MHS cross county: Four Owls medal at Excelsior Springs

Friday, October 9, 2009
By CHRIS ALLEN/Sports editor

Marshall junior Stormy Morrison recovered enough from recent pains to improve her time on the Excelsior Springs course.
(Chris Allen/Democrat-News)
[Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

EXCELSIOR SPRINGS -- There was only one girl on the course Tuesday that Katie Wells couldn't catch.

The all-state Marshall senior knocked 44 seconds off her previous time on the circuit at the Excelsior Springs Invitational cross country meet, but Wells' 20:12 still left her trailing senior Taylor Woodruff (19:54) of St. Joseph-Benton by 18 seconds in second place.

Still, Wells has medaled in all six races this season, as has sophomore Arozo Shahabzada (22:50) -- who placed 26th in the field of 56 runners. Close behind her was sophomore Lauren McGrath (23:02) in 29th.

With freshman Sam Wells (23:45) and junior Stormy Morrison (23:49) running 42nd and 43rd, respectively, the Lady Owls finished fifth in the team standings with 126 points. Notre Dame de Sion of Kansas City took the title with 53 points, only two points ahead of St. Joseph-Central.

Also six-for-six in the medal count for Marshall is junior Nick Perkins (18:17), who improved 49 seconds from last year's time for 16th out of 76 entries in the boys' race. Senior Patrick Todd (19:22) finished in the money for the fourth straight meet, placing 30th.

Junior Jeremy Jalilvand (19:33) knocked 13 seconds off his personal record while coming in 37th and seniors Keeper Kays (19:58) and Henry Yeagle (20:00) were 47th and 49th.

The Owls were seventh among 15 boys' teams with 161 points. While Central (52) had the best squad, the class of the field was Harrisonville senior Maksim Korolev (16:30) -- winner of five races in a row.

Among Marshall's sub-varsity entries, junior Brandon Pace (21:17) was 30th out of 70 runners in the JV boys' division -- where senior Zach Smith (26:23) took 21 seconds off his top time --Armistead O'Neal (12:27) came in eight in the 3,200-meter freshman boys' contest and senior Emily Adams (27:42) wound up 27th in a field of 62 JV girls' harriers.

The Owls will be in action Saturday at the Clinton Invitational.