CENTRAL TRACK DEFENDS DISTRICT TITLES

POPLAR BLUFF -- Cape Girardeau Central High's track program continued its district domination here Saturday with lopsided victories during the Class 4A, District 1 Meet.

Central's boys won their fourth consecutive district title while Central's girls captured their third straight district crown. The meet featured 11 teams.

The Tigers scored 161 points. Northwest was a distant second with 86 while Jackson (79) and Sikeston (70) rounded out the top four.

The Lady Tigers scored 155.5 points. DeSoto was second with 85 while Oakville (77) and Poplar Bluff (76) completed the top four. Jackson was sixth (64.75).

"We had a fantastic day on both sides," said Central boys coach Jerry Dement. "The kids competed real well. To win that many district titles in a row for both the boys and girls is really something to be proud of."

The top four finishers in each event Saturday qualified for next Saturday's 4A sectional meet at Lafayette in St. Louis.

Both the Tigers and Lady Tigers qualified a host of competitors, with several turning in winning performances.

On the boys side, Central got wins from Stafford Moore in the 100-meters, Will Harris in the long jump, Andy Dunaway in the pole vault and Travis Cox in the 300 hurdles. Also victorious were the 4x200 relay (Cox, Moore, Emmanuel Harris, Charles McGinty) and 4x100 relay (W. Harris, McGinty, E. Harris, Moore).

Central's girls got a brilliant performance from Laura Lukens, who won both the discus and shot put. She broke her own school record in the discus (140-1) and also claimed the school mark in the shot (40-10).

Other winners for the Lady Tigers were Elizabeth Kunz in the high jump, Kristen Tallent in the 400, the 4x200 relay (Tosha Smith, Dionna Webb, Nichole Thiele, Kunz) and the 4x800 relay (Thiele, Tallent, Smith, Tobie Bittle).

"Laura had a tremendous day and so did a lot of our girls," said Central girls coach Paula Watkins.

Jackson also had its share of sectional qualifiers and some first-place finishers. Jackson's boys won the 4x400 relay (Jason Crooks, Lucas Bollinger, Matt Hale, Chris Schuette) while Jackson's girls won the 4x100 relay (Audrey Essner, Holly Collier, Lindsay Walker, Natalie Essner).

"We had some good performances," said Jackson coach Bob Sink.

A complete list of the Central and Jackson sectional qualifiers appears on `Scoreboard.'

Kelly second in district

BENTON -- Kelly finished second Saturday in both the boys and girls divisions of the Class 2A, District 1 Meet that it hosted.

Portageville won the nine-team boys meet with 117 points while Kelly had 102. Viburnum won the 10-team girls meet with 129 points and Kelly had 103.

The top two finishers in each event qualified for next weekend's state meet in Jefferson City.

Kelly qualified in eight girls and eight boys events; Scott City qualified in three girls and two boys events; and Chaffee qualified in one girls and two boys events.

Kelly's girls qualifiers were Amy Arteme (first in both the 1,600 and 3,200), Pam Essner (second, 100), Natalie Robert (second, 200), Tabitha Shankle (second, 800), Jenny Riley (second, 1,600), the 4x200 relay (first, Holly Slavings, Essner, Lyndsey Burger, Robert) and the 4x800 relay (first, Arteme, April Cousins, Riley, Shankle).

Arteme set a school record in the 1,600 while the Lady Hawks 4x800 relay team set a school record.

Kelly's boys qualifiers were Michael Riley (first, 3,200, second, 1,600), Travis Schiwitz (first, 800), Nathan Dirnberger (first, pole vault), Joe Livingston (second, 400), the 4x400 relay (first, Chad Felter, Livingston, Nathen King, Schiwitz), the 4x800 relay (first, Riley, Felter, King, Schiwitz) and the 4x200 relay (second, Dirnberger, Livingston, Schiwitz, King).

For Scott City's girls, Amy O'Brien won the high jump and was second in the long jump and the 4x100 relay was first (Laura Spencer, Lani Bedwell, Tara Phillips, Tara Sanford), while on the boys side, Travis Burger won the 110 hurdles and Steven Thomas was second in the shot put.

Chaffee's girls were second in the 4x800 relay (Renee Vandeven, Tia Hampton, Casey Hampton, Athena Hampton), while Chaffee's boys got seconds from Billy Wilson in the 100 and Andy Obermann in the discus.

SOFTBALL

SIKESTON -- Notre Dame won Saturday's five-team Sikeston Tournament by beating Scott City 7-3 in the finals.

Earlier, the Lady Bulldogs knocked off Charleston 8-4.

Jill Huber was the winning pitcher in both games. Against Scott City, she went all seven innings, allowing four hits. Against Charleston, she hurled four innings, allowing one hit and no run.

Randy Senciboy and Sara Morrow both had two hits against Charleston while no player had more than one hit against Scott City.

Notre Dame finished the season with an 11-4 record.

"We started off slow, but we ended up having a good season," said Notre Dame coach Jerry Grim.

Heather Miller had two hits for Scott City (10-5).

Earlier in the day, Scott City scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Gideon 4-3. Miller recorded the win, allowing five hits and striking out 13. Sarah Glenn had two hits.