Last Thursday afternoon in Cape Girardeau, the Jackson cross country program asserted its dominance among all other teams in the Southeast Missouri region.
For the first time in two years, the Indians boys and girls teams both took home the highly-coveted SEMO Conference Championship.
Helping secure the girls title was Jackson sophomore Halle King as she won the race with a time of 20 minutes, 3.75 seconds to bring home her first-ever individual conference championship.
King wasn’t the only Indian to finish in the top three as freshman Nola Kelpe took third place as she crossed the finish line at 21:16.75.
Finishing as the runner-up was Notre Dame sophomore Amelia Peters as she produced a time of 20:23.44.
Jackson and Notre Dame combined for five more top-10 finishes.
For the Bulldogs, sophomore Annabelle Naughton and senior Victoria Avila Henao were fourth and fifth, respectively, with times of 21:34.76 and 21:54.16.
The final two Indians to earn all-conference honors was junior Hannah Funk, who came in eighth place at 22:27.93, and freshman Peyton Baker, who took ninth at 22:31.85.
Lastly, Notre Dame junior Martina Ressel, who is coming off an injury from the spring track and field season, finished in 10th place at 22:57.3. Ressel won the race her freshman year.
The fifth and final runner to go towards Jackson’s team total of 33 points was sophomore Audrey Morris as she took 12th overall, finishing with a time of 23:04.7. Notre Dame scored 41 points.
Also placing in the top 15 for the Indians girls team were freshmen Ruby Shoaf and Evie Brueckner.
Moving to the boys race, Jackson had all but two of its runners finish in the top seven for a score of 22 for the Indians to win their 12th consecutive conference title.
Senior Chase Wendel finished as the conference runner-up with a final time of 16:37.22 as Bulldogs junior Aidan Morris became a three-time conference champion with a 16:13.42.
Also in the top five for Jackson was junior Carter Sander in third place at 17:02.15, while senior Nate Miesner finished fourth overall at 17:23.77.
The final two top-seven finishers for the Indians were sophomore Cayden Dickerson in sixth place (17:55.4) and freshman Tatum Gross (18:03.83).
Jackson junior Carter Reis also finished in the top 10 to bring home all-conference honors as he took 10th place at 18:17.13.
Next up for the Indians will be the Big River Invitational this weekend as they will then compete in the Class 5 District 1 Meet on Halloween. State is set for Nov. 7.
