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XC: Redhawks win Plano Invitational
By NICK PORTER, Special to the Enterprise
Kyle Garcia never won a cross country race and after this he says his approach to running might change.
The Centennial senior finished 25 seconds ahead of the field Saturday at the Plano Invitational on a fast, flat course at Jasper High School and helped to prevent a Plano West mastery of the season’s first major test.
“I always try to take it out easy and around one mile I’ll start to pick it up a little bit,” Garcia said. “We went out at a pretty good pace and I just tried to pick it up and run hard. I think I might keep this strategy. I think it might work.”
Poteet, the No. 1 team in the Class 4A state poll, moved up to the Class 5A meet and proved to be the premier team there as well, claiming five of the top 11 finishes and easily holding off Plano West.
“I knew from the way we run in practice that we were going to run tight together,” said Poteet coach Doug Robinson. “What I didn’t expect is that we would go out so fast. Every runner was on a personal-record pace for the first mile.”
Centennial, the No. 6 boys team in the Class 4A state poll, finished a distant third in the Class 5A boys meet as it failed to place another runner in the top 10 with Garcia.
Garcia won the Class 5A boys race in 15 minutes, 59 seconds. Plano’s Juan Sanchez, who defeated Garcia last week, finished second in 16:24 before Poteet’s Andy Ortiz and Jorge Kiesk crossed in third and fourth place and Elias Murillo and Jered Abate gave the team four finishes in the top 10.
Plano West made a case for a state ranking in the girls race as Jenny Swan won the meet in 11:48, followed by teammates Rexi Parcells, Katie Bassett, Natalie Baker and Christina Hadley, all in the top 10, to break 30 team points.
“The course wasn’t bad, running by myself was bad,” Swan said. “We trained hard all summer and have a lot of desire.”
Plano West returns four varsity runners from last season and three seniors. After missing the state meet with a fourth-place finish last season, Swan believes Plano West is capable of a state berth in 2008.
“I absolutely hope so,” Swan said.
The Lady Raccoons and sensational sophomore Kerri Matulis earned a runner-up finish in the 5A division. Matulis, who placed ninth at state in 2007 and sixth at the season-opening Frisco ISD Invitational, turned in a time of 12:23 to place fourth overall. As a team, Frisco, ranked fifth in the state in 4A, amassed 65 points to easily outpace Rowlett for second.
McKinney, which has risen from No. 10 to No. 7 in the Class 4A state poll, swept the girls 4A and under meet as Meghen Shea came in at 12:32 and was followed in second by teammate Tori Newton in 13:07.
McKinney had three top 10 finishes and did enough to hold off Episcopal School of Dallas for the team championship.
Liberty held off Lovejoy for the Class 4A boys championship, while Lovejoy’s Jake Hervey won in 16:51.
Redhawk head coach Marcus Eckert downplayed the win slightly because he doesn’t want his troops becoming complacent and satisfied with their performance. He noted that some of the better 4A teams moved up in classification to test the waters against the big boys. But in the same breath, Liberty was running in just its second 4A meet ever and knocked outran a state-ranked 3A outfit in Lovejoy.
“I’ve seen some confidence and higher enthusiasm this week in practice,” Eckert said. “I don’t think they are blowing it out of proportion. They know all of these are practice meets until the big one.”
Freshman Brady Turnbull was the top Redhawk for the second week in a row. He finished third in 17:14, just one second behind runner-up Matt Galvin of Highland Park. Eckert continues to assert that he has six guys that will challenge for the No. 1 spot on a weekly basis. If Turnbull can sustain his early success, it may not be much of a battle after all.
“He is a super competitor and very coachable,” Eckert said. “He wants to learn all he can. He has inspired some of the other guys to work harder.”
The Wakeland boys placed ninth out of 14 schools, while the Lady Wolverines finished sixth, one spot behind Liberty. Lady Redhawk Elyse Wudeck produced the strongest showing with a time of 13:16 in sixth place. Wakeland’s Jennifer Perry was just six seconds behind in seventh place.
Wakeland is idle this week and will next be in action Sept. 20 at the McKinney Boyd Invitational at Myers Park. Pending weather, Frisco and Centennial will compete Saturday at the Southlake Invite at Bob Jones Park. Liberty will fly solo at the McKinney Invitational at Erwin Park.
Staff writer Andrew May contributed to this report.
Plano Invitational
Sept. 6, Jasper High School
Varsity boys 5A team standings
1. Mesquite Poteet, 36
2. Plano West, 59
3. Centennial, 104
4. Rowlett, 105
5. Plano, 111
6. Plano East, 144
7. Allen, 209
8. Wylie, 237
9. Frisco, 238
10. Mesquite John Horn, 270
11. Garland Lakeview Centennial, 342
12. W.T. White, 352
Individual top 10
Kyle Garcia, Centennial, 15:59; Juan Sanchez, Plano, 16:24; Andy Ortiz, Poteet, 16:34; Jorge Kiesk, Poteet, 16:40; Connor Doyle, Plano West, 16:41; Nick Hager, Rowlett, 16:45; Sam Tillery, Plano West, 16:53; Elias Murillo, Poteet, 17:00; S. Cummings, Plano East, 17:00; Jered Abate, Poteet, 17:02.
Varsity boys 4A and under team standings
1. Liberty, 73
2. Lovejoy, 76
3. Highland Park, 85
4. McKinney, 124
5. Rockwall, 132
6. Little Elm, 143
7. Carrollton Ranchview, 160
8. Rockwall-Heath, 164
9. Frisco Wakeland, 172
10. Dallas Episcopal, 172
11. Bishop Dunne, 216
12. Maypearl, 293
13. Gainesville, 334
14. Greenville, 388
Individual top 10
Jake Hervey, Lovejoy, 16:51; Matt Galvin, Highland Park, 17:13; Brady Turnbull, Liberty, 17:14; Cameron Vernier, McKinney, 17:25; Trevor Gonzalez, Lovejoy, 17:38; Max Rosenfeld, Highland Park, 17:42; Jose Hernandez, McKinney, 17:45; Hunter Beauchamp, Rockwall-Heath, 17:46; Schaffer Ochstein, Dallas Episcopal, 17:51; Jacob Phillips,
Varsity girls 5A team standings
1. Plano West, 29
2. Frisco, 65
3. Rowlett, 109
4. Allen, 130
5. Plano, 135
6. Garland Naaman Forest, 169
7. Wylie, 177
8. Mesquite John Horn, 194
9. Plano East, 205
10. Garland, 260
11. Lakeview Centennial, 327
12. W.T. White, 340
Individual top 10
Jenny Swan, Plano West, 11:48; Kristen Miller, Rowlett, 12:06; Krista Steinbeiser, Allen, 12:14; Kerri Matulis, Frisco, 12:23; Rexi Parcells, Plano West, 12:30; Katie Bassett, Plano West, 12:31; Natalie Baker, Plano West, 12:35; Rachel Johnson, Plano, 12:36; Shayna McCormick, Naaman Forest, 12:43; Christina Hadley, Plano West, 12:52.
Varsity girls 4A and under team standings
1. McKinney, 60
2. Dallas Episcopal, 71
3. Rockwall, 83
4. Rockwall-Heath, 104
5. Frisco Liberty, 116
6. Frisco Wakeland, 157
7. Maypearl, 185
8. Lovejoy, 213
9. Little Elm, 270
10. Bishop Dunne, 336
11. Greenville, 337
Individual top 10
Meghen Shea, McKinney, 12:32; Tori Newton, McKinney, 12:07; Rachael Jones, Dallas Episcopal, 13:12; Kelli Hardenbrook, Rockwall, 13:13; Hallie Elledge, Rockwall, 13:14; Elyse Wudeck, Liberty, 13:16; Jennifer Perry, Wakeland, 13:22; Allex Wilson, Maypearl, 13:23; Andrea Moeller, Rockwall-Heath, 13:28; Lizzy Zupanic, McKinney, 13:31.
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