KANE - It was a race Haley McFeaters had been running over and over in her head ever since the seedings for the District 9 Class AA Track and Field Championships were released early last week.

On Friday afternoon, her thoughts of winning became reality.

The Moniteau High runner took the district crown in the 400-meter dash at Kane High School with a time of 59.25 seconds.

Just one-tenth of a second behind her was Elk County Catholic's Sandy Newell, who was the lone sprinter seeded above McFeaters entering the event.

"She's been looking forward to this race since the seedings came out," said Moniteau coach Sue Scialabba. "This is what we were hoping for her. She's been getting better and better with every meet."

"I beat (Newell) earlier this season at the Brookville Invite," said McFeaters, who improved on her performance from last year's district championships.

"I don't know - I just didn't run well last year and finished fifth," she said.

With a trip to the state championships already under her belt, McFeaters doubled her pleasure with a victory in the 200-meter dash with a finish of 27.12.

She trailed Newell by several meters late in that event, but she was able to nip her rival by one one-hundredth of a second at the finish line.

In boys competition, Moniteau's Matt Schandelmeier earned three berths to the state event with second place finishes in the javelin and discus and a district title in the shot put with a throw of 50 feet, 4½-half inches).

"I would've liked to have done a bit better in the javelin (169-6)," Schandelmeier said. "But in the shot put, I was just hoping to place."

Karns City junior pole vaulter Steve Black won the event with a height of 12-9.

His best effort at the district championships previously had been a sixth-place finish last year.

"I was hoping to get the state qualifying mark of 13-3," Black said. "But I knew that 12-9 would place me pretty high."

Steve Black also will head to Shippensburg as part of the Gremlins' 400 relay team, which bested the competition with a time of 44.75.

The team also featured Mark Ferguson, Josh Fiscus and David Black.

Ferguson turned in a strong individual performance of his own by taking second in both the 110 and 300 hurdle events.

He ran a personal-best time of 14.9 in the preliminary heat of the 110 event before capturing the finals with a time of 15.14.

Moniteau's David Rumbaugh placed second in the 400 run while the Warriors' 400 relay squad of Ed Miller, Eric Hilliard, Zack Thompson and Vance Farren placed second behind Karns City, but still received a bid to the state meet.

McFeaters wasn't the only notable performer for Moniteau's girls, as junior Alyssa Deal took home two second-place spots in the 800 and 1,600 runs.

Moniteau also advanced its 1,600 relay quartet of Amy Gladd, Deal, Amanda Gladd and McFeaters. The group finished in second place (4:12.71).

The performances helped the Warriors girls (63½ points) take second place behind Elk County Catholic (111) in the team standings.

Karns City and Union each saw one girl earn a trip to states.

KC sophomore Tausha Bowser was second in the long jump (15-5) while Union's Bethany Koch took second in the triple jump (33-4).