The El Paso Franklin girls are having a good 2019 season. As a team, Franklin is currently ranked as the #10 team in the state in terms of team 5K averages.
The girls from out west have a young team and they're using their youth and inexperience to get the experience they'll need for the latter parts of the season.
Cross country is all about the team. Training together and running together to get the lowest score and run as fast and tight as you can each meet. Franklin is showing they have that team dynamic.
Their junior stand out Eva Jess is the elder statesman of the group. Her 18:05 SB leads the team, but she now has some back up from the team. Sophomores Jordan Torres and Jenna Saunders both have already PRed this season and provide a solid punch at the 2-3 spots.
The rest of the Cougars' top seven is made up four freshmen with Alyssa Laspada, Sofia Camacho, Shani Malone, and Shani Malone and they have helped produce a team 5K average of 19:58, so far this year. Their plus two minute split is indicative of their top runner's awesomeness and her 18:05 SB. However, the rest of the squad is only just over a minute within one another with a 1:02 2-5 runner split.
This past weekend, at the Rudolfo "Rudy" Alvarez Invitational, Franklin used an impressive race to score just 27 points. They placed four runners in the top 10 and their fifth runner was 11th overall.
A race of that magnitude was needed as they were in an intense city battle with Eastwood. They would need the impact from each runner as the race came down to five points to decide the win 27>32.
The experience learning is an ongoing class. Two weeks ago, Franklin and Eastwood duked it out in another close match up at Canutillo.
It was another intense meet where both teams placed four runners in the top 10 and the difference was another five point win in favor of Franklin.
The close races early on in the season could prove to be one of the things that puts the Franklin Cougars in a good position in the chase for state as a team later on this fall. By that time, they will have enough big race and tight experience to handle the championship season.
Franklin has refused to let youth hold them back this year and they could be building momentum to battle in the tough Region 1-6A Regional meet in October.