Dragons sweep at LC

Despite the fact that it was Girard that took the top spots in the boy’s and girl’s races at the Labette County Invitational cross-country meet on Thursday, it was Pittsburg High that swept the team titles.
Girard senior Tyler Polshak won the boy’s varsity race in a winning time of 16 minutes, 23.90 seconds and sophomore Michaela Bauer took the girl’s varsity race with a time of 16:58.78.
“Tyler is faster than that but he was pretty tight during the race,” said Girard head coach Matt Logue. “He is in a spot that he is not used to being in and he is second-guessing himself.”
But, for the Dragon boys, it was the third-place finish of David Beckenhauer (16:52.94) as well as the running of Ben Mazurek (6th - 17:30.22) and Bryan Mendez (7th - 17:46.12) that helped give Pittsburg the boy’s title. In addition, Andy Farmer finished the race 12th in 18:10.74 and Steven Garbrick was 16th behind Southeast’s Talon Thompson in 18:21.46.
Northeast’s Austin Bogina finished fourth in 17:10.31.
For the girls, the Dragons did not have a runner finish in the top five, but their top five runners were within nine places of each other.
Pittsburg was led by Chelsea Duncan, who placed seventh overall with a time of 18:15.09. Faith Miller placed 10th in 18:35.59 and Hillary Dickey was 12th after Girard’s Rachel Rawlings, in 18:53.69.
Logue said that the Trojans were without their No. 2 runner, Taylor Batson, who came up sick on the way to the meet.
“We did not get a real good start but for us to get as high as we did without our No. 2 runner (Taylor Batson) is pretty amazing,” Logue said.
But that did not take away from the win for Bauer.
“She had a very good summer,” Logue said. “She went out for track and got hooked. I knew that she would run well but I did not know that she would win.”
Southeast first-year head coach Korey Kimrey came to Labette County with one of the younger varsity teams, touting mostly sophomores.
“A lot of our guys in varsity are sophomores and they could be running junior varsity and do well,” Kimrey said. “We are trying to build a team here though.”
Thompson was the highest finisher for the Lancers, coming in 15th in 18:21.05.
“He has a lot of room to grow and he is going to knock a lot of time off,” Kimrey said. “He is just beginning to see his talent.”
Codi Harry finished 20th with a time of 18:34.18.
Both Southeast and Girard had the same problem with their team scores due to the fact that their runners spaced themselves too far apart while Pittsburg had their runners finish very close together.
“On the boys side, our 2-5 gap is not that bad and they are getting better,” Logue said. “Now we just need to move that group closer to Tyler Polshak.
“With the girls, I think that we were okay,” Logue said. “We just need our 5-7 to get in contact with our top 4.”
Frontenac’s Jessica Ziesenis placed 29th with a time of 24:32.65 and Tiffany Morey placed 31st with a time of 25:46.
Pittsburg’s junior varsity squads also won the team titles at Labette County.

High School cross country
at Labette County Invitational
Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008
Boy’s varsity
Team results — 1. Pittsburg 35, 2. Girard 69, 3. Parsons 80, 4. Chanute 96, 5. Labette County 120, 6. Southeast 140, 7. Caney Valley 167, 8. Independence 167.
Top 10 individuals — 1. Tyler Polshak (GIR) 16:23.90, 2. Jake Spence (BAX) 16:48.21, 3. David Beckenhauer (PITT) 16:52.94, 4. Austin Bogina (NE) 17:10.31, 5. Cody Diamond (CHAN) 17:21.00, 6. Ben Mazurek (PITT) 17:30.22, 7. Bryan Mendez (PITT) 17:46.12, 8. Lucas Tabares (CHAN) 17:57.21, 9. Peter O’Nelio (GIR) 18:04.09, 10. Blake Johnson (PAR) 18:05.49.
Girl’s varsity
Team results — 1. Pittsburg 58, 2. Chanute 58, 3. Girard 60, 4. Independence 76, 5. Labette County 96.
Top 10 individuals — 1. Michaela Bauer (GIR) 16:58.78, 2. Julie Stafford (IND) 17:12.57, 3. Kaitlyn Dispensa (CHAN) 17:44.72, 4. Kandi Voorhees (LC) 17:45.87, 5. Raquel Dungey (IND) 18:01.78, 6. Abby Neeley (CHAN) 18:04.69, 7. Chelsea Duncan (PITT) 18:15.09, 8. LeighAnn Omarkhail 18:15.34, 9. Brooke Sharp (CHAN) 18:32.60, 10. Faith Miller (PITT) 18:35.59.