Friendswood boys take 4th at state
ROUND ROCK — Friendswood boys cross country may be headed into a special year next fall.
With a team of all underclassmen outside of senior Seth Thompson, the Mustangs finished fourth in the UIL Class 5A state cross country meet Saturday at Old Settlers Park, compiling 157 points and missing a spot on the podium by a mere six points.
“I’m really excited and proud of these boys,” Friendswood coach Ty Bush said. “They’ve put in so much work, and to have it culminate today with a pretty good finish of fourth place — I think it’s a great place to keep building on.”
Junior Zade Kayyali finished 16th in a time of 16 minutes, 2.7 seconds to lead the Mustangs and mark the team’s lone runner in the top 20.
Thompson came in 22nd overall, with Aiden Fitzgerald, Wesley Pacifico and Nolan Fries all finishing in the top 65 of the team scoring (individuals who qualified without their team don’t count in the team standings).
“We did well on the course with knowing our ability that we have more in the tank and we can keep digging deeper and keep racing better than what we think we’re capable of,” Bush said. “It’s that mental aspect that’s one of our strengths on this course.”
Bush also noted that the Mustangs executed their strategy coming into the day to near-perfection.
“We try to maximize our pack-running for sure,” he said. “We knew we had some kids we could put up near the front of the race and keep them close together — and that’s a very solid strategy in cross country running. If we can build on that, it’s what we want to do every time.”
Friendswood’s nonscoring runners Morris Jacob and Teddy Fudge both ran decent races as well, and Bush is excited about the possibilities next year will bring.
“We’ll really miss Seth as he’s a great kid and great runner,” Bush said. “But we’ll return six of our seven guys, and we’re ready to be hungry again.”
Gordy has area’s best Day 2 finish
Lake Creek senior Carter Gordy finished 12th to mark the best showing of area runners on the day.
His time of 15:54.20 was solid, especially considering the course had more hills this year and was still drying out from overnight rain.
“I’m really happy — I’ve gotten 12th three years in a row, so I can’t complain,” he said. “My first mile was good and fast. The second mile hurt some and had most of the hills, but overall, I felt really good and the weather today was perfect.”
Lake Creek as a team finished 10th with 254 points.
Bailey, Haros lead region’s 5A girls
Kingwood Park junior Elina Bailey (19:27.60) paced the area Class 5A girls by finishing 31st.
Magnolia West junior Valerie Haros took 38th to mark the other area girl in the top 40.
In the team standings, Magnolia High (289 points) was 12th, and Kingwood Park (307) garnered 13th.
Kurtz wins medal after top-10 finish
East Bernard senior Colby Kurtz ended his prep career with a medal, finishing 10th in the Class 3A boys race with a time of 16:26.90.
In the 3,200-meter girls race, Kurtz’s teammate, East Bernard sophomore Ashlynn Lemos, (13:04.40) scored a top-50 finish by coming in 44th.