Jays finish second, Lady Jays fifth at district meet

The Jefferson City Jays finished second and the Lady Jays were fifth Saturday morning in the Class 4 District 4 cross country championships at Cole County Park.

The Jays finished with 64 team points. Rock Bridge was first with 37, while Hickman was third with 96 and Fort Zumwalt South was fourth with 147.

With their runner-up finish, the Jays advance to next week's sectional meet.

Cole Biesemeyer paced the Jays, finishing third with a time of 17:13.94. Thomas Nield of Jefferson City was seventh (17:34.20), while Dawson Schulte was 10th (1740.17).

Other Jefferson City finishers included Landon Dunlap (21st, 18:03.72), Benjamin Krause (23rd, 18:07.01), Izaak Sochinski (30th, 18:23.39) and Blake Conrad (40th, 18:48.04).

Chandler Gibbens of Hickman took individual honors in 16:34.24, more than 36 seconds ahead of runner-up Hamzah Firozi of Rock Bridge.

On the girls side, the Lady Jays finished with 126 points. The top four teams were Fort Zumwalt West (62), Rock Bridge (88), Holt (91) and Timberland (96).

Laura Sherwood led the Lady Jays, finishing 10th in 21:27.25. Kayelee Payton (22:01.44) and Syleste Martinez (22:01.67) were 24th and 25th, respectively.

Jacqueline Hensley (30th, 22:15.88), Chasity Pendleton (40th, 22:57.71), Saneya Winters (70th, 24:57.41) and Tiffany Eckert (72nd, 25:23.01) rounded out the finishers for the Lady Jays.

Emily Griesenauer of Holt took individual honors in 19:29.74.

A total of 12 teams participated in the boys and girls races Saturday.

The sectional will be held next Saturday in St. Louis.