By Richard Polen
rpolen@joplinglobe.com
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Jessica Jackson of Neosho sprinted uphill to the finish line and outran Jenny Govero of Rockwood Summit and Diane Robison of Parkway Central for fifth place Saturday in the state Cross Country Championships at Oak Hills Golf Center.
Jackson was two seconds ahead of Govero and six seconds ahead of Robison. Emily Sisson of Parkway Central won in a time of 17 minutes, 56 seconds, which apparently will be the second-fastest time in state history behind Merideth Snow of Eureka, who in 2005 ran 17:51.4, according to the Missouri State High School Activities Association.
Jackson’s time of 19:17 was just 18 seconds behind Chelsey Phoebus of Lee’s Summit West, who was second in 18:59.
Sisson’s performance will apparently drop a former area runner into fifth on the all-time list. Allison Medlin of Carthage, who ran 18:21 as a sophomore in 1995, is listed as fourth by the MSHSAA.
“It was hard,” Jackson said, smiling after the race. “It’s just that it was really warm and all of us started out too fast.”
Neosho coach Harry Lineberry noted that Robison of Parkway Central is ranked in the top 20 in the country.
“Jessica not only finished fifth, she beat the heat,” Lineberry said. “This is probably the best Class 4 group of runners in a long time. Everybody was keyed up to be in the top 10 or top 5.”
Jackson agreed. “Definitely, it has the toughest competition,” she said.
Missing from the top 10 was Neosho’s Courtney Wood, who had shown flu symptoms at last week’s sectional meet but had practiced well this week, Lineberry said.
“At the two-mile mark, Sisson was first and our girls were in a group of five behind Robison,” he said. “I stayed to watch our other girls go by.
“By the time they got to the hills, our people said she (Wood) had started to stagger. She had to walk it in. At this time, we think it’s dehydration.”
Lineberry said that although Wood recently missed three days of school, he felt his runners were prepared for Saturday’s conditions.
“We planned for hot weather,” he said. “We sure tried hard to drink fluid all day yesterday and the day before. Courtney was racing hard. You’d think we didn’t know what we were doing in hydration, but it’s something we planned for.
“Courtney and Jessica, if everything had gone according to plan, would have been third and fifth or second and fourth,” Lineberry said. “But when we went past the 2-mile marker, that’s when Courtney lost it.”
The girls’ Class 3 race was another example of the drama of the day. Potosi’s Sarah Jacobsen was leading with no other runners in sight when she collapsed about 150 yards from the finish line and finished 14th. Bolivar’s Rachel Schrader, another possible top 10 runner, collapsed just short of the finish line and fell to 60th place.
In Class 2, East Newton’s girls captured fourth place. “To have an off day and still finish fourth speaks to the young ladies we have,” coach Jake Holt said. “It’s a bittersweet day. A lot of teams here would like to finish fourth.
“It’s our second trophy in a row. We were second last year,” he said. “It’s important, just having that experience and building on it for next year.”
Haley Patterson, East Newton’s only senior among its top six runners, was 27th and had the team’s best time.
Lamar senior Maggie Tennal placed sixth in Class 2 with a time of 20:57.
In Class 1, College Heights was led by Savannah Beaver, who was 19th in 23:12.
