Early season showdowns between District 12 5A Boys teams and Region II 5A qualifiers gives us an idea of what we can expect in late October and early November and 2A Bruceville Eddy Boys and Llano 3A girls show they are ready to make another run at the State title.
Heights Knights showed they have what it takes to be a contender. With 2 out of state transfers they have moved up the 12 5A ladder and an opportunity to compete at the II 5A Regional meet. Belton High School, last years 3rd place finisher in district 12 5A, found out it will have its work cut out for them to make its 5th consecutive trip to the Region II 5A championship in 2009. 12 5A boys may be one of the toughest district battles in the State with the addition of the Knights to the post season picture. The Knights placed 5 in the top 30 to edge out Belton by 7 points, Ellison edged Belton last week and A&M consolidated is sure return a strong squad. . 4A’s Drevon Anderson dominated the 3 mile course and the competition winning by 18 seconds and improving his time from last year by almost 30 seconds.
On the 4A/5A girls side region rivals Belton and McNeil put on a great show with Belton just edging McNeil by 5 points. McNeil and Belton show how tight it will be again this year in the “Region of Death.” Belton a state qualifier in 2008 and currently ranked #7 in the South Region showed it’s versatility with it’s 4-6 runners changing places from a week ago and its #5 runner Alejandra Marquez passing more than 15 with less than 200M to go to ensure the win. Belton’s Regan Tindell dominated the field as she has done on this course the past 3 years and won by 20 seconds. McNeil’s Taylor Beer showed she is ready qualifying individually for State if her team doesn’t with a strong showing early in the season. Both teams will face each other again next weekend in College Station.
2A Bruceville Eddy Boys beat the predominantly 3A field to show they are on their way to a repeat visit to state. The Eagles had 5 finishers in the top 20 in the race and held off 3A Vandergrift for the win. Llano’s Marcos Vallejo won the race with the fastest boys time of the day (15:52) over McGregor’s Daniel Garcia.
3A’s, 2008 State Qualifier, Llano Girls had a tight battle with 2A Salado. The difference in the race was largely due to the performance of Kara Mack who finished 2nd in the race and helped her team edge out Salado by 10. Celeste Meyer from Florence won the race in a time of 12:10.
It was a great meet with over 700 high school athletes competing in 8 divisions.