Hi it’s Oceane, back to report the 2014 cross country season! We’ve already seen some amazing performances early on in the season and lots of great potential. Today I will be recapping those top performances, as well as giving my predictions for the season.
On the girls side, sophomore Ashton Endsley is dominating the rankings with a blazing 17:40 5k at the Tall City Invitational. Endsley also beat out last year’s 5A state champion Paige Hofstad with a close win at the Flower Mound Invitational with a time of 18:17.
Devin Clark is the top girl’s returner for this season, and she got off with a fantastic start at the New Braunfels Invitational where she finished the 2 mile race 40 seconds ahead of the second place finisher running a time of 10:33. This is the fastest 2 mile cross country time in the nation so far.
We’ve also seen some great things from sophomore Julia Heymach, who won The Woodlands Friday Nights Lights Invitational 2 mile with a time of 11:09, and another victory at the Houston Lamar meet with a 5k time of 17:42.
Other great performances from this new season are Madeleine Reed’s 18:15 victory at the Marcus I Invitational, Marisa Ibarra’s 11:13 2nd place finish at the New Braunfels Invitational and freshman Laura Fairchild’s 18:25 victory at the Southlake Carroll Invitational.
Moving onto the boys, junior Carter Blunt made a big statement at the Marcus I Invitational, running a blazing time of 15:18. And as if that wasn’t fast enough, he took the win at the Southlake Carroll Invitational with a time of 15:02! That ranks him 3rd in the country, and the number one junior in the country.
David Strome took second at the Southlake Carroll Invitational, also running a great time of 15:19. In fact, the Southlake Carroll Invitational had 19 boys under 16 minutes. That’s actually ridiculous.
So apart from those 19 boys under 16 minutes at the Southlake Carroll Invitational, we saw some great talent from Kody Anderson at the Perkins Cross Country Meet where he ran 15:25, followed by Treat Anderson running 15:31. Ryan Flores, 2A state runner-up in the 1600 & 3200, won the Lockhart Invitational and I was able to interview him after his race.
As for team scoring, Southlake Carroll girls are ranked number one, with only 57 seconds separating their top 7 runners, all sub-20 minute 5kers. Southlake Carroll boys are also ranked first, with four runners under 16 minutes and only 39 seconds separating 1st-7th.
The Girls Top Performer for the early season goes to...Ashton Endsley, for running three incredible races and setting a 5k PR of 17:40.
The Boys Top Performer goes to…Carter Blunt. This was an easy pick, because who else ran a 15:02 5k and won both the Marcus I Invitational and the Southlake Carroll Invitational?
Congrats to everyone mentioned, and this should be an exciting year. My predictions for this season are written out below. Tune in next week for another recap and interviews from the St Andrews Invitational. Thank you for watching Stride by Stride.
Predictions:
Top 5 Girls Overall
1. Devin Clark
2. Paige Hofstad
3. Julia Heymach
4. Ashton Endsley
5. Madie Boreman
Top 5 Boys Overall
1. Carter Blunt
2. Erik Wingfield
3. David Strome
4. Eli Canal
5. Alex Rogers
