H.S. cross country: Tascosa Rebels, Randall Lady Raiders win large-school meet

The Tascosa boys cross country team is still undefeated after seven years against local and area competition - barely.

And the Randall Lady Raiders, running two junior varsity runners on the varsity, are still undefeated this year.

In the boys race, Tascosa, led by freshman Briggs Whittlake's first place finish in 16 minutes and 55 seconds over the 5-kilometer course, won the 40th Annual Amarillo Cross Country Invitational for the seventh consecutive time Saturday at Thompson Park with 43 points, just ahead of Canyon with 44 points. Amarillo High finished third with 93 points.

In the girls race, Randall freshman Karyss Betzen won her second varsity race in 20:09.59 to lead the Lady Raiders to an easy victory with 42 points, well ahead of second-place Tascosa with 73 points and third-place Amarillo High with 77 points.

For the Rebels and Lady Raiders, overcoming runners enduring a bad day proved vital.

Tascosa's Reid Splawn, the Rebels No. 1 runner the past two years, struggled to a 10th-place overall finish in 17:45, which was more than a minute slower than his second-place time in this meet last year.

"I'm not sure what happened to Reid," Tascosa coach Sean Hargrove said. "But give credit to Canyon. Any time you put your sixth runner in front of other teams' fifth runners, you're going to win some meets. We're fortunate."

Amarillo High's Cade Cobb finished second, and Canyon's Kole Bryan and Treat Allison took third and fourth. A key for Tascosa, though, was Anthony Navarret and Matthew Noriega finishing seventh and eighth, just ahead of Canyon's Joseph Travino in ninth to help Tascosa secure the narrow win despite Splawn's off day.

For Canyon, which was expected to have a rebuilding year after losing the top two runners to graduation on a team that missed a state berth by one point, the narrow loss was a pleasant surprise.

"I challenged them to go out faster, and we averaged 5:25 in the first mile," Canyon coach Wes Kirton said. "We're gaining confidence. I like what I'm seeing, and we'll learn more next week at the Lubbock Invitational (about) where we stand in the region."

In the girls race, Betzen won easily by 24 seconds over Amarillo High's Kirstie Smith, who finished second in 20:33 when she passed Lubbock High's Jennifer Quasim, who fell in the last 100 meters. But depth and overcoming a fallen runner led Randall to another victory.

Despite No. 2 runner Samantha Jones going down on the course and not being able to finish the race, the Lady Raiders put all of their five scoring runners among the top 15, with Bernise Altamirano finishing fifth and usual junior varsity runners Adriana Martinez and Kameron Johnston finishing ninth and 14th respectively in the field of 57 runners.

That Mel Dewey, running her first race, but as an individual nonscorer for the Lady Raiders, finished 13th and the team is still running without last year's best runner, Erika DeWitt, had Lady Raider coach Rebekah James excited about her team's chances to make a fourth consecutive state meet appearance.

"We're getting good senior leadership (from Bernise and Denise Altamirano and Samantha Jones), and our JV is really good, and makes everyone better," James said in explaining the team's three wins this year. "The JV want to run varsity, and today we had an eighth runner (Mel Dewey), and she would have scored."

Bernise Altamirano said, "This is the hardest we've worked in the four years I've run. We have a good team."

DeWitt is healing from a leg injury. James said she expects DeWitt to run with the junior varsity next weekend in Lubbock.

40th Annual Amarillo

Cross Country Invitational

Boys large-school 5K

Teams: 1. Tascosa 43; 2. Canyon 44; 3. Amarillo High 93; 4. Plainview 107; 5. Lubbock Coronado 116; 6. Hereford 151; 7. Dumas 171; 8. Caprock 206.

Individuals (top 20 of 70): 1. Briggs Whittlake, Tascosa, 16:55; 2. Cade Cobb, Amarillo, 17:11; 3. Kole Bryan, Canyon, 17:17; 4. Treat Allison, Canyon, 17:25; 5. Jarel Rosas, Plainview, 17:26; 6. Ashton Nichaols AHS, 17:28; 7. Anthony Navarrete, Tascosa, 17:29; 8. Matthew Noriega, Tascosa, 17:41; 9. Joseph Trevino, Canyon, 17:43; 10. Reid Splawn, Tascosa, 17:45; 11. Iziah Hernandez, Coronado, 17:48; 12 Dylan Knight, Canyon, 17:49; 13. Gabe Ramirez, Hereford, 17:55; 14. Gamaliel Rodarte, Palo Duro, 17:56; 15. Ricardo Flores, Plainview, 18:02; 16. Jacob Wilhelm, Canyon, 18:04; 17. Derek Weick, Hartley, 18:07; 18. Tony Martinez, Tascosa, 18:09; 19. Chase Green, Coronado, 18:10; 20. Will Manning, Tascosa 18:11.

Girls large-school 5K

Teams: 1. Randall 42; 2. Tascosa 73; 3. Amarillo High 77; 4. Hereford 87; 5. Lubbock High 138; 6. Plainview 162; 7. Lubbock Coronado 165; 8. Lubbock Monterey 171; 9. Dumas 238.

Individuals (top 15 of 57): 1. Karyss Betzen, Randall, 20:10; 2. Kirstie Smith, Amarillo High, 20:33. 3. Jennifer Quasim, Lubbock, 20:35; 4. Maarkasha Richardson, Tascosa, 20:56; 5. Bernise Altamirano, Randall, 20:59; 6. Sabrina Desantiago, Monterey, 21:14; 7. Seselia Dala, Tascosa, 21:19; 8. Hollee Ratliff, Tascosa, 21:24; 9. Adriana Martinez, Randall, 21:26; 10. Michelles Rives, Hereford, 21:28; 11.Tayor Fell, Lubbock, 21: 36; 12. Heather Maldonado, Hereford, 21:43; 13. Mel Dewey, Randall, 21:50; 14. Kameron Johnston, Randall, 21:55; 15. Denise Altamirano, Randall, 21:56.