Great finishes for Coahulla Creek

Published 8:30 pm Saturday, November 5, 2016

For the boys, it was the final run for a number of successful seniors. For the girls, it was the final run with a long-time coach.

For both the Coahulla Creek boys and girls cross country teams, the final one was one to remember on Saturday at the state cross country meet held at Carrollton High School. Each group finished eighth in their respective Class 3A race out of 29 schools competing.

The Coahulla Creek boys had five seniors running for the final time on Saturday with a pair of high finishers leading the way. Walt Douglas closed his career finishing in the top 10 for the second straight year, crossing the line in ninth place in 17 minutes, 0.7 seconds. Not too far behind was Bryce Jones who came in 13th in 17:21:34.

“As far as myself, it worked out really well as far as the state course,” Jones said. “I was able to hold my planned pace up until the finish. As far as the team goes, I know everybody did their best and I’m happy with our finish. I think it was a strong way to leave cross country for my senior year.”

“I feel like it was definitely a good way to close it out,” Douglas added. “We all had a good day. I had to come back from 13th to get back to 10th that was a fun way to finish to do that, and get my best time. Bryce coming right behind me, overall having a good team effort and going out with eighth place was definitely fun.”

For Douglas, it came down to how he wanted his last race to end up.

“I was telling myself it was my last race and I can make what I want out of it,” he said, “either a good race or just OK.”

Coahulla Creek coach Josh Deslattes said Douglas has added a new dimension to his performance beyond just pure ability.

“He’s really matured as a runner and taken his talent past being a good runner and thinking about how to run a course and strategy,” he said. “That should only help him in the future.”

Rounding out the Colt scorers were Jesus Paez (68th, 18:55.07), Levi Kinsey (83rd, 19:13.39) and Connor Meyer (85th, 19:16.02). The team’s final two runners, Coe Booker and James Loi, each finished right behind the others in the top 90 of 200 runners.

“All in all, the guys honestly ran a great race,” Deslattes said. “We wish we could’ve edged out (seventh-place) Calhoun, looks like seventh would’ve been the best we could’ve done. But Bryce PRed, Walt ran an excellent race. Connor fell back a bit from what he did at region, but Levi and Jesus picked it up and ran their best races. I have no complaints at all.”

Booker and Loi are the only underclassmen that ran for the Colts at state. Deslattes said, however, the group leaving definitely left its mark on the program.

“They’ve meant a lot, set the tone for what it means to be a part of this team,” Deslattes said. “They’ve installed a passion for running in the younger guys that lets me know the program will continue to be successful without them. They’ve been a great presence both in terms of talents and their leadership.”

For the girls, it was the final time long-time coach Dee Goodwin would lead the Lady Colts. Goodwin called her final race a “beautiful effort on a beautiful day.”

“I couldn’t have asked for a better day being with these kids on my last day coaching them,” she said. “My girls ran their hearts out and all ran great times.”

Rachel Ward paced the Lady Colts finishing 25th overall in 21:27.78. Behind her, the team ran a strong pack with Marleigh Cowart (55th, 23:09.71), Evy Mulkey (58th, 23:16.92), Morgan King (69th, 23:52.82) and Selina Vasquez (79th, 29:16.83) scoring.

“The weather was just perfect for race day, especially for state,” Ward said. “I was feeling really good this morning, wasn’t too tired that bad. We started off and I ran as best as I could.

“I really just told myself a lot of my family was there, it was coach Goodwin’s last year. I told myself I had to make myself do as well as as I could for her, for (senior Morgan King), for the whole team. I’m happy with how we did.”

“Rachel was awesome, she ran a PR which is hard to do at the state meet with how many runners there are,” Goodwin said. “She ran great and the other girls packed it in like they supposed to. I don’t want them to be disappointed finishing eighth because our division got some new great teams.”

For Mulkey, a key to Saturday’s finish was how much the team worked to get to that point.

“I fell like we ran really well,” she said. “Coach Dee prepared us really well this season. She’s been gunning for us to do well at state. We were well prepared for it.”

Having a good race at state also means having to navigate the course and the crowded field at the year’s final race.

“At the beginning you really had to start out strong not to get caught in the back,” Cowart said. “We practiced hills around Dalton, so they weren’t all that bad. The crowd was really good, they always picked you up when you were running.”

“Since there’s so many girls, there’s so much more room for errors since we work off each other,” Mulkey added. “But we were able to find each other and help each other. We made it work.”

Six of the seven Lady Colts will be back for another run next season. Even though their coach is stepping away, the girls are determined to work for a good season.

“We’re really going to work hard to have a great year,” Cowart said. “We want to give all our seniors a good year since we’ve been so close to them for so long.”

Murray County

Murray County got a strong day from a pair of brothers as the Indian boys placed 16th in the state in the Class 3A race.

Jesse Martinez finished his sophomore season 14th overall crossing the line in 17:21.41. He was backed by brother Brian who finished 74th in 19:03.79.

“It’s a great day,” said Murray County coach Margaret Redmond. “Looking back at last year’s stats from state, they both cut their times tremendously. Especially Jesse, last year he was 36th in 19:10. Now he’s 14th in 17:21. He’s really worked hard, had this goal to get back to state and cut his time every meet. I’m very proud. He’s building himself to be a strong runner throughout his career.”

Also scoring for Murray County was Isaac Soto (114th, 19:49.96), Austin Gallman (144th, 20:55.49) and David Lopez (151st, 21:06.95).

“These guys were brand new to state. Outside of Jesse and Brian, no one else has run at state,” Redmond said. “They practiced throughout the week, we’re all very proud of their finishes. They worked hard and a lot of them had their best times this morning. It gives them the experience to work to get back here next year.”

The Murray County girls were ecstatic at the Region 6-3A meet when the group found out it had qualified for state. The Lady Indians showed, however, they weren’t happy just getting there as they put forth another strong effort on Saturday and finished 20th out of 30 schools.

“At region, they weren’t expecting to get fourth and get to state, so they just wanted to go out and run the best race they could,” Redmond said. “They had the same kind of motto at state where they pushed themselves the last two weeks and practice and showed up at the state meet ready to do the best they could.”

Ana Trejo topped the team finishing 56th in 23:10.24. Behind her was Brittany Lopez (95th, 24:51.35), Andrea Dickson (122nd, 25:46.51), Kimberly Cervantes (147th, 26:58) and Eyma Sanchez (153rd, 27:43).

“None of the girls have been here before. Ana’s been close as an individual but this was all new to them as well,” Redmond said. “They really worked hard and now have that experience and they want to get back here again next year.”

Northwest girls, Southeast boys run in Class 4A race

While coach Tom Sell said his young Northwest Whitfield girls team was able to overcome the nerves that come with competing at the state championships, the Southeast Whitfield boys weren’t able to the same Saturday.

The Lady Bruins took 13th as a team and the Raiders finished 20th out of 31 schools running in the Class 4A races.

“I was pleased with the way the girls ran. They really did a good job,” Northwest coach Tom Sell said. “There’s not a senior on the squad, all underclassmen, all coming back. We ideally wanted to be in the top 10. If we just had a great day, that was possible, didn’t quite happen but we finished ahead of Pickens who was ahead of us at the region meet. When you beat someone that beat you the week before, that’s a pretty big accomplishment.”

A pair of freshmen led the Lady Bruins on the day. Katherine Roberts finished 56th in 22:24.35 while Lindsey Guess was 60th overall in 22:32.37. Junior Reagen Guess also had a top 100 showing coming in 97th in 23:40.7. Rounding out the scorers were Silvia Garcia, a junior, in 110th (24:16.35) and Jordan Baker, a freshman, right behind her (24:18.04).

Sell said despite the group being so young, the inexperience didn’t have much of an effect.

“They seemed unaffected by anything,” Sell said. “They don’t get overly nervous. We put three freshmen out there and all three ran strong. Katherine led us, she ran real strong, Lindsey was up there and Jordan Baker was in the fifth spot for us. They really just never seemed uptight, never seem nervous. I didn’t have to worry about them running well.”

But for their cross-county rivals, the Southeast boys got tripped up a bit by nerves before their race.

“Overall the boys ran well. They stayed together, they ran hard,” Southeast coach Carrie Bishop said. “Obviously I would’ve liked to finish a little bit higher but they were pretty nervous. It’s a lot bigger stage than what they’re used to running on. All season long, they handled their nerves well but this one, just let them get to them a littler more than I thought they would.

“This morning they started getting a little anxious and nervous before the race. We have two sophomores and a freshman out there.”

Southeast’s top four runners all ran close together with Alex Carroll topping the group in 102nd (19:06.45) followed by Caleb Robertson (110th, 19:15), Diego Guzman (111th, 19:15.32), Daniel Triana (113th, 19:20.76) and Jonathan Rico (149th, 20:00.87).

Bishop’s team has two seniors in Jose Arredondo and Triana, a four-year runner that Bishop said was overjoyed he got the chance to run at state.

“He was just so excited to get a chance to go,” she said. “The boys have missed it by just a few points the last few years. He’s worked hard for it for four years. It was the highlight for him to make it and run at state. I was very proud of him. He ran hard and seemed to give everything he had for me.”

Northwest also had an individual running the boys race. Senior Noah Morales finished his career finishing 69th at state in 18:28.57.

“He was disappointed I think, but I definitely wasn’t,” Sell said. “He was the seven man for us last year and ran 20 minutes and some change at Heritage. This year he ran 17:30s and qualified for state as an individual. To see that drop and the dedication he showed over the summer was amazing.”

For those at both Northwest and Southeast that are returning next year, this year’s finish will only help as they move forward.

“They’re excited and talked about getting together and running,” Sell said. “They’re excited now and placing in the upper half at state shows them what they can do.”

“I think they already have taken a lot out of it without me having to worry about telling them anything,” Bishop said. “They came up to me when we were leaving and said ‘Now we know what to expect next year because we’re coming back.”