For a second straight year, the Ascension Academy boys’ cross country team had quite the showing during the TAPPS Class 2A state cross country meet Monday at the Cottonwood Creek Golf Course in Waco.

The Cardinals finished second overall as a team for a second straight year totaling 89 points finishing behind state champion Lubbock Southcrest, which tallied 49 points.

Ascension Academy keeps its strong tradition of placing at the state meet with a girls’ or boys’ team placing in the top five over the past 16 years.

Standout Roman Martinez was the highlight of the meet for the Cardinals. Martinez, running on the 3.2 mile course, was very strong placing second overall to grab an individual silver medal with a time of 16:58.1 Teammate Leopaldo Zubia followed in 15th place with an 18:52.15.

“Roman (Martinez) has been a consistent force for us all year,” Ascension Academy head coach David Sanders said. “We knew he had a good shot at getting second if he ran smart, and he did. Roman, flanked by our three seniors, made us feel like we had a good chance in the team standings, which was proven right.”

While the Lady Cardinals didn’t have a team participating at the state meet, a pair of Ascension Academy runners shined with top 10 performances. Kathleen Bartley led the Lady Cardinals crossing the finish line in sixth place clocking a time of 13:48.2, while teammate Joelle Brewer finished 10th running a 14:37.7.

“Kathleen (Bartley) been running great all year,” Sanders said. “We were surprised Joelle finished in the top 10. She has been dealing with an injury since the second meet of the season, so we are so proud of both of them.”

Reagan Sparkman of The Oak Christian Amarillo was the TAPPS Class 1A state individual champion pacing the field with a time of 17:00.3.

Check out the results

For a look at the results from the TAPPS state cross country meet, please visit: https://live.athletic.net/meets/58208