While district championships in football may still be a couple of weeks from being decided, the cross country runners have a head start in that regard.
Several district team and individual titles will be up for grabs on Thursday, as the UIL cross country season hits the district meet portion of the season schedule. The Heart O’Texas Soccer Complex will be home to a pair of district meets — 12-6A and 17-2A.
The 12-6A meet pits Midway and Waco High against the likes of Temple, Belton, Copperas Cove and the four Killeen ISD schools — Killeen, Shoemaker, Harker Heights and Ellison. It’s of course familiar territory for the Panthers, who hosted the Hewitt Kiwanis Invitational at the HOT Complex back on Sept. 6.
The 17-2A meet will feature many of Central Texas’ small schools — Axtell, Bosqueville, Bruceville-Eddy, Chilton, Crawford, Dawson, Hubbard, Moody, Rapoport, Riesel, Rosebud-Lott and Valley Mills.
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All races will span 4,850 meters, or a little more than three miles. The 17-2A varsity boys will get things going at 8:15 a.m., followed by the 12-6A varsity girls (8:40), the 17-2A varsity girls (9:05), the 12-6A varsity boys (9:20), and three junior varsity races. Among the varsity runners, the top three teams and top 10 individuals will advance to the Oct. 22 regional meets in Grand Prairie (Region II-6A) and Huntsville (Region III-2A), respectively.
Additionally, Hillsboro will host the District 17-4A meet on Thursday.
China Spring boys team, Lorena girls zip to gold
Led by junior Nathan Vanderpool, China Spring raced to the District 18-4A cross country boys title earlier this week at Connally Junior High School.
Vanderpool covered the 5,000-meter course in a time of 17:32.0, roughly 17 seconds ahead of silver medalist Alex Speer of Robinson (17:49.7). China Spring tallied 46 points to win the team title, though Gatesville (54) and Lorena (68) also qualified for the Oct. 22 regional meet in Huntsville.
On the girls’ side, La Vega freshman Chloe McLellan made a big splash in her first-ever district meet, winning gold in a time of 12:32.2 on the 3,200-meter course. Gatesville’s sister tandem of Katrina Thoms (12:43.8) and Tasha Thoms (12:53.8) followed closely behind in second and third, respectively, helping the Lady Hornets to a second-place finish.
Lorena, behind Kailey Sykora’s fifth-place showing, won the team title with 34 points, followed by Gatesville (47) and China Spring (62).
McGregor runners flash their speed
CAMERON — Bunching three runners in the top 10, the McGregor boys powered to the 19-3A cross country title this week in Cameron.
The Bulldogs had the overall winner in sophomore Eddie Dominguez, who raced to a winning effort of 16:41.2. McGregor’s Sebastian Valdez was third and Sonny Marquez came in seventh.
In the girls’ race, Franklin, McGregor and Troy claimed the top three regional-qualifying spots in the team standings. Academy’s Jenna Brazeal zipped to the gold medal in the individual chase with a 3,200-meter time of 12:04.2. Franklin’s Natalie Philipello was second and Troy’s Cassidy Halfmann third.
Centex flavor spicing up Tarleton State team
Speaking of Central Texas running flavor, it continues to spice up the college cross country team at Tarleton State.
Last weekend Tarleton’s men won Mississippi College’s Watson Ford Invitational, placing six runners in the top eight. That included three with former Central Texas ties – overall winner Quenten Lasseter (Robinson), seventh-place finisher Kyle Doty (Bruceville-Eddy) and eighth-place finisher Johen Deleon (Robinson).
Temple’s Wiley, West’s Johnson receive honors
A pair of Central Texas football standouts were named winners of the Built Ford Tough Player of the Week accolades on Wednesday. The Ford Motor Company’s Player of the Week program recognizes one player in each of the state’s six athletic classifications.
Temple’s Jared Wiley received the honor after he completed 20 of 39 passes for 366 yards and four touchdowns as the Wildcats prevailed in triple overtime over Belton, 58-55. The senior quarterback, who is committed to Texas as a tight end, has helped lead Temple to a 5-0 overall record with a spotless 3-0 mark in District 12-6A play.
West’s Preston Johnson won the award after his 24 carries for 214 yards and four touchdowns helped the Trojans top Groesbeck, 48-34, to hand the Goats their first loss of the season. Johnson also recorded 11 tackles, one tackle for loss, a sack and a forced fumble in the win.
McGregor sweeps the vote
Jhobe Smith and Noah Jenkins were voted the Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week respectively in the sixth installment this year of the honor roll. Smith did it all all over the field as he completed 7 of 16 passes for 196 yards and four touchdowns in addition to carrying the ball 10 times for 57 yards and a score as well as catching one pass for 16 yards.
His 667 votes denied China Spring’s Erik Hart of receiving the honor for the third time this season as the Cougar running back came in second with 552 votes. Smith’s teammate, Ledesma, was third with 84 votes.
Jenkins finished last week with 11 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, three sacks, three forced fumbles and five quarterback pressures. He received 351 votes, more than half of what China Spring’s Warren Brown received for second place (167). West’s Preston Johnson came in third with 88 votes.
Week 7 assignments
The Tribune-Herald will have writers at the following games on Friday:
- Copperas Cove at Midway — Chad Conine (@csconine)
- Robinson at Lorena — Krista Pirtle (@KristaPirtle)
- Riesel at Bosqueville — John Werner (@JohnWernerTrib)
- Harker Heights at Waco High — Art Stricklin (@artstricklin)
- West at McGregor — Brian Coats (@briancoats94)