presented to the school with the most successful season based on a formula that takes into account the combined winning percentage of all sports teams (WIN) plus bonus points for advancement in postseason play for both teams (POST) and individuals (IND). The bonus points are divided by the number of teams a school fields. Here are the standings with previous rankings from 2020:...

Spring sports and top award finalists for the 2021 Semoball Awards presented by SoutheastHEALTH will be announced Friday, along with the final wave of tickets going on sale. The announcement of finalists can be heard at 9 a.m. Friday on SEMO ESPN Radio and on the Semoball.com Facebook page. A story recapping all the finalists will publish later Friday online at semoball.com and in your local newspaper...

It’s difficult enough for a high-level athlete to wake up every day and attack his/her training with the right mindset. Human nature calls for everyone to want to slack off just a bit on any given day.

Notre Dame senior girl’s cross country runner Haley Smith possesses an extraordinary ability to take herself mentally where few people are capable of when asked to perform a daunting physical test.

Following a year of missing out on gathering with friends and family due to the COVID pandemic, everyone, including sports fans, is anxious to spend time with those closest to us once again.

Former Notre Dame cross country runner Clayton Eftink ran his first ever 8K race at 27:13.2, finishing in 41st place in the Redhawk Invitational on Saturday at the Osage Center. Eftink, also a freshman at Southeast Missouri State, said he’s been told going in that it would be the hardest race he would ever run...

It remains unclear as to what the intentions of the late (and oh, so great) Johnny Cash were in heading to “Jackson,” but one thing is for certain if he would have visited the town of that name in Southeast Missouri he had better have been prepared to see something victorious (and to fight traffic on a Friday night).

Jackson High School senior cross country runner Evan Stephens signed to compete next season at Missouri S&T in Rolla. Stephens (seated, center) was joined by family at a ceremony at Jackson High School Friday. (photo courtesy of Jackson Athletics)

The stakes were as high as they could be for area athletes throughout Southeast Missouri last week, as they competed in various MSHSAA postseason competitions.

COLUMBIA — The Jackson boy’s cross country team hadn’t advanced to the MSHSAA State Finals as a group in six years, so Saturday’s appearance at the C5 finals at the Gans Creek Course was sure to be a learning experience.

COLUMBIA — In August, veteran Jackson cross country coach Andrea Talley wasn’t positive she would get the opportunity to see the 2020 season through due to the coronavirus. However, on Saturday, both her girl’s and boy’s squads competed in the MSHSAA Class 5 State Finals and her runners were able to tear through the finish line both literally and figuratively on closing this season.

COLUMBA — Running the same course on separate occasions doesn’t equate to having the same experience or covering the course in a similar time.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Katie Griffin and Kinsley Murphy earned all-state medals to lead the Van Buren cross country team to a second straight fourth place finish at the MSHSAA Class 1 championship meet Saturday at Gans Creek Cross Country Course. Griffin finished ninth, Murphy was 13th and Addison Lewis placed 28th as Van Buren finished with 118 points, two behind Harrisburg and nine ahead of St. Vincent. College Heights Christian won the team title with 91 points followed by Valle Catholic at 109...

The Farmington girls cross country team finished fifth at the state championships Friday with a total team time of 1:41:21.90 and 166 total points accumulated. Individual girls and boys results include: Girls 5K Results include: 13. Breanna Mathes - Farmington - 19:28.7...

There was no shortage of intense moments on the athletic fields and courts throughout Southeast Missouri last week, as area athletes were immersed in their postseason competition.

The Ste.Genevieve boys cross country team finished tenth in the team results at the Class 3 State Championships Thursday. They finished with 256 team points with a total time of 1:33:42.10. Area individual results include: Boys 5K CC: 17. Lyndon Gruenke - Fredericktown - 17:05.1...

With the exception of one race this fall, Jaden Deaton has been running by himself. The Poplar Bluff senior won seven of the eight races he competed in by an average of 28 seconds, often sprinting away from the start and setting his own pace. That will change Saturday at the MSHSAA Class 5 championship meet at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia...

For the Cape Central Tigers, the MSHSAA Class 4 XC State Finals at Gans Creek Course, Columbia will be a family affair. The Tigers will once again send senior Nathan Caldwell as their lone representative in the boys race but this time his younger sister, sophomore Lindsey Caldwell will also run in the girls race along side McKensi Williams...

ARNOLD, Mo. — Seven Southeast Missouri runners advanced to the state finals after their performances at the Boys and Girls Class 4 District Cross Country Meet at Arnold City Park Saturday. Notre Dame’s Laura Eftink and Haley Smith finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Eftink completed her run in 20:12, while Smith finished two seconds after, at 20:14...

By BRIAN ROSENER Daily American Republic IRONTON, Mo. — Dylan Price wasn’t too sure where to turn during points on the 5,000-meter course at Arcadia Valley Sports Complex. Having not run there before Saturday’s MSHSAA Class 1 District 1 meet, the Ellington freshman came to a near stop with less than 400 meters left looking for the second-to-last turn...

IRONTON, Mo. — Kennett Rampley scared himself on Halloween. The Zalma sophomore surged into the lead at the two-mile mark of the 3.1-mile race Saturday in the MSHSAA Class 1 District 1 meet at Arcadia Valley Sports Complex. In passing Ellington’s Carson McNail, an all-state medalist the previous year, Rampley said, “scared the crap out of me.”...

ARNOLD, Mo. — Every program at Jackson High School seemingly excels when the postseason arrives. On Saturday, the Indians added more hardware to their trophy case, as the boy’s and girl’s cross country teams each earned MSHSAA Class 5 District 1 championships at Arnold City Park. Both Jackson teams rolled past Lindbergh to move on to the Class State Finals at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia.

There was no shortage of intense moments on the athletic fields and courts throughout Southeast Missouri last week, as area athletes prepare for the looming postseason competition.

There was no shortage of intense moments on the athletic fields and courts throughout Southeast Missouri last week, as area athletes prepare for the looming postseason competition. Sikeston boy’s soccer player, Brice Gordon, and Kelly softball player, Ava LeGrand, each excelled in their endeavors and were voted by fans as the Semoball.com Athletes of the Week...

The Oak Ridge boys cross country team won first place overall in the Heartland Conference meet Tuesday held at Cape County Park North out of 20 teams. Zalma finished second place on the boys side. The East Carter girls team won first place overall on the girls side while Woodland finished runner up...

CAPE GIRDARDEAU, Mo. — The East Carter girls cross country team won the Heartland Conference meet after placing all five runners in the top 30. While the Redbirds did not have an individual in the top 10, East Carter was one of three teams to field a full team. In team scoring, all five runners finished in the top 10 to give East Carter 30 total points. Woodland finished second with 44 points and Oak Ridge was third with 46 points Tuesday in Cape Girardeau...

There were no shortage of intense moments on the athletic fields and courts throughout Southeast Missouri last week, as area athletes prepare for the looming postseason competition.

One point and 0.7 of a second decided the girls team title at the SEMO North Conference Cross Country Championships. Haley Smith and Lauren Eftink led Notre Dame across the finish line Thursday at Cape Central High School while Kathryn Taylor also earned an all-conference medal for the Bulldogs...

It was a cold afternoon at the SEMO North Conference meet on Thursday, held at Cape Central High School. The boys varsity 5K was the last race of the event so Poplar Bluff senior Jaden Deaton, he wasn’t just racing to beat 33 other runners but also the sunset...

The Kennett cross country team is set to return to action Saturday after competing in its third meet of the season last week at the Van Buren Invitational. Kennett will compete in the Notre Dame Invitational Saturday at 10 a.m. in Cape Girardeau. “We will have a tough week of practice this week before we head up to the Notre Dame Invitational,” Kennett coach Fred Garmon said. “That course and competition is always tough."...