By Doug Eaton
Football is not the only rivalry in the Jenks-Union competition. While football may get most of the attention, cross-country runners from both schools take a back seat to no one in terms of effort, stamina and dedication.
In this year's renewal of the Crosstown Cross County Dual, the Jenks Trojans split with the Union Redskins as the Trojan girls defeated the Union girls 25-34 and the Redskin boys edged out the Trojan boys 25-30.
In the girls competition, Union's Sara Vaughn, a transfer from Booker T. Washington, led from start to finish over the two-mile course at the Union Eighth Grade Center and won in a time of 11:58.42. However, the depth of the Lady Trojans proved too much for the Redskins as Jenks captured nine of the next eleven positions to claim the Crosstown Trophy again this year.
Leading the charge for Jenks was Grace Skocik who finished second overall and clocked a time of 12:18.71.
Other Jenks runners were Lauren Wienecke in third place in 12:19.58. Miranda Zollner ran 13:02.27 for fifth place; Jacquelynn Skocik ran 13:12.82 for seventh place; Amy McCarthy finished in 13:17.55 for eighth place, Anna Barber ran 13:23.11 for ninth and Kim Schauer came in tenth in 13:23.43.
Lisa Rainwater of Union finished fourth overall in 12:58.97. Other top Redskin finishers included Lauren Guidry seventh place in 13:04.49; Kristin Nichols thirteenth place in 13:52.47; Alyssa Smith sixteenth in 14:00.87; Hannah Hensel nineteenth in 14:08.06 and Brittany Jay who finished twenty-first in a time of 14:32.24.
The boys' event, over a longer three-mile course, proved to be a strategic race. Union runners held three of the top five positions for most of the first part of the race and were able to hang in the afternoon heat for the win.
Reese Jackson of Jenks covered the course in 16:28.52 to take overall individual honors.
Taylor Monaghan of Union ran 16:35.15 to claim second place and his teammates Steve
Baker and David Jones were close behind in 16:38.49 and 16:42.45, respectively, to take
third and fourth place. Other Union runners included Griffin Mason who came in seventh
in 17:04.70; David Winden came in ninth in 17:10.46; Jason Ketchum thirteenth
in17:32.20 and Dylan Turner came in 18:01.40.
Shawn Dolan of Jenks came in fifth in 16:53.03. Other top Jenks runners were Jared James who finished close behind in sixth place with a time of 16:58.37; Jacob Lore was eighth in 17:06.62; Ryan Fisher was tenth in 17:13.12; Dylan Moon was eleventh in 17:23.42; Trey Newsom twelfth in 17:28.75; Stuart Jackson, a freshman competing in his first varsity meet, came in fourteenth in 17:37.70; Ryan Jackson in fifteenth place in 17:43.73 and Kyle Burns in sixteenth place in 17:58.86 rounded out the top ten Trojans.
"I thought we ran well today. I'm proud of our competitiveness. We love to run. It just seems to fuel the fire," said boys' coach Bryan Yockers.
The Trojans' next competition will be Saturday, Sept. 16 as the Trojans travel to Joplin, Missouri for the Missouri Southern State University Invitational.
Oktrackxc.com thanks Doug Eaton for this article!