The Atascocita girl cross country team poses for a photo prior to the 2023 Hoka/McNeil Inv.
Amy Pitzel coached track and field and cross country for 16 years and her most recent stint was at Katy Tompkins in Katy ISD. She led the Tompkins girls to three consecutive UIL 6A state meet team qualifications in 2017, 2018, and 2019 with a 2017 Region 3-6A team championship and runner-up finishes in 2018 and 2019.
Pitzel was named Gulf Coast Scholastic Track and Field Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 2017.This is the second season where she selects Texas high school coaches and/or athlete(s) throughout the season to discuss a variety of topics.
Welcome to Pitzel's Picks after the Region races edition! I was able to sit down with Humble Atascocita Girls and their Coach Todd Symons and assistant, Coach Schulz. I interviewed the boys' team last year, but so excited to talk to Atascocita Girls.
Senior, Summer Call, has now qualified for State all four years as an individual and now will be joined by her whole team!
This is the first time in school history that the Atascocita Girls have qualified for State as a team and they did it in style by being the region runner-ups behind Kingwood.
Atascocita has stood out since the start of the season with a second place finish in the Elite division at The Woodlands Friday Night Lights and have since won the Atascocita Invite and the Region 3 Preview. They earned an impressive fourth place finish at Hoka/McNeil Invitational and then second at district, second at region and are now state meet qualifiers!
At the Region 3 Meet, Summer Call finished seventh with a new PR of 18:24, Taryn Hogarth (10) finished 13th with a new PR of 18:36 and was the top freshmen finisher in the Region. Delaney Lopez (12) finished 21st with a new PR of 19:07 and Addison Lopez (11) finished 23rd with a PR of 19:07. The team was rounded out by junior Callie Eisenmenger and sophomores, Avery Heinrich and Zoe Mohr.
Please enjoy this interview as the team and coaches share their favorite workouts, what is special about this group, what it means to them to make history as a team and how they feed off the calming energy of Coach Symons. Look for them in their special pink State shirts (even Coach Symons) and expect them to make a great showing at State!