Semoball

Jackson claims boys and girls SEMO Conference championships

Jackson's Annika Barks competes in the SEMO Conference Cross Country Meet on Thursday at Jackson City Park.
Megan Burke ~ mburke@semissourian.com

JACKSON — The Jackson Indians claimed both the boys and girls SEMO Conference Cross Country Championships on Thursday evening at Jackson City Park.

Jackson’s boys team was paced by senior Hunter Wendel, who won the individual conference championship with a time of 16:31.1. The Indians also had junior Bryce Gentry finish second and senior Cole Puls finish third.

“I think through all of our training we’ve just built a good culture,” Wendel said.

With Gentry finishing just a second behind Wendel, Wendel credited Gentry for pushing him.

“We motivate each other,” Wendel said. “We’ve gone back and forth a lot this season. It does motivate me because obviously we want to beat each other. I think it’s a good thing we are able to motivate each other.”

After two straight seasons of finishing second, the individual champion on the girls side was Notre Dame junior Lauren Eftink, with a time of 20:16.4.

“It feels really great to finally finish first and win,” Eftink said. “Last year I was close so it just feels so good this year.”

Eftink was glad she could set the pace for the Bulldogs.

“I love my team,” Eftink said. “It feels good to win and represent my team in first place. I always love representing my girls.”

Pacing the Indians in their conference championship was sophomore Annika Barks who finished second with a time of 20:42.3.

Indians coach Andrea Talley was happy with how the girls performed.

“The girls have been dealing with some sickness and things like that, but overall I thought they looked pretty good today,” Talley said.

Talley thought the boys did a good job of leaning on their experience.

“This is a building block for the district meet,” Talley said. “I thought they did well.”

Rounding out the top five on the boys side was Cape Central senior Ryan Seabaugh and Jackson senior Evan Kiefer.

On the girls side, Cape Central sophomore Emily Marriott finished third, Cape Central senior Lindsey Caldwell finished fourth and Jackson senior Mara Wilson finished fifth.

Jackson’s girls finished with 31 team points while Cape Central finished second with 58 points, Notre Dame finished third with 60 points and Poplar Bluff finished fourth with 83 points.

Jackson’s boys finished with 18 team points while Notre Dame finished second with 68 points, Dexter finished third with 77 points, Cape Central finished fourth with 81 points and Poplar Bluff finished fifth with 11 points.

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