By Robert Morgan | Published Sunday, October 12, 2008
With the District 5-5A meet just two weeks away, Northwest cross country coach George Lutkenhaus found the perfect meet to get his runners a much-needed test - the Nike South Invitational in The Woodlands.
The trip south paid off as both teams exceeded the coach's expectations against teams from around the country. The boys finished 14 in the elite 5A division and the Lady Texans were fourth in the varsity division, which was a 5K, rather than the traditional two miles that girls run in Texas. Most states have both boys and girls run 5K courses, but this meet offered both distances, so Lutkenhaus opted for the longer race.
The Northwest girls had the task of running against one of the top programs in the country. Trabuco Hills from California had two teams in the varsity race and it took first and third places with scores of 18 and 81, respectively. The Woodlands was second with 82 and Northwest was fourth among 14 teams at 85.
The Northwest boys ran their best overall times of the year behind leader Brandon Steed who completed his three miles in a time of 16 minutes, 33 seconds. Craig Lutz, who has won every race this year, took first again at 15:13 in a race of 158 runners.
Stephen Johnson was second among the NHS runners to cross the finish line when he clocked a 16:50. He was just two places and two seconds in front of teammate Troy Taylor at 16:52.
The Texans were also led by Brian Cooper, who was fourth among his team with a time of 17:23. Nick Fowler was five seconds back at 17:28.
Josh Dunn was the sixth local runner to cross the finish line when he stopped the clock at 18:02, just ahead of teammate Michael Nix at 18:18.
The Lady Texans were led by Megan Carbonell who completed her three miles in a time of 21:00 to finish 10th out of 99 runners. Trabuco Hills had the top four runners of the race including winner Aaren Cadieux who posted a 19:43.
Malisa Lewis was 13th overall with a time of 21:07, in front of teammate Cooper Mitchell in 17th at 21:14. Katie Flachsbart was 20th overall after she crossed the finish line in a time of 21:18. NHS's Ashley Lindstrom was five places back at 21:39.
The Lady Texans were also led by Chynna Hart and Krystin Lindstrom, who recorded times of 22:00 and 22:45 respectively.
