Truman take both boys, girls teams to sectionals

The Truman girls cross country team lived up to its expectations Saturday.

The boys exceeded them.

That meant that both the Patriots boys and girls teams lived to run another round in Saturday’s Class 4 sectional meet.

The girls captured second place like they thought they would. The boys, though, rose to third place by edging conference rival Park Hill by a point in the Class 4 District 8 meet Saturday at Stocksdale Park in Liberty.

“The coaching staff gave the runners team predictions based off each conference represented at districts,” Truman coach Randy Maglinger said. “We had a good understanding where we stacked up with the other teams. We had the girls predicted second overall and the boys were predicted fourth overall. The girls took second but the boys wanted to beat Park Hill since they took second at our conference. The boys had lost by three points at conference, so they wanted to make a statement at districts, and they had a solid performance.”

The top four teams and the top 30 individuals advanced to the sectional meet Saturday at the Lake Jacomo course in Fleming Park.

The Truman boys had three runners in the top 30 and totaled 111 points to finish behind Liberty (15 with the top seven finishers) and St. Joseph Central (89) and a point ahead of Park Hill. Fort Osage, who advanced one runner, was eighth at 191, while William Chrisman, which had two runners move on, was ninth at 234.

The Truman girls, led by Sara Ruckman’s second-place finish and five runners in the top 30, totaled 63 points and trailed only Liberty’s 34. Fort Osage, which finished ninth at 254, and William Chrisman failed to advanced a girls runner to sectionals.

Maglinger said his teams were focused on advancing and had a little motivation.

“They had mentally prepared themselves for the race and they displayed that mental toughness,” Maglinger said. “Last year the girls missed qualifying for sectionals by five points, so to have the girls advance to sectionals is a fantastic feeling for the girls.

“On top of that, the boys were able to qualify as a team, and based on their preseason goals, the boys felt they would not qualify. They felt great about their race since they accomplished and exceeded their preseason expectations.”

And Maglinger felt great about Ruckman’s performance. The sophomore finished second only to Liberty senior star Megan Yohe, completing the 2.6-mile course in 17 minutes, 57 seconds. Her coach said it was the result of hard work.

“Sara has become a team leader for the girls,” Maglinger said. “She has trained hard throughout the season and she is setting the tempo for next year. The thing that Sara did right this year was that she controlled the things she could control. She didn’t psyche herself out; she just went out and ran relaxed.”

Truman’s freshmen also played a big role. Alisha Meyer took eighth in 18:41, Shayla Jochum was 14^th in 18:58 and Andrea Latta was 18^th in 19:21. Junior Amy Soto completed the scoring by taking 21^st in 19:33.

Juniors Austin Lightner (ninth, 15:18) and Harrison Harmon (15^th, 15:40) and sophomore Justin Brown (26^th, 16:05) paced the Truman boys. Freshman Zach Felz (32^nd) and junior Josh Felz (35^th) completed the scoring for the Patriots.

Fort Osage advanced sophomore Jacob Colyer, who took 27^th in 16:07. The top girls finisher for the Indians was Maude Ashby, who took 37^th.

“We are encouraged with our prospects for next season with all of our athletes returning except one senior, Steven Colyer,” Fort Osage coach Chris Earley said of his team’s performances. “Good things, we are hoping, are on the horizon for both the boys and girls program.”

William Chrisman senior Brad Kanan qualified for sectionals for the second straight year with a 28^th-place finish in 16:08. Freshman teammate Tristan Laughlin also moved on, finishing right behind Kanan in 29^th in 16:12.