Rising with the sun Thursday, fleet-footed cross country runners –– adorned with various shapes of sunglasses, headbands, bows and body paint –– from Chaparral, Ellison, Harker Heights, Killeen and Shoemaker arrived at the Heart of Texas Soccer Complex in Waco.
With laces tied tight and eyes aimed at the ultimate prize, the crew of Killeen ISD competitors meant business at the District 12-6A and 16-5A meets.
The final results showed as much.
As a crisp morning gave way to a sun-splashed afternoon, Ellison’s Ethan Carranza and Harker Heights’ Kaitlyn Jackowski secured individual district championships, the Eagles successfully defended their team crown, and both boys and girls squads from Harker Heights and Chaparral advanced to their respective regional races.
The top-five runners from each team earn points based on the order of finish. First place gets one point, and so on. The lower the score the better, and the top three teams earned the automatic regional bid.
The other way through to the next race is by finishing in the top 10 individually. Four from Shoemaker –– David Bluhm, Alexander Roberts, Cameron Roberts and Kahlia Woodley –– landed in that latter requirement from 12-6A and Ellison’s D’Angeleigh Dombkowski did the same in 5A to extend their seasons.
The 6A and 5A Region II meets are scheduled for Monday, Oct. 21 (6A) and Tuesday, Oct. 22 (5A), at Lynn Creek Park in Grand Prairie.
For many more photos from Thursday’s races, visit KISD Communications on Flickr here.
With former Harker Heights standout and current Baylor athlete Ella Perry looking on, Jackowski kicked off Thursday’s banner day with her winning effort, during which she looked every part of poised while sticking with the leaders for the first portion of the 5-kilometer, looping quest before pulling away over the final mile or so.
“I was honestly not expecting it to go this well but I’m really excited about it,” said the humble sophomore, who clocked 19 minutes, 35.4 seconds for a 16-second victory.
“I think I was really focused. I felt really strong. I took my training seriously this week and it paid off,” Jackowski said. “That second lap was killer but I just had to push through because the motivation was definitely there to make it to regionals today.”
Xenia Gutierrez (17th), Makayla Otto (20th), Isabella Dominguez (24th) and Maya Beckett (27th) contributed the Lady Knights’ 87 points and third-place finish behind champion Temple and Waco Midway.
The Lady Knights will have the Knights by their side in Grand Prairie after Cody Zimmerman’s personal best time of 16:57.1 led to a 10th-place finish and paced Harker Heights to third position.
With additional contributions from Reilly Vance (11th), Christion Meiners (17th), Blake Zimmerman (18th) and Kealin Sandifer (26th), the Knights were eight-point lower than fourth-place Copperas Cove.
Bluhm and Alexander Roberts were KISD’s highest finishers in the 6A boys race, placing sixth and ninth, respectively.
“I think they’ve been focused throughout the whole season. They came in today locked in and wanted to achieve the goal of making it to regionals,” Shoemaker coach Michael Wambsgans said. “Both had a PR today and I’m proud of them.”
Fellow Shoemaker student-athletes Cameron Roberts (sixth) and Woodley (10th) earned their regional debut.
“Cameron came in 11th last year so her goal was to up it. Sixth is really good for her. She’s been training really hard. Kahlia wasn’t going to do cross country at first but decided to do it. She’s just booking it this season,” Lady Grey Wolves coach Tayana Arnold said. “We’ve just been training really hard –– coming early to practice, putting in the work outside of practice. They really just had the right mindset today.”
Carranza came into Thursday’s race with a to-do checklist as he strives for a second consecutive berth into the state meet. He crossed one off by earning his first district title after two straight second-place finishes.
“It feels good. I was hoping for a little faster of a time but, still, a championship is good,” said Carranza, who posted 15:57.0 and wasn’t challenged from the outset. “I was really hoping for the district championship. This year I said I need to get this.”
The Eagles left little doubt en route to hoisting the first-place plaque. All five of their scoring runners placed in the top 10 –– Andy Harper (fourth), Jaylen Henry (fifth), Mike Rodriguez-Quintana (seventh) and Isaiah Holloway (10th).
Their 27 points were 30 better than second-place Belton.
“It feels really nice getting it back to back. I’m really proud of my teammates. They have been doing amazing, and at this district championship it really showed,” Carranza said. “They’ve worked really hard in practice, going on long runs of their own, so, it’s really good.”
The Chaparral Bobcats had their five finish inside the top 25, a big boost to capturing the final team slot by six points ahead of Waco University.
Cristian Vasquez (ninth) led that charge, which was aided by Carlos Robinson (12th), Caleb Mendoza (16th), Blaze Hiapo (21st) and Jayden Brown (22nd).
Dombkowski placed second in the 5A girls race behind champion Olivia Brillhart of Belton, and she’ll have KISD company in a group of Lady Bobcats who, like their male counterparts, advanced for the first time as a team.
“It’s really exciting for all of us. It’s wonderful for us to go all together as a team,” said Fayija Smith, who was fifth overall. “I was really comfortable even though there was a change to the course. It was better than the other times we have run here but it was more about the mental mindset to keep on pushing.”
Laila Brown (11th), Yeylis Tello (12th), Hayden Mateski (21st) and Avianna Borja (24th) rounded out the Lady Bobcats’ top five.
For full varsity and junior varsity results click here for 5A and here for 6A.
