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| Dokos, Roy, Sommer Lead Way At Central Heights |
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| Sports | |||
| Written by David Wolman | |||
| Wednesday, 07 October 2009 08:00 | |||
Adam Dokos has been the top finisher for the Prairie View boys’ cross country team all season. But, he could be in a battle with one of his teammates the rest of the way, which is okay with him.  Jace Roy, a sophomore, had been competing at the junior-varsity level until last week. When it came time for Roy to take to Central Heights on Thursday for his first career varsity race, he put himself in contention to be the top finisher with the Buffalo boys. All of that didn’t come as a surprise to Dokos. “Yeah, kind of, because it was his first varsity race, but then he’s been getting first in JV,” Dokos said. Roy placed second in his first career meet at Anderson County, and then dominated the competition at the next two meets, winning each JV race by at least a half minute. Roy ran almost stride for stride with Dokos in the first two miles of Thursday’s race, but Dokos pulled away in the final stretch, placing 11th in a time of 18 minutes, 21.7 seconds to earn medalist honors. The top 20 finishers in each of the varsity races earned a medal. “Adam ran another solid performance,” Prairie View coach Lori Nelson said. But, Roy wasn’t too far behind, placing 14th in 18:28.7. “Jace ran a great first varsity race by attaching himself to Adam,” Nelson said. “They ran together for the entire race until Adam pulled away in the end. This was a great indication of Jace’s ability to compete at the varsity level and have a chance to earn league honors in a few weeks. As a first-year runner and just a sophomore, I am pleased with Jace’s performances and how he has continued to put out so much effort at the meets.” The Pioneer League meet is Oct. 15 at Anderson County. Dokos also has his sights set on the Class 4A state meet, and will look to qualify Oct. 22 in the regional meet at Wyandotte Park in Kansas City, Kan., in what will be a loaded field. Osawatomie, Baldwin, De Soto and Paola will be among those competing. “Just trying to get to state this year,” Dokos said. Seth Diehm barely missed out on earning a medal, placing 22nd in 19:14.4. Eric Noel was 41st in 20:36.4. Melanie Sommer is already building a solid resume for herself — winning two junior varsity races in a runaway while placing 17th at Santa Fe Trail in her first career varsity race. She added another line to her resume Thursday — a top-10 finish in a varsity race, placing 10th in 19:13. Sommer finished strong when she surged past Eureka’s Brittany Harrington in the final 10 meters. “I felt that this was Melanie’s best race of the season,” Nelson said. “She was out to a fast start and also had a solid finish. She passed a Eureka runner just at the finish line, which was the first close finish she has had. Anderson County wasn’t there Thursday, but all our other league schools were, so it looks like Melanie also has a shot at league honors.” Casey Thayer also got in on medalist honors, placing 19th in 19:48. “Casey missed several practices last week due to illness,” Nelson said. “I thought she ran well considering she is having some upper respiratory issues and was just weak from being off several days. Casey is naturally competitive so she still wants to finish well.” Sean Noel crossed the finish line seventh in 21:22.6 to earn medalist honors in the boys’ junior varsity run. “Sean had an awesome race,” Nelson said. “This was only the second time he has competed in the 5K race and he looked like a veteran out there. He held his own against a group of six guys that finished very close together. It is important that Sean keeps improving as we will run him in varsity to give us a team score at the league meet.”
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