Heading into this weekend's UIL Cross Country State Championships, junior Addison Hite was entering as one of the top returners from last year's state championship race, she finished 8th place in last year's race.
This year was a bit different though, Hite was entering the race with the rest of her bearcat crew. We've seen the Pilot Point Bearcats with many state appearances in the past years, so it's no surprise that we eyed their team in this year's state meet.
Poth's freshman Brooklyn Albert played the game of sit and kick throughout the race. Hite and Sims ran neck and neck strolling through mile one at 5:52, while Albert played the cards right and waited to make her mark. Albert also carried the team to a second place team title.
3A GIRLS TWO MILE RUN FINALS PLACE ATHLETE TEAM RESULT POINTS 1 Addison Hite 11 Pilot Point 12:01.20 1 2 Brooklyn Albert 9 Poth 12:05.20 2 3 yvonne Legaretta 11 Friona 12:12.10 0 4 Sophia Bendet 10 Randolph 12:12.20 3 5 Cara Sims 9 Elysian Fields 12:12.60 0 6 Jaycee Lyons 12 Holliday 12:20.80 4 7 Marissa Lopez 12 Lytle 12:20.80 5 8 Rory Hake 11 Whitesboro 12:21.20 6 9 Aubrey Milam 10 Randolph 12:21.30 7 10 Paige Layton 12 Nacogdoches Central Heights 12:21.40 0
On the team title side, North Texas's outstanding cross country program Whitesboro came out on top finishing with a team score of 90 points.
Bib #1744 Rory Hake led the Whitesboro ladies and front pack threw the first mile at 6:06
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From the start of the gun, the Whitesboro girls were determined to put the program back to where the ladies feel they should be ranked coming into the state meet. Hake would finish eighth place overall as an individual, running a time of 12:21.20.
Albert led the Lady Pirates from Poth to a second place overall team finish where they'd later finish with 108 team points averaging out to a 12:53.
Third place would be Lytle led by both seniors Marissa Lopez and Moriah Gomez, they'd help quest the team to a third place finish to improve on last year's fourth place finish. Talk about a comeback story!
TEAM SCORES PLACE TEAM POINTS SCORERS TIMES 1 Whitesboro 90 6+12+16+18+38 (54+79) 1:09 1-5 Split | 12:50 Avg 2 Poth 108 2+10+11+41+44 (63+71) 1:30 1-5 Split | 12:53 Avg 3 Lytle 122 5+8+32+35+42 (60+62) 1:12 1-5 Split | 13:01 Avg