CHESTERFIELD, Mo. - The Jefferson City boys cross country team will make its fourth straight Class 4 state championships appearance next weekend after taking third Saturday in the sectional meet at Parkway Central.
The Jays had four runners finish in the top 25, leading to 81 points. Rock Bridge finished just ahead of Jefferson City with 76 points, while St. Louis University High won with 31 points. Webster Groves took the final state qualifying spot in fourth with 105 points.
Rock Bridge won the tiebreaker against Nerinx Hall to win the girls title with 83 points. Fort Zumwalt West was third at 91 points with Holt fourth with 98 points.
Two of Jefferson City's three runners advanced to the state meet. Laura Sherwood led the Lady Jays with a 10th-place finish in 20:30.99. Kayelee Payton also advanced with an 18th-place finish with a time of 20:49.12. Syleste Martinez missed qualifying by a little more than 30 seconds as she placed 43rd in 21:31.07.
Cole Biesemeyer was the top boys runner for Jefferson City, taking second in 16:28.69. Chandler Gibbens of Hickman won with a time of 16:05.83.
Dawson Schulte and Landon Dunlap finished 13th and 17th, respectively, for the Jays. Schulte had a time of 16:59.95 while Dunlap recorded a 17:03.88.
Ben Krause was 22nd in 17:11.53, Thomas Nield 35th in 17:24.07, Deaken Walker 42nd in 17:43.21 and Izaak Sochinski was 47th in 17:56.22.
The Jays will run at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the Class 4 state championships at Oak Hills Golf Center. Sherwood and Payton will run in the girls race at 11:20 a.m.