By Jim Fryar

jfryar@joplinglobe.com

Two sprinters from Seneca are among five athletes who have signed to join the Missouri Southern women’s track and field program.

Alex Close and Tia Cook, who will run for Seneca in the Class 3 district meet Saturday at Nevada, will join the Lions for the 2008-09 academic season.

Missouri Southern coach Patty Vavra has also announced the signing of Owensville sprinter Dea Dea Sieckmann, West Plains middle-distance runner Makenzie Seidel and Affton (St. Louis) hurdler Cyarra Prince.

The Southern staff is replacing nine seniors from a team which won the MIAA Triple Crown with championships in cross country and indoor and outdoor track.

“They’ve grown up competing together,” Vavra said of Close and Cook. “They’re both great competitors and they have the potential to develop into very good sprinters.”

Close, a 5-foot-9 sprinter, holds the Seneca school record in the 400-meter dash. She’s also been a part of record-setting relays at 400, 800 and 1,600 meters as well as a basketball and volleyball player.

She is a two-time state qualifier in track and a four-time Big 8 Conference champion. She is the daughter of Phillip and JoHanna Close.

Cook holds the Seneca school records at 100 and 200 meters and has also run the 4x100 and 4x200 relays. She has been a member of four conference champion relay teams.

Also a volleyball and basketball athlete, she is the daughter of Bruce and Cathy Cook.

Sieckmann, who has battled injuries as a senior, could be an immediate-impact athlete, Vavra said. She has top times of 12.19 seconds in the 100 dash and 25.4 in the 200.

Sieckmann was fourth in the 100-meter dash in the Class 3 state meet as a junior after taking third as a sophomore. She holds school records in the 200 and the high jump.

Ironically, Vavra said, Sieckmann and Southern sophomore Danielle Oliver ran identical times in the state meet in 2006, needing a photo of the finish to determine places.

Seidel was both a track and cross country standout at West Plains. She holds the school record in the 800 meters and was third in the Class 3 state meet last spring in that event.