ShawneeDispatch.com

Sports dynasties are few and far between these days.

Sure you have teams like the New York Yankees or the Los Angeles Lakers, but those are professional teams.

But when you consider what the Mill Valley girls track team has accomplished in its first four years of existence, the word dynasty comes to mind.

The Lady Jags solidified that thought by capturing their fourth straight Kaw Valley League track and field title last Wednesday at Tonganoxie.

Mill Valley destroyed the rest of the field by scoring a team total of 152 points.

"Winning four years in a row is never an easy thing to do," Mill Valley coach Mark Peck said. "It feels pretty good as a coach to see your school district do so well in a sport," Peck said.

Even more amazing is the fact that the De Soto High School girls had won the title two years in a row before the two schools split in 2000. That makes it six years in a row for the district.

This year, De Soto's girls took second, 50 points behind Mill Valley with a team-total of 102 points.

"It just shows how hard these kids work along with the direction of good coaching," Peck said. "De Soto's coach does a great job over there as well. Every year we seem to have somebody new to step up and lead the way. I can't say enough about the senior leadership, it's been fantastic the whole year."

One of the seniors that Peck was glowing about was Tara Stewart.

Stewart has been a dominant force all year despite being hobbled by a leg injury. She has come on strong lately and lept her way to several top finishes at the past few meets.

At the league meet, Stewart took home first in the long jump and she brought home a gold in the triple jump, as well. The first-place finishes were instrumental in helping the Lady Jags defend their team title.

Also key in the quest for a four-peat were junior Andrea Crabaugh and sophomore Lindsey Warren.

Crabaugh took second in the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash, and Warren took second in the 1,600-meter run. Warren also ran a leg of the 4x800-meter relay team, which finished first.

"It was a team effort by all of the girls," Peck said. "There were a few girls that stood out but all in all we did it as a team."

The Mill Valley boys took fifth on their side of the meet.

Jay Matlack took home another first-place finish in the 3,200-meter run and he placed fourth in the 1,600.

Chris Berry tied for second in the pole vault and Max Rinkel finished first in the shot put.

Freshman Justin Woods took second in the 100-meter dash, and the 4x800-meter relay team, which included Matlack, Alex Treaster, Chris MaGochy and Ryan Breitenbach, took home second, as well.

Next up for the Jags are regionals at Gardner on Friday May 21st.

The Jags traveled to Gardner two week ago for a meet, so Peck's team should know a little bit about what to expect.

"It will be interesting to see how we can do against these large schools," Peck said. "Gardner and Miege both have great schools and could score enough to win team titles."