There weren’t any gold medal performances like Friday’s opening day, but Texas Panhandle teams and athletes still made quite the impact as well as the medal haul during Saturday’s final running at the UIL state cross country meet at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.
Class 3A
The Dalhart Lady Wolves and the Canadian Lady Cats both had shining moments during Saturday’s race.
The Lady Wolves, the District 1-3A champions, were able to find the medal stand placing third overall with 148 points. Region I champion Holliday was the team state champion with an impressive 35 points.
Circe Johnson led the Lady Wolves finishing 15th overall with a time of 12:20.4. Teammate Lylianah Flores followed in 24th place with a 12:39.5.
The Canadian Lady Cats finished 11th as a team, however, senior Konnar McClendon left her mark on a course she is very familiar with. McClendon, one of the best to ever wear a Canadian cross-country uniform, placed fourth individually running a strong race clocking a new personal-best time of 11:24.21.
McClendon was making her fourth straight appearance at the UIL cross country meet ending her career with her best finish. She previously placed seventh individually as a freshman.
On the boys’ side, Canadian’s Joseph Dominguez was the lone Amarillo-area representative. Dominguez came in 28th with a time of 16:52.6.
Class 1A
Booker’s Adrian Rosales was the highlight during the UIL Class 1A boys race Saturday morning.
The Kiowa senior and talented runner placed fourth individually earning a time of 17:00.3. Behind Rosales’ effort, the Kiowas scored 161 points to come in sixth as a team with 161 points. Complimenting Rosales was teammate Julian Barton who placed 18th (18:09.5)
Texline and Boys Ranch also competed at the state meet. Micah Holman paced the Roughriders running past the finish line in 11th overall with a 17:31.2. Texline’s Will Clay was 25th thanks to a time of 18:30.3.
In the girls’ race, the Texline Lady Tornadoes found a place on the medal stand getting a bronze with a third-place score of 153 points. Nazareth was right behind Texline in fourth with 163 points.
Freshman Christy Young was strong for Texline placing 19th with a run time of 13:03.3. Nazareth’s Jolee Pigg had the best time for the Swiftettes at 13:13 for a 26th place finish.
Individually, the Texas Panhandle had quite the showing. Claude’s Shaelee Brannon earned a top 10 placing coming in ninth pacing a time of 12:28.3. That led all Amarillo-area athletes at the 1A level. Hope McLain of Kress was 12th (12:50), and Silverton’s Melody Rampley was 18th (13:01.6).
Class 5A
Two Amarillo ISD competitors were able to showcase their talents Saturday during the UIL Class 5A state cross country race.
Palo Duro’s Abdirisak Saidgurhan ended his stellar season placing 22nd overall with a strong time of 16:08.4. Saidgurhan was the District 3-5A champion and placed third at the Region I-5A meet.
On the girls side, Amarillo High’s Kinley Davis was the lone competitor from the Texas Panhandle. Davis clocked a time of 20:17.
For a look at the full results from Saturday’s UIL cross country meet, please visit https://mychiptime.com/uil_xc.php?theID=14714