Were they located in any district other than 14-5A, the Lufkin Panther Cross Country teams might be celebrating district championships at this moment.
But residing in the same district with two of the state's best, the Pack "settled" for advancing to the Region II finals scheduled to take place Saturday at the University of Texas-Arlington, with both the boys' and girls' teams taking third during the district meet held yesterday at Abe Martin Stadium.
Andy Scott |
Lufkin cross country runners Heraclio Hernandez (left) and Rodrigo Molina push each other around the course at Abe Martin Stadium during Saturday's District 14-5A Championships. The Woodlands' boys and College Park's girls won their respective divisions, but each of the Lufkin teams finished third to advance to regionals.
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Splashing their way around the muck-filled course, The Woodlands' varsity boys and College Park's girls took home first place in their respective heats, and the two schools flipped positions in the runners-up spots.
Individually, TWHS' Sarah Andrews won the varsity girls' race with a time of 11:43.00. Lufkin's Olivia McKinney (13th) notched the best finish for the Lady Panthers with a time of 13:07.00.
For the boys, College Park's Brian Gohlke crossed the line first at 15:36. Lufkin's Rodrigo Molina's 13th place time of 17:07 was tops for the Panthers.
Lufkin head coach Rusty Stover said each of the Pack teams ran good races, especially considering the competition and the course conditions.
"I thought both our teams ran really well, especially with the course getting so wet all week," Stover said. "Our guys went out a little fast; they were pretty pumped, and it showed.
"Our girls ran extremely hard. In a normal district, they'd have had a shot at winning the whole thing, but they were running against the two best teams in the state. Still, our goal as a team was to advance to regionals, and we're proud we were able to accomplish that."
The top 10 individual runners and top three teams from each race advanced.
Following are the top 10 finishes from each race:
Varsity girls — (1st) Andrews, Sarah, TWHS, 11:43.00; (2nd) Bree Schrader, CPHS, 12:16.00; (3rd) Colleen Murray, TWHS, 12:27.00; (4th) Celeste Neff, CPHS, 12:28.00; (5th) Katie Jensen, CPHS, 12:31.00; (6th) Claire Andrews, CPHS, 12:33.00; (7th) Margo Lyons, TWHS, 12:39.00; (8th) McKenzie Neal, CPHS, 12:51.00; (9th) Emily Jensen, CPHS, 12:56.00; (10th) Laurel Bingman, CPHS, 12:58.00.
Varsity boys — (1st) Brian Gohlke, CPHS, 15:36; (2nd) Tom Sanderson, TWHS, 15:37; (3rd) Tyler Bradley, TWHS, 15:59; (4th) Phil Schneider, TWHS, 16:01; (5th) Ross Moulder, TWHS, 16:02; (6th) Nathan Carbajal, TWHS, 16:04; (7th) Juaquin Ortegon, TWHS, 16:11; (8th) Andrew Scheffey, TWHS, 16:24; (9th) Andrew Smith, Oak Ridge, 16:32; (10th) Evan Engel, CPHS, 16:38.
JV girls — (1st) Ashley Guidot, TWHS, 13:16; (2nd) Grace Huryn, TWHS, 13:19; (3rd) Jordan Wiseman, 13:26; (4th) Haley Vanklompenburg, CPHS, 13:26; (5th) Kali Miller, TWHS, 13:28; (6th) Amanda Porter, TWHS, 13:31; (7th) Michelle Creasman, TWHS, 13:35; (8th) Katie Killeen, CPHS, 13:37; (9th) Jane Swanson, CPHS, 13:42; (10th) Kimberly Algar, CPHS, 13:46.
JV boys \u201A (1st) Eric Vilbrock, TWHS, 16:22; (2nd) Connor Moncrief, TWHS, 16:33; (3rd) Chris Vargas, TWHS, 16:39; (4th) Haugen Hallvard, TWHS, 16:43; (5th) Nicholas Hedges, TWHS, 16:47; (6th) Isaac Reyes, TWHS, 16:53; (7th) Jason Williams, TWHS, 17:02; (8th) Jimmy DelToro, Lufkin, 17:36; (9th) David Lebsack, CPHS, 17:52; Garrett Fagelman, CPHS, 17:56.
