Rice leads Canyon to title

Arin Rice made beans Saturday out of the best times at Thompson Park in the last 17 years as she covered the 2-mile course in 11:38.5 to help Canyon defend its Amarillo Invitational Cross Country Meet title.

Rice, the defending class 4A 800 meter state champion and 1600 meter bronze medalist, along with teammates Karah Diaz and C.J. Frizzell, claimed the top three positions in the 41-runner field to lead Canyon with 25 points. District 3-4A rivals Randall (39 points) and Hereford (83) followed.

"I don't think anyone has ever run better than 11:52 before today," said Lady Eagles coach Ray Baca, who has coached in the area for 17 years. "We ran well, and C.J. Frizzell ran her best ever."

With no official records kept during the past 40 years, whether Rice's time was the best in history isn't as important to her or her coach as is her improvement.

"That time is 51 seconds faster than last year," Baca said. "Arin's a lot more focused and willing to sell out to what we're doing."

Rice agreed with her coach.

"I'm working a lot harder," Rice said.

Canyon, ranked first in the Cross Country Coaches Association of Texas preseason poll, dropped to second in the poll released Friday, with Randall remaining third and Hereford moving to seventh.

Baca took notice.

"I challenged them to work on individual improvement, and they did," Baca said.

Boys 4A-5A

Tascosa senior Austin Crawford finished first in 16:57.83, just ahead of Randall's Blake Robertson (16:58.48) and Canyon's Mesa Allison (16:58.79), to lead the Rebels to the team title.

Tascosa put all of its five scoring runners in the top seven with Jacob Campos, Merritt Vaughn, Reid Splawn and Edmund Pine claiming the fourth through seventh positions, respectively, to win with 23 points, ahead of Canyon (60) and Amarillo High (72.)

Crawford, who finished second last year, missed the track season and much of summer training with leg injuries.

"I've only been running for six weeks," Crawford said. "I lost most of the summer."

Class 1A-3A

Quinlin McGregor of Highland Park and Audrey Shelton of Clarendon repeated as individual champions in the small-school division.

Sunray again won the girls' title, and Boys Ranch put all of its scoring runners among the top 12 to claim the boys' title.

Shelton, an individual state qualifier as a sophomore, covered the course in 12:58.89 - ahead of another state qualifier, Chelsea Bass of Farwell, who claimed second in 13:01.66.

Bushland, led by Cortnie Grauel's third-place finish, took second with 64.

McGregor, eighth at state last year, cramped near the 2-mile mark, but held on to win in 17:38.13 - ahead of Claude's Kevin Griffin, who finished 18th at state last year in Class 1A.

Boys Ranch won as Joe Teachout and Cody Livengood finished third and fifth, respectively. Highland Park was second with 70 points, and Tulia was third with 75.

"We ran a great team race," Boys Ranch coach Kenneth Brown said.

40th Annual Amarillo Invitational Cross Country Meet

at Thompson Park

Class 4A-5A Girls: 1. Canyon 25; 2. Randall 39; 3. Hereford 83; 4. Amarillo High 85; 5. Tascosa 136; 6. 182.

Individuals (41 finishers): 1. Arin Rice, Canyon 11:38.53; 2. Karah Diaz, Canyon 12:09.07; 3. C.J. Frizzell, Canyon 12:11. 31; 4. Erika DeWitt, Randall 12:15.11; 5. Rachel Lusk, Randall 12:29.12; 6. Heather Maldonado, Hereford 12:35.32; 7. Emily Craft, Randall 12:44.49; 8.Courtney Karr, Canyon 12:45.29; 9. Kirstie Smith, Amarillo, High 1249.50; 10. Bernise Altamirino, Randall 12;50.62; 11. Thea Coffman, Canyon 12:56.21; 12. Jenny Taylor, Amarillo High 12:58.24; 13. Denise Altamirano, Randall 13:04.98; 14. Megan Marquez, Hereford 13:06.61; 15. Samantha Jones, Randall 13:13.73.

Class 1A-3A Girls: 1. Sunray 51; 2. Bushland 64; 3. Clarendon 70; 4. Farwell 98; 5. Stratford 151; 6. Boys Ranch 157; 7. Panhandle 195; 8. Vega 220; 9. Nazareth 222; 10. Claude 230; 11. Dimmitt 288.

Individuals (82 finishers): 1. Audrey Shelton, Clarendon 12:58.89; 2. Chelsea Bass, Farwell 13:01.66; 3. Cortnie Grauel, Bushland 13:12.95; 4. Kaley Green, Sunray 13:14.96; 5. Jordon Molnar, Panhandle 13:18.37; 6. Melissa Corbin, Sunray 13:20.44; 7. Mayra Trejo, Sunray 13:32.24; 8. Christian Gonzalez, Sunray 13:37.07; 9. Kathy Saenz, Farwell 13:41.12; 10. Maritza Hernandez, Tulia 13:42.22; 11. Morgan Lackey, Bushland 13:47.76; 12. Madison Hoelting, Tulia 1350.24; 13. Sarah Lutrell, Clarendon 13:54.74; 14. Kenzie Schafffer, Bushland 13:56.39; 15. Kaitlyn Copeland, Claude 13:57.34.

Class 4A-5A Boys: 1. Tascosa 23; 2. Canyon 60; 3. Amarillo High 72; 4. Randall 101; 5. Caprock 128.

Individuals (45 finishers): 1. Austin Crawford, Tascosa 16:57.83; 2. Blake Robertson, Randall 16:58.48; 3. Mesa Allison, Canyon 16:58.79; 4. Jacob Campos Tascosa 17:10.82; 5. Merritt Vaughn, Tascosa 17:10.82; 6. Reid Splawn, Tascosa 17:21.79; 7. Edmund Pine, Tascosa 17:22.06; 8. Kole Bryan, Canyon 17:33.72; 9. Juan Duque, Hereford 17:34.73; 10. Paul Crawford, Tascosa 17:35; 11. Anthony Navarrette, Tascosa 17:49.97; 12. Seth Wright, Amarillo High 18:00.75; 13. David Boyd, Amarillo High, 18:01.42; 14. Matthew Noriega, Tascosa 18:02.56; 15. Gamaliel Rodarte, Palo Duro 18:03.88.

Class 1A-3A Boys: 1. Boys Ranch 26; 2. Highland Park 70 3. Tulia 75; 4. Bushland 102; 5. Boys Ranch Blue 110; 6. Panhandle 128.

Individuals: 1. Quinlin McGregor, Highland Park 17:38.13; 2. Kevin Griffin, Claude 17:43.26; 3. Joe Teachout, Boys Ranch 18:37.55; 4. Juan Barrera, Tulia 19:02.92; 5. Cody Livengood 19:06.67; 6. Grayson Gonzales, Stratford 19:11.02; 7. Chance Helms, Texline 19:12.22; 8. Jorge Cruz, Boys Ranch 119:13.34; 9. Jared Vogler, Bushland 19:19.24; 10. Devon Razo, Boys Ranch 19:19:74; 11. Julio Loya, Sunray 19:25.57; 12. Jacob Myers, Boys Ranch 19:33.64; 13. Andrew Pacino, Boys Ranch 19:53.77; 14. Brenden Harris, Highland Park 20:01.02; 15. Elizalde Kristobal, Highland Park 20:02.85.

Junior Varsity Girls: Team Champion: Randall 49. Individuals: (156 runners) 1. Emily Martinez, Canyon 13:22; 2. Madison Matlock, Randall 13:30; 3. Micah Cordova 13:31.51.

Junior Varsity Boys: Team Champion : Tascosa 21. Individuals (74 runners): 1. Christian Cobb, Canyon 19:25.32; 2. Riley Hamell, Tascosa 19:29.28; 3. Chris Connell, Tascosa 19:39.78.

Perryton Wolf Creek Classic

The Spearman Lynxettes, the three-time defending class 2A state champions, won the Perryton Wolf Creek Classic at Wolf Creek Park Saturday with 46 points.

Gruver finished second.

Sasha Kent of Boise City, Okla. won the individual title in 12:32.

Perryton's Fabian Mercado defended his individual championship in 16:16.

Perryton Wolf Creek Classic

Girls: 1. Spearman 46; 2. Gruver 54 3. Perryton 71. 4. Dodge City, Kan. 139; 5. Dalhart 149; 6. Pampa 150; 7. Boise City, Okla. 164; 8. Borger 179; 9. Hooker, Okla. 224; 10. Canadian 242; 11. White Deer 264; 12. Booker 346; 13. Beaver, Okla. 351; 14. Texhoma, Okla. 388.

Individuals (98 finishers): 1. Sasha Kent Boise City 12:32 2. Tylo Farrar, Spearman 12:43; 3. Jaylee Mays, Balko, Okla 12:58; 4. Gately Garnett, Spearman 13:07; 5. Lupita Martinez, Perryton 13:08; 6. Madison McLain, Gruver 13:14; 7. Sara Smith, Dalhart 13:16; 8. Shelley Gibson, Gruver 13:19; 9. Sarah Snider, Spearman 13:21; 10. Reagan Haynes, Gruver 13:26; 11. Mallory Martin, Spearman 13:28; 12. Macy Hubbard, Perryton 13:30; 13. Nancy Zubia, Dumas 13:34; 14. J'Cee Holmes, Pampa 13:4;1 15. Taylor Felderhoff, Gruver 13:43.

Boys: 1.Dodge City, Kan. 39 2. Perryton 51 3. Borger 72 4. Beaver, Okla. 106 5. Dumas 132; 6. Gruver 177; 7. Dalhart 180; 8. Hartley 200; 9. Hooker, Okla. 203; Darrouzett 321

Individuals (94 finishers): 1. Fabian Mercado, Perryton 16:16 2. Luis Chavez, Beaver, Okla. 17: 33; 3. Trent McNear, Pampa 17:35; 4. Ulises Lopez, Perryton 17:39; 5. Elliott Webb, Canadian 17:40; 6. Anthony Carmona, Dodge City 17:46; 7. Oscar Carmona, Dodge 17:51 8. Luis Carmona, Dodge City 17:52 9. Lane Newcomb, Borger 17:59 10. Miguel Mendez, Dumas 18:06 11. Grant Boren, Borger 18:23; 12. Alex Carrasco, Perryton 18:25; 13. Elder Collindres, Dodge City, Kan. 18:28; 14. Aaron Smith, Borger 18:29; 15. Jonathan Rendon, Dodge City, Kan. 18:41.