Archives > Sports > Schools
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
Staying the Course: Wolves, Lady Eagles hoist 10-5A championships
Kelsey Kruzich / Staff Photo
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
MCKINNEY – If the past couple months have been any indication, the Plano West boys cross country team entered Thursday’s District 10-5A Meet as a justified favorite.
Five kilometers around Myers Park didn’t deter those expectations one bit.
The Wolves asserted control a quarter of the way through the race and didn’t look back in reclaiming the district championship.
West placed first overall with 31 points, eclipsing fellow regional qualifiers Plano East in second (44) and McKinney Boyd in third (76). The meet’s top three teams and top 10 individual runners qualified for the Region II Meet Saturday from Vandergriff Park at the University of Texas-Arlington.
Both West and East found their way into the regional fray on the girls side as well, with the Lady Wolves claiming second with 44 points and the Lady Panthers taking third with 84.
The top spot was not to be had by either though, with all teams playing second fiddle to Allen’s 36 points for first place.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Kirk Trent, Allen head coach. The last two years we were with the Lewisville schools and they dominated our district. Last year we got fourth place so I was really hoping we could pull it off this year.”
Despite winning just one meet on the season prior to Thursday, the Lady Eagles placed their top five runners among the race’s first 12 finishers. Katherine Allen led the pack by tallying second overall with a time of 18:57.29.
“I was so pleased with Katherine,” Trent said. “She’s been trying to break 19 minutes in the 5K all year long and she finally pulled it off today and getting second in district is just icing on the cake.”
Familiar company wasn’t far behind, with Hailey Jensen taking fourth (19:39.52) followed by Maggie Gaudio in eighth (19:49.70), Emily Fannin in 10th (20:20.31) and Paula Florencia in 12th (20:24.79).
It proved a narrow eight points better than a West squad that placed its first five runners in the top 15, led by Valarie Bradley in third (19:35.70), Savannah Borgsmiller in sixth (19:47.96), Arielle Surles in ninth (20:14.01), Sage McAdams in 11th (20:24.69) and Christine Yan in 15th (20:43.10).
The Lady Panthers notched their first regional berth under head coach Christopher Lillie, paced by Mona Azzo’s fifth-place run of 19:42.21. Kelsee Wilding added a 20:31.55 for 14th and Coral Bunch posted 19th with a 21:05.35.
Despite the three team’s strong overall finishes, all individual runners spent the morning playing catch-up to McKinney Boyd’s Aaliyah Miller.
Just a freshman, Miller grabbed a lead less than 100 meters into the race and didn’t look back in scampering to a first-place finish of 18:53.68.
“It felt good,” Miller said. “I was trying to get a good lead at the start to help get me across the finish line first.”
Miller’s finish keyed Boyd’s fourth-place team finish of 100 points, eking past Plano Senior’s 103 points in fifth.
The Lady Wildcats were led by regional qualifier Mary Casillas who clocked in at seventh (19:48.39), while McKinney rounded out the girls grouping in sixth with 147 points. Taylor Garonzik was the Lady Lions’ top finisher in 21st at 21:11.10.
The well-rounded ensemble showcased by the Lady Eagles was replicated by West in the boys run, with five Wolves placing in the top 12.
Packed together and at one point encompassing five of the six leading runners five minutes into the race, the pack slowly split but the results remained the same with Grant Copeland outpacing the competition by just under 20 seconds for first at 16:52.15.
“We’ve been working for this the past two or three years,” Copeland said. “We plan to go far.”
Teammate Drew Megura followed in second at 17:11.91, complemented by Luis Cuenca in seventh (17:33.25), Walter Edstrom in ninth (17:41.70) and Mike Coopman in 12th (18:04.00).
“It’s really an amazing feeling that we have,” Copeland said. “These are great teammates and we’re not just teammates, we’re brothers. Most of us have been at this for three years together and it’s an awesome feeling.”
With four West runners in the top 10, that figure was matched by the Panthers. Kevin Rojas, near the front of the race from wire to wire, took third at 17:17.49 while Jack Meeks placed fifth (17:27.34), Phillip Metcalfe claimed eighth (17:41.70), C.J. Lackey took 10th (17:54.84) and Sam Reyes ran for 18th (18:22.78).
The Broncos also qualified for regionals, led by the five-pack of Kyle Love (17:30.85, sixth), William Miller (18:10.29, 14th), Devon Lord (18:22.48, 17th), Clayton Baker (18:30.87, 19th) and Joe Vilches (18:31.58, 20th).
Plano placed fourth with 94 points, albeit not without a scoring confluence that didn’t initially register any of the Wildcats’ bib numbers in the race and required roughly 45 minutes spent tabulating Plano’s times by hand.
The end result slotted Kevin McGivern as the Wildcats’ top runner in 13th at 18:05.74.
Allen placed fifth with 129 points, led by Jacob Pena’s 11th-place run of 17:59.23, while McKinney rounded out the pack in sixth with 146 points. The Lions will still be represented at regionals though, after Matt Fontillas finished fourth (17:21.58).
Fontillas and other qualifiers will return to action Saturday for the Region II Meet, where they’ll try to outlast the likes of powerhouses Humble Kingwood, College Park and The Woodlands.
“We do have a lot of good teams coming up from the Houston area, so it’s going to be very tough,” Trent said. “At regionals, we’re just going to do the best we can and if we can’t get the team, we’re going to try to advance some individuals.”
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: Mckinney Boyd «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
