Cross country roundup: Keller girls running strong
For the second week in a row, the Keller girls cross country team has won a team championship, and while its runners may still be young, it is starting to show signs of real maturity.
The Lady Indians took first place in the Ken Garland Invitational this past weekend in the Girls Elite 5K division, finishing 56 points ahead of second place Plano West.
The victory comes on the heels of another first place finish at the Southlake Invitational last weekend, and coach Brian Zaring said he is pleased with the progress being made.
“The freshman girls have really begun to step up and compete and understand how to run a 5K,” Zaring said. “Before this year, the farthest they had run was two miles. They have done a good job of running the longer distance and training harder.”
Zaring said that the team is also doing a good job of running together as a group.
“Our goal is to finish as close to each other as we possibly can,” Zaring said. “The more we can pack up and separate the points from the other schools, the better we're going to be. We've told the number three to stay with the top two, and number four to stay with number three and number five to stay with number four for as long as they can, and it is working out for us.”
Keller had three of the top four runners at the Garland Invitational, including the individual champion Abbey Santoro (19:03.42), the runner up Julia Black (19:43.86) and fourth place finisher Isabel Van Camp (19:24.81).
Zaring said that one of the thing that most impresses him about his team is their potential.
“If the pre-district competition is telling us anything it's that we can compete at the state level,” Zaring said. “For our girls, that's the goal — to get to that state meet. I feel like we can do that.”
North Crowley boys win
The North Crowley boys cross country team took first place in the Run of the Panther Invitational on Friday, defeating second place L.D. Bell by 61 points.
North Crowley took three of the top 10 places at the meet, including individual champion Antwon George (16:47.36), third place Emmanuel Wekesa (17:24.57) and 10th place Angel Quintana (17:47.69).
The Panthers finished with a total score of 47.
Mansfield girls take team title
The Mansfield girls cross country team won the Varsity division of the James Smith Invitational last week with a total score of 40 points.
Alessia Williams (19:10.00) won an individual championship for the Lady Tigers team, and Anara Ickes (20:34.50) finished fourth place at the meet.
Taylor Parker (21:10.60) finished ninth at the James Smith Invitational, as Mansfield beat out second place Ennis by 80 points.
The Alvarado girls cross country team finished second in a 19 team field at the Lake Highlands Invitational.
Aimee Molina (20:02.62) and Abigail Garcia (20:08.46) led the way for Alvarado, finishing third and fourth respectively at the meet.
Top Performances Boys
1. Carter Persyn, Keller, won the Elite Boys 5K division of the Ken Garland Invitational with a time of 16:05.54.
2. Greg Fehriback, Richland, finished second in the Varsity Boys division of the Run of the Panther Invitational with a time of 17:10.05.
3. Harrison Tillman, Aledo, won the James Smith Invitational with a time of 16:35.30.
Girls
1. Ashley Johnson, Arlington Martin, won the 3,200 M Varsity Girls division of the Ken Garland Invitational with a time of 11:11.10.
2. Lauren Edwards, Grapevine, finished third in the Elite Varsity Girls division of the Ken Garland Invitational with a time of 19:20.36.
3. Binta Ka, Richland, won the Run of the Panther Invitational with a time of 19:23.65.
This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 3:54 PM with the headline "Cross country roundup: Keller girls running strong."