Chris JacksonFootball

Menwith Hill

Last week: Jackson, a 5-foot-7, 140-pound sophomore halfback, exploited the wide-open spaces of nine-man football Friday night by running for two touchdowns, hauling in a touchdown pass and passing for a TD as visiting Menwith Hill drubbed defending European Small Schools champion Rota 40-13.

“I enjoy it,” Jackson said Monday of the nine-man game. “It’s pretty quick. You hit the holes and look for daylight.”

Menwith Hill coach Pete Resnick said the Mustangs often split out their speedster, who runs a 4.6 40-yard dash.

“We like to quick-pitch to him out there,” Resnick said. “(Quarterback) Scottie Setzer then becomes a 200-pound lead blocker. We call it our power pitch.”

Jackson also splits out into a triple receiver set, putting even more pressure on the defense.

“He’s left-handed,” Resnick said, “so when we put him out there he can pull up and throw the ball.”

Jackson completed his only pass Friday, a 13-yard TD toss. He rushed for 144 yards on 14 carries, caught a 40-yard TD pass from Setzer and returned a kick for 25 yards on his career-best day of 222 yards of offense.

Elizabeth DoeCross CountryRamstein

Last week: Doe, a junior running cross country for the third straight year, set the bar for the European championships extremely high Saturday by finishing her home 5,000-meter course in 20 minutes, 23.10 seconds.

Doe’s opening-day time was 3.86 seconds faster than the winning time posted by SHAPE’s Veronica Siversten in last year’s finals. It also beat the winning time of last year’s Division I champion, Natalie Pecoraro of Frankfurt International School, by 18 seconds. Pecoraro, incidentally, opened her season with a 21:41 Saturday at Wiesbaden. Siversten is playing soccer this fall.

Ramstein coach Dennis Edwards credited Doe’s work in the swimming pool for the strides she has made since last fall.

“Elizabeth is a runner who swims for cross-training,” Edwards said Monday. “Through swimming, she has developed fantastic upper-body strength and core body strength. As a runner, it helps her to run with excellent running posture, or as we say in running, ‘She runs tall.’ ”

Tall enough, in fact, that she’s a genuine threat to stand on the tallest step of the podium in this year’s Europeans.

Selected by Stars and Stripes staff

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