By Richard Greene | Published Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Decatur boys and girls cross country teams have to clear one last hurdle to earn a trip to Round Rock and the University Interscholastic League Championships Nov. 14.
Decatur coach David Park said his runners will need to use their minds as much as their legs to get through the tough Mae Simmons Park course in Lubbock Saturday in the Class 3A Region I race. The top three teams at the meet and top 10 individuals will earn spots at the state meet.
"It's a real tough course," Park said. "This race is as much against the course as the other teams. You have to have the right strategy."
The Decatur girls will run at 10 a.m. The boys' race will follow at 10:30 a.m.
Park has taken teams to the regional meet in Lubbock several times over the past 20 years. He said the challenging course is a perfect test for elite runners with its cramped running lanes and hills.
"I like it because it brings everything into play," Park said. "You have to have conditioning to handle the hills, and you have to have smartness because there's a strategy. The true cross country runner comes out of there."
The challenging course historically has not produced the best times among state qualifiers. But the runners that do advance to state typically fare well at state. Last year, five of the 10 team state champions came out of the region.
"Region I teams don't get mentioned a lot going into state because this course is so tough," Park said. "People underestimate what kind of booger it is."
The bottlenecks around turns and over the footbridge are major obstacles on the course. Park said it's important not to get buried in the pack. He cautioned that you can't go out too fast because of a large hill 600 meters into the race. The boys will have to fight through two loops on the backside that include tackling one of the course's toughest hills.
"The guys will be taking on three mammoth hills in their race," Park said.
Both Decatur teams ran at regionals last year. All the members of the girls' team have competed on the course multiple times.
"It's a huge advantage," Park said. "They are going to know what it's going to feel like on the course."
The Decatur girls won the regional meet last season at Lubbock on their way to a state title. They are headed to regionals after claiming the District 5-3A title Oct. 28 at Joe Wheeler Park in Decatur, scoring just 21 points. Decatur placed four runners in the top five. Hanna Galloway took second, finishing the two-mile course in 12 minutes.
Park said he's told the girls to run within themselves.
"We can't try to do something we haven't done," Park said. "We have to run smart.
"We have to stay tight," Park continued. "With 21 schools, people get separated. We have to run together. Our five, six and seven runners are so tremendously important. They have to stay together."
The Decatur boys will be trying to get to state after narrowly missing out last year, when they finished fourth at regionals. Park expects a tough race against Burkburnett, Lubbock Cooper and Tornillo. Decatur finished second at district by a point to Burkburnett.
"We've got to do what we almost did at district, run tight," Park said.
Park said Eric Pedroza, who was battling illness during the district meet, is back healthy and had a strong workout Monday.
Region Qualifiers
Class 2A Region II at Arlington
Girls
Alvord
Jordan Ward Rebecca Evans Ashley Musgrave Chelsey Steele Carley King Madison Lynch Caly Rangel
Boyd
Katy Mark Courtney Sanders
Paradise
Haley Mitchell Lauren Briarson Shanee Gober Ashley Sparks Kimberly Sadler Tina Lippincott Gabbie Von Heuvel
Boys
Boyd
Kyle Dunn
Paradise
Logan Bailey Gavin Von Heuvel Hunter Harkins Jacob Garza Toi Glover Clahan Storey
Class A Region II at Humble
Girls Slidell
Allie Staub Bobbi Clemmer Katy Stephens Rebekah McGregor Sarah Davis Fernada Martinez
Boys Slidell
Dylan Carnes Omar Gomez Cord Hankins Trent Myers Daniel McCasland Justine Romine Dyllon James
Class 5A Region I at Lubbock
Girls Northwest
Rachel Riggs Jasmine Boutte Malisa Lewis Caren Stuebe Chelsea Reza Cooper Mitchell Chynna Hart
Boys Northwest
Troy Taylor Brandon Steed Stephen Johnson Brian Cooper David Piper Nick Fowler David Dunford
