All-Area Cross Country: Houston, Pacheco tops in 2011

Published 11:42 pm Thursday, December 22, 2011

Runners never wish they were slower. So you won’t catch Dalton’s Bekah Houston or North Murray’s Isaac Pacheco harboring a secret ambition to add a few seconds to their 5K times next cross country season. But if you think being the fastest runner on the team suddenly makes one’s athletic life a breeze, then you’ve probably been stuck back in the pack for a while.

Houston and Pacheco, both juniors, put together outstanding 2011 seasons that included the top showings among area runners at state. And that was despite the fact that they were the sole representatives for their teams, having qualified out of region as individuals, and were without the support of a single teammate to run alongside them for pacing, encouragement or competition at state.

Pacheco’s time of 17 minutes, 53.06 seconds on the 3.1-mile layout at Carrollton High in the 2A boys state meet was better than anyone from Coahulla Creek, which qualified as a team. (It was also better than any of the times recorded by Dalton’s boys in the separate 3A meet.) Houston, the only area girl to qualify for state this season, clocked a 20:37.01 as she finished 14th in the 3A meet, one place better than in her sophomore season.

For their accomplishments this season, which go well beyond those strong finishes at state, Houston and Pacheco are The Daily Citizen’s All-Area Cross Country Runners of the Year. They are joined on the all-area team by Coahulla Creek’s Sadoth Fraire; Dalton’s Francisco Perez and Paxton Plunkett; and Northwest Whitfield’s Brody Cook, Jordan Jones, Karli Williams, Natalie Williams and Shelby Wilson. All-area honors were selected by The Daily Citizen’s sports staff with input from area coaches.

The speedy pair of Houston and Pacheco has learned that the famed loneliness at the top is offset by the thrill of success — and when it comes to being pushed in training, they’ve found ways to compensate.

“A lot of people have a friend to run with,” said Pacheco, who regularly has a gap of two to three minutes on his teammates come race day. “Obviously I don’t. So it’s harder for me to get better, because I really don’t have that push. It’s 100 percent up to me to push myself, because there’s really not a second factor — it’s all up to me.”

Don’t take that as a complaint. Pacheco, who’s on the all-area team for a third straight year, isn’t one to protest the amount of work he believes is necessary to reach his goals.

“I think in the long run, that helps make me faster,” he said. “When I practice, I think about time. I’m running against the clock.”

Pacheco has been doing a good job pushing the clock so far in his high school career. The only North Murray runner who has ever qualified for the state cross country meet from the third-year school — this year marked his second straight trip — he is setting a pace that has been tough for teammates to match.

He started this season with a first-place finish in a meet at Calhoun, then continued to build toward region and state. Among his more impressive performances from the regular season was a second-place showing at the Ridge Ferry Invitational in Rome, where his 16:28 marked a personal best in high school cross country competition.

Pacheco turned in what should have been a very satisfying 17:19 at the Region 7-2A meet, but the time was tempered by the place — he was second to rival Chris Akins of Model, who moved past him late in the race at Georgia Highlands College in Rome. Akins had been four seconds faster than him at Ridge Ferry.

Frustration found its way to Pacheco in the season’s final race, too, when he came down with the flu four days before the state meet. While his time there was exceptional among area runners, illness held him to a 32nd-place finish when he had eyes on something much better — and apparently realistically so, considering Akins finished second, eight seconds behind winner Jordan Flowers of Westminster.

Just as he did after the region meet, though, Pacheco has put his mind toward being better next time.

“You’re not always going to have the best race,” he said. “Now and then, you won’t do as good as you want. That’s true to every sport. It might just not be your day. But you’ve got to look forward and keep working. The defeats only encourage you to keep working.”

And working has never been a problem for Pacheco, not even without a practice partner who can match his pace. When training with the Mountaineers, Pacheco at times consciously slows down to allow the team’s next fastest runners the chance to keep up with him, a necessary exercise to build toward a future in which he’s not the lone North Murray runner at state.

Where some elite athletes might develop arrogance because of their accomplishments, Pacheco has found a desire to help teammates blaze their own path to success. North Murray coach Robin Vess, who was in her first year leading the program this year but served as an assistant under Michelle Koneman in 2010, saw Pacheco’s leadership role increase this season.

In little things like leading stretches, never missing practice and encouraging his fellow Mountaineers, Pacheco showed Vess he wants the program to grow.

“I think he’s tired of going to state by himself,” Vess said.

But Pacheco doesn’t mind some of the solitary duty that comes with being the best. He has added road races to his training regimen, finding satisfaction in competing against older runners, sometimes on longer distances. This year alone, he has captured victories at the Silver Bell Sprint 5K, the Eton Country Fair 4-Miler and the Carpet Capital 10-Miler, setting age-group state records in the latter two races.

Even during cross country season, Pacheco does some training by himself — and he’s not one to miss a day easily.

“His perseverance,” Vess said when asked about what stands out most about Pacheco. “… Back in April when we had all of those severe tornadoes, they let school out early. As I’m going home, Isaac was on the main road in front of the school practicing. He’s really dedicated.”

You can say the same of Houston, who has been chosen the area’s top runner for the second straight year after also making the team as a freshman. But an injury suffered in February that forced her to miss most of track season reminded her that there are times when there’s no choice but to scale back.

A stress fracture in Houston’s right foot (linked to overtraining) meant that she didn’t start logging her summer miles as early as she normally would, and she had to overcome some worries about getting hurt again once she started. But even an adjusted schedule couldn’t keep her from a strong year that included a third-place finish at the Region 7-3A meet, where she finished in 20:25 — five seconds behind the runner-up, but well in back of winner Natalie Espinoza-Hensley of Heritage-Catoosa, who finished in 19:44.

As a sophomore, Houston won the region title when the race was held at Dellinger Park in Cartersville. This year, the event was held at the Davis Cattle Ranch in Ringgold, where rougher terrain led to slower times all around, she said.

“As far as my times this season, I didn’t (set a personal record) at region or get the time I wanted to,” she said. “But we ran on much harder courses this year, and it was very challenging. Overall, I think it was a good season.”

Despite the injury, it was a good offseason, too. Houston attended a cross country summer camp for the first time, taking part in activities at Bryan College in Dayton, Tenn. There, she saw a video about Joan Benoit-Samuelson, the gold medalist in 1984 when the first Olympic marathon for women was held. Houston emailed the legendary runner — and surprisingly, received a quick reply of encouragement for her and her teammates as the season drew near.

Houston obviously took Benoit-Samuelson’s words seriously, following through with a year that gave no suggestion she had been nursing an injury just months before.

She finished in the top 10 of each race she entered during the regular season, including a victory at the Clear Creek Invitational in Ellijay, where she won with a course-record time of 19:48. It was her top time this season and just a second off her personal best. She was third at three Chattanooga Cross Country League races, as well as at the Cartersville Classic, where she finished in 20:20.

But there were challenges. The Lady Cats’ second fastest runner, Paxton Plunkett, battled injury this season; Carina Nieto, one of the fastest Dalton girls several years running — and The Daily Citizen’s Runner of the Year in 2008 — graduated this past spring.

That left Houston in a position similar to Pacheco, looking for someone to train alongside. But instead of slowing down, Houston moved up, sometimes training with Dalton’s boys.

“It’s not like running with girls,” Houston said. “They’re more intense and it’s a different atmosphere. Different conversations, too.”

But while Houston laughed about the differences, she valued the experience.

“I think it made me stronger and helped me get faster,” she said. “They were a great support to me this season.”

However, it wasn’t just training harder that demonstrated Houston’s maturity to Dalton coach Karen Galyon. In the wake of the injury and with the knowledge gained from the camp at Bryan College, Galyon believed she found Houston to be an even smarter runner than in the past.

That’s a key component for athletes who don’t mind discipline, but could be tempted to neglect that lingering ache.

“She’s just very driven and self-motivated,” Galyon said. “But she will take rest days now, where she used to not do that. She’s realized the value of rest after being injured. … You have that success early, and you just want to keep on with it. But sometimes you have to have the rest. That’s been a good lesson for her.”

Houston hopes to stay healthy and strong during the offseason for her return to the track, where she’s no less valuable to Dalton. She’s also planning to take weight training again next school year, something she did as a sophomore but missed out on this year.

As with everything else related to her running career, it’s about being better for whatever’s next.

“I definitely want to have a better senior year, and hopefully I’ll be able to run in college,” Houston said. “I’m just going to keep up my training.”

That’s something you can always count on Houston and Pacheco to do — even if no one else is there to keep up with them.

Here’s a look at the rest of this year’s all-area lineup:

Boys team

• Brody Cook, Northwest: Along with teammates Jordan Jones and Parker Cook (his twin brother), this junior standout formed a talented trio that spearheaded the Bruins’ success on the trail in 2011. Cook’s season peaked, appropriately, at the Region 7-4A meet, where he matched his personal best of 17:24 while placing 17th on a challenging course. In mid-October at the Front Runner Championships in Chattanooga, where Dalton and Southeast Whitfield also competed, Cook was second fastest among area runners — his 18th-place finish in 18:11 was behind only Dalton’s Francisco Perez. While he missed out on state this year, there is promise for Cook’s senior season and a return to Carrollton. This is his second straight selection to the all-area team.

• Sadoth Fraire, Coahulla Creek: The area’s newest team improved throughout the season — all the way to a spot at the Class 2A state meet — and this sophomore led the way. Fraire recorded his best time of the year with an 18:01 at the Region 7-2A meet, where he placed eighth as an individual and helped the young Colts to a second-place showing in the 13-team meet. At state, Fraire was 42nd with a time of 18:09 and helped Coahulla Creek close its inaugural campaign with a 10th-place team finish in the 2A race. But as talented as Fraire was, Colts coach Ben Williams also saluted his star runner’s drive and work ethic, seeing that as evidence of the potential for an even brighter future. This is his first all-area appearance.

• Jordan Jones, Northwest: Along with the rest of his teammates, Jones missed out on a return to state when the Bruins came up well short of a top-four finish at the Region 7-4A meet. But the senior came very close to qualifying as an individual, placing eighth in the region — the top seven individuals qualify for state — with a season-best time of 17:02. A year after he was selected The Daily Citizen’s All-Area Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year, Jones continued to impress and was consistently the top performer for the Bruins. With one final high school track season still ahead of him this spring, Jones is hoping to continue his running career in college. This is his second all-area selection since earning honorable mention as a sophomore.

• Francisco Perez, Dalton: The Catamounts were a tight group this season, and they were almost interchangeable at any given race, a factor that seemed to help push them throughout the year. But even on a roster deep with talent where it was hard to predict the Cats’ order of finish, Perez had a bit more consistency. During the regular season, the sophomore recorded a personal best of 17:03 with a second-place finish at the Clear Creek Invitational, was sixth at the Cartersville Classic and was a steady performer during the Chattanooga Cross Country League schedule. At the Region 7-3A meet, he finished sixth in 17:36 to help the Cats claim second and secure a spot at state. He was not as strong in Carrollton, finishing in 19:23 as Dalton’s fifth runner, but the Cats still secured a top-20 finish. This is his first all-area selection.

• Honorable mention: Coahulla Creek — Caleb Carlson, Blake Phillips, Junior Villareal; Dalton — Miguel Alcantar, Anthony Hernandez, Noel Salaices; Murray County — Servio Martinez, Jose Ruiz; North Murray — Jesus Cruz; Northwest Whitfield — Parker Cook; Southeast Whitfield — Marcos Arredondo, Luis Fraire, Cristian Lopez.

Girls team

• Paxton Plunkett, Dalton: It’s always disheartening when injury cuts an athlete’s year short and keeps her from having a chance to compete in the postseason. That disappointment multiplies when the injured athlete is a senior, as was the case for Plunkett this season. Despite gutting out much of the schedule with a nagging hip injury, doctor’s orders to take three weeks of rest just before region took away Plunkett’s shot for postseason glory. Her performance in 2011 was still exceptional. Plunkett was third with a season-best time of 21:43 at the Clear Creek Invitational; she was also 10th at the Cartersville Classic and among the top third in a competitive field at Chattanooga’s Front Runner Championships. This is her third straight all-area selection following an honorable mention as a freshman.

• Karli Williams, Northwest: While Northwest’s boys and girls both came up short of qualifying for state this season, they showed they still have several talented runners in the fold — and that new ones come into the mix every year. Williams, a freshman, provided evidence of that. While she may not have started the season with the Lady Bruins’ front runners on race day, she quickly found her way there, finishing as the team’s No. 2 runner during the Chattanooga Cross Country Festival in late September. For the rest of the season, she held steadily to a spot as one of the top three Lady Bruins from race to race, including when she finished as one of the top five area runners at Chattanooga’s Front Runner Championships. Her time of 22:00 at the 7-4A meet was also one of the best among area girls in region competitions this year.

• Natalie Williams, Northwest: While younger sister Karli showed there’s definitely more than one talented runner in the family, Natalie, a junior, didn’t seem to mind the competition. She held on to her status as one of the top three Lady Bruins throughout the season, forming a trio — along with sis and classmate Shelby Wilson — that coach Tom Sell could count on race in and race out. She also showed progress at the right time, recording her season best of 21:57 when she finished 38th at the Region 7-3A meet, just ahead of her younger sister. While the Lady Bruins will need more depth for a better team finish next season in their aim to return to state, Williams should be able to help provide a solid foundation to build on in her senior year. This is her first all-area selection after earning honorable mention the past two seasons.

• Shelby Wilson, Northwest: Since she arrived at Northwest, Williams has been one of the area’s top distance runners, whether on the trail in the fall or on the track in the spring. She kept that consistency going in her junior cross country season, holding her spot as the top Lady Bruin and giving the team consistency at the top. Wilson performed well during Chattanooga Cross Country League competition, and at Chattanooga’s Front Runner Championships, she had the second best finish among area runners, with only Dalton’s Houston in front of her — Wilson was 31st in 22:24 that day. At region, she didn’t fare as well as her top-10 finish from her sophomore year, but was still strong by coming in 20th at 20:52, her best time this season. This is her second straight appearance in the all-area lineup after earning honorable mention as a freshman.

• Honorable mention: Dalton — Santa Iberra, Sarah Knox; Murray County — Nayeli Jacobo, Krista Wells; North Murray — Vanessa Carlos.