By ADAM KING Chronicle Correspondent • Making it in: Roberts qualified for state with a ninth-place time of 16 minutes, 3.68 seconds over the 3-mile course at North Harris College last week. • Quotable: "I felt mentally prepared for this race. I thought out my plan what to do to make it to state. I could have done a little better and try to make top five, but just making state was a major goal for me" — Roberts
Dylan Roberts' disappointing performance during the District 19-5A Cross Country Championships was put to rest with the junior's top-10 finish and state berth earned at the regionals last Saturday.
Roberts is the first Stratford male runner to reach the state meet, which will be held at 11:10 a.m. Saturday at Round Rock.
He finished third at the district meet on Oct. 26 while he and half his teammates battled a bacterial infection, and coach Janice King-Jones was hoping they would recover in time for regionals.
"I didn't feel too good during my race and I didn't have that urge to go forward and win district," said Roberts, who said the weather, sickness and previous injuries combined to wear him down. "I didn't feel confident after district, but after my workouts, I felt more confident going into regionals."