CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Ellington girls cross country is heading to state. Freshman Grace Lloyd brought home a first-place finish in the Class 1 district race at Notre Dame High School Saturday. Her time of 22:30.64 was good for a 23.13 margin of victory.
Morgan Rains finished 12th with a 24:48.90. Tyler Conkright clocked a 13th-place finish by clocking 24:53.09. Hannah Fitzgerald's time of 24:56.90 put her in 14th. Natalie Barnett rounded out the Lady Whippets heading to state with a time of 25:42.81.
For the Ellington boys, Carson Mcnail ran a state-qualifying time after he placed ninth in 19:18.54.
Class 2 at Ironton
Josh Reynolds will represent the Bloomfield boys at MSHSAA Class 2 state cross country. Reynolds finished with a time of 18:44.68, good for seventh.
Kate Bangert placed seventh for the Greenville girls with a time of 22:35.65 to reach state.
Class 3 at Notre Dame
Margo Nea finished fifth in the Class 3 Sectional at Notre Dame High School. Nea will be the only individual representing Dexter at state after clocking a time of 20:03.82.
Breanna Davis, Katlyn Harris and Taylor Decker earned respective finishes of 61st, 63rd and 64th for the Doniphan girls. Davis ran a time of 30:54.26. Harris clocked 32:02.41. Decker finished in 33:28.91.
FOOTBALL
Malden's season came to an end in the first round of the Class 2 District 1 Tournament Friday night. A 43-8 loss to Jefferson (Festus) capped a 2-8 season in which the Green Wave came away with a lot to learn from.
"They took it to us," head coach Kevin Collier said. "But our kids played hard, and that's what we asked. They've done it all year long. We just wish the record was better, but that's how it goes."
Jefferson marched down the field in four plays on the first drive of the game, going roughly 60 yards for its first score. After that, the Green Wave defense limited the big plays, but the special teams gave up two kickoff returns for touchdowns after losing contain with an inexperienced group on the field due to some injuries.
"After that (opening drive), we really made them work for it," Collier said. "They had a ton of time of possession. We slowed them down. It doesn't sound like it when we gave up 43 points. We gave up a couple of touchdowns on kickoff returns, so there's some of that."
Offensively, Collier said the line got better movement up front, but senior Gavin Bristow missed the second half of the game, limiting the offense's versatility and putting more of the onus on quarterback Tye Miller to shoulder the load.
"We got off the ball at times pretty well," Collier said. "It was a situation with injuries and other things occurring where we didn't have running backs."
The Green Wave were able to get on the board in the third quarter, but the depleted seventh seed couldn't overcome the second-seeded Blue Jays.
"We have to give credit to them," Collier said. "Their good running back is really, really fast. He's a good running back. Give them some credit. They're 9-1 now, so they do a good job."