Katy Tompkins will be heading to Round Rock to compete at the UIL state cross country meet for both the boys and the girls squads. This is just the most recent set of firsts for the school that has only been in existence for a few years.
Last year, the boys won their first district title and followed that up this year with a repeat performance. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, the girls teams decided to get in on the act and they won their first district title making it Tompkins sweet at the district 19-6A championships.
As if that wasn't enough, both Tompkins squads were at it again at the Region III-6A meet for more of the same. The Flo50 #11 ranked Lady Falcons jump started the day off with a 81 point effort to win by 21 points over second place. The team was led by senior captain Alyssa Balandran who was the first team finisher in 11th place with a time of 19:30. Balandran was immediately followed by freshman Hayden Gold who finished in 12th place in 19:34.10.
The Tompkins girls head to the state meet on a roll as they not only won district and regionals, but they are clicking as they ran a season's best 19:49 team average and only a 56 second split.
They make no secret of trying to become the next Keller or even better. Keller is the #1 girls team in the state and #6 nationally and started out much like Tompkins is this season. The Tompkins girls top seven runners are made up of one senior in Balandran, sophomore Kat Ibarra, and five fabulous freshmen in Gold, Lauren Titus, Laura Orgeron, Grace Kohout, and Marisa Marinchak.
At the regional meet, the # 12 Flo50 Tomkins boys rode the wave of momentum from a close district race. That momentum led them to an 18 point margin victory with their 74 overall points. Like the girls, Tomkins ran a very tight pack that was evident by their 47 second split.
Senior Daniel Figueroa has led the Falcons for the last two years. His return trip to state in 2017 will have his whole team traveling right along with him. Figueroa will be joined by fellow senior Jonathan Hernandez, sophomore Cole Lindhorst, and juniors Adam Smith, Justin Duffy, and Bryce Wiley.
The best case scenario, Tompkins will make it a double trifecta with both teams winning state titles. That will be a daunting task, nevertheless nothing can be put beyond the reach of these two competitive teams.