The Woodlands boys, Montgomery girls win 12-6A titles
THE WOODLANDS — The Woodlands coach Juris Green had to think about the question for a second. There had been many other district championships throughout the history of the program, and he was trying to put a number on the title his team won on Thursday at College Park High School.
“That should be 37,” Green finally replied. “I’m starting to lose count — I guess that’s a good problem to have.”
The Highlanders, aiming for a third straight state championship this season, beat out the rest of the field by 10 places to secure the 12-6A title. The Woodlands finished with a score of 29, followed by College Park (39), Montgomery (71), Oak Ridge (111), Conroe (161) and Lufkin (169).
The Woodlands, College Park and Montgomery all advanced to regionals.
“We come here with an agenda, and really, it’s just checking a box,” Green said. “There’s not a lot of excitement and a lot of rev — we treat this like a workout more than anything else, but they come out with a lot of composure and the best they can, stick to their game plan. … We’re really confident and happy because we know we’re going to be ramping up from here on out.”
The Woodlands was led by individual district champion Gavin Hoffpauir, who crossed the finish line at 15 minutes, 33.56 seconds. He was followed in line by teammates Ethan Mercado (2nd, 15:39.90), Matthew Jones (7th, 1:55.40), Michael Childree (8th, 15:56.34) and Daniel Baker (10th, 16:00.52), who rounded out the Highlanders’ scoring group.
“I think the team actually improved quite a bit from Nike South,” Hoffpauir said. “We had a couple guys that were feeling a little down at Nike South, so this week, I think everybody’s getting up to par, and I think we’re going to move right on to regionals.”
College Park was led by Robert Kraus, who took second place overall with a time of 15 minutes, 37.97 seconds. He was followed by teammates Bradley Pease (4th, 15:41.47), Zackery Williams (6th, 15:54.22), Jeffery Black (13th, 16:17.59) and William Hardham (14th, 16:24.66).
Alec Wright led the charge for Montgomery, clocking in at 15 minutes, 42.68 seconds for fifth place overall. He was followed by teammates Luke Watkins (9th, 16:00.09), Braden Kilgore (17th, 16:41.90), Tyler Mattfeld (19th, 16:52.03) and William Sample (21st, 16:54.84).
LADY BEARS TRIUMPH
As Montgomery cross country coach Chance Edwards took his first glance at the final results from the District 12-6A championships on Thursday morning, a certain weight seemed to be lifted from his shoulders and a smile spread across his face.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Edwards said.
The Montgomery girls captured their first district title since moving up to Class 6A back in 2014, collecting a score of 41 to beat out College Park (41) by just seven places. The Woodlands (54), Oak Ridge (77) and Conroe (143) rounded out the standings.
Montgomery, College Park and The Woodlands all punched their tickets to the Region II-6A championships to be held at Lynn Creek Park in Prairie View on Oct. 3.
“It means a lot,” Edwards said. “It’s one of our goals on the board. We have several goals this year for the boys and the girls teams, and this was definitely one of them in the process of accomplishing what we want to accomplish. … I could tell yesterday by their body language and the way they were acting that they were going to have a good day today, and they came out and they killed it.”
The Lady Bears were led by individual district champion Halena Rahmaan, who topped the rest of the 36-runner field with a time of 17 minutes, 59.18 seconds on the 5K course. She was followed by teammate Allison Wilson, who took second place at 18 minutes, 11.25 seconds.
Rian Babin (7th place, 19:34.59), Hannah Rahmaan (8th, 19:35.18) and Abigail Wilson (23rd, 21:10.56) rounded out the Lady Bears’ team score contributors.
“This year, we’ve been focusing more on togetherness as a team,” Rahmaan said. “Me and Allison, we’ll run together more and we’ll run all together as a team more, and it really pushes us and makes us better. … I’m very impressed, and I’m very happy for our team.”
College Park was led by Madeline Orr, who took fourth place with a time of 18 minutes, 20.75 seconds. She was followed by teammates Robyn Kowalski (5th, 19:03.59), Jessica Myers (10th, 19:45.09), Ysabelle Tugano (14th, 20:10.69) and Kathryn Lyon (15th, 20:12.15).
The Woodlands was led by Liz Davidson, who clocked in at 19 minutes, 27.84 seconds to claim sixth place overall. She was followed by teammates Celeste McCabe (9th, 19:43.56), Delaney May (11th, 19:53.03), Kate Pittenger (12th, 20:01.69) and Adriana Iademarco (16th, 20:15.81).
Sophie Lasswell of Oak Ridge qualified for the regional meet individually, finishing third overall with a time of 18 minutes, 12.50 seconds.