Sikeston cross country fares well at Kelly meet

Front row from left: Tyanna Townsend, Traci Jackson and Frankala Howard; back row: Cody Andeson, Jordan Roberts, Matt Rushing and Michael Botkin.

BENTON - The Sikeston cross country team ran in the 10-team Kelly Invitational Saturday. Although Sikeston did not have a full team in any division there were many Sikeston runners that had good days running as individuals.

In the junior high girls race Tyanna Townsend was the meet champion, running 11:34 on the 1.5 mile course.

Tyanna was closely followed by her teammate Frankasia Howard who finished second in 11:42.

Both finished almost a minute in front of the next girl in the race.

"It is a shame we don't have more girls out in this division because we would do well as a team with two girls getting first and second," said Sikeston coach Gary Williams. "We have one more 8th grade girl running next week but still need two more to have a full team."

Two junior high boys also medaled. Michael Botkin finished 9th in 11:19, closely followed by his teammate Cody Anderson in 10th (11:21).

"With three more boys coming out this week it is possible we could have a team in this race in a couple of weeks," said Williams.

In the girls varsity, Traci Jackson made an impressive improvement winning the 9th place medal on the 3.1 mile course in 25:09. This was Jackson's first time winning a medal in a varsity cross country race and she ran her best time by two minutes.

Also running well for Sikeston was Matt Rushing, who as a freshman finished 3rd in the junior varsity race in 19:59. "This was Matt's first race at the 3.1 mile distance and he handled the distance very well," said Williams.

Jordan Roberts finished 8th in the junior varsity race, making a huge improvement.

"Jordan has never medaled in any cross country race and he ran almost two minutes faster than he has every run," said Williams. "It was really nice to see a runner like Jordan, who has worked very hard the last three years, finally get where he wanted to be."

Also getting close to the top 15 medalist was Steven Henson in 19th.

"We took nine runners to the race and seven won medals," said Williams. "It is just a shame that more Sikeston kids don't try running so we could have full teams."

Sikeston's next race is at the Cape Central Invitational Saturday, Sept. 18th.