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 season, she will pick Texas high school coaches and athletes throughout the season to discuss a variety of topics.
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For another edition of Pitzel's Picks, please welcome Friendswood Boys and Girls teams and their coach, Ty Bush.
Friendswood has become a mainstay at the state meet, but they are looking to make a statement this year and not just satisfied to be there. Coach Bush is in his fourth year of coaching and an alum of Friendswood High School.
He is a young coach, but already doing things with this team. It is not just what they are doing in cross country, but they are improving so much in track every year and it is making them an overall program that is on the rise. Friendswood is a 5A school, but has been challenging themselves all season by running against the best of the best. They have recently competed at McNeil Invitational in the Elite division.
Coach Bush describes his team as an "absolute family" and having an "exceptional level of dedication." The team trains as one and feels it makes the whole team much stronger.
In 2023, Friendswood Boys were District Champs, 2nd in the Region and seventh at State. This season they were second at Mustang Invite, Team Champs at Atascocita Invite, fourth at Region III Preview, and began the season as the 10th place team in the Milesplit Preseason teams.
The girls team were, also, District Champs in 2023, and then were fourth at Region and 16th at State. They are having a great season this year and finished 2nd at Mustang Invite beating Magnolia and Atascocita, Team Champs at Atascocita Invite (where the fifth girl was in by 11th place) and second place at the Region III Preview. Right now, when looking at rankings by time. Friendswood girls are sitting second in the Region.
The boys are lead by Senior Austin Reha and Juniors Aiden Lowery and Aiden Fitzgerald. Both Reha and Lowery were on the State qualifying team in 2023 and have 5K PR's of 17:04 and 16:07, respectively. They are a big part of why this team is running so well. You have probably heard of Aiden Fitzgerald as he had a breakout year last year by finishing 11th at State for XC and 4th at State in the 3200m with a time of 9:12. He just recently finished top 10 in 9th at Nike South Elite so he is continuing to run at a high level as he leads this team.
The girls' side is younger, but still very experienced. Sophomore Kennedy Rhodes and Junior Charlie Tran were at the State Meet with the team last year and Junior Addison Sapp has made it the past two years. Kennedy has been a solid top 5 finisher for this team and is wise beyond her years. Her race mentality is, "You do as good as you believe you will do." Tran feels stronger this year and it is showing in her race results. She says they have worked as a group to focus less on increasing mileage and more on quality of those miles. Addison Sapp has burned up the track the last two years with times of 2:17 in the 800m and 5:16 in the 1600m and she is proving to be a consistent front runner in races this fall.