Published: November 05, 2009 09:59 am      

Area CC runners gear up for regionals

By DARIN ALLRED

Register Sports Editor



Area high school cross country runners will spread out around the state Saturday to run at regional meets with a chance at qualifying for the UIL State meet.

Area Class 3A and 2A runners from Gainesville, Callisburg and Valley View will run at the Region II regionals at Vandergriff Park in Arlington, while Class A runners from Era, Lindsay, Muenster and Saint Jo will compete at the Region III regionals in Humble.

In Class 3A, Gainesville’s Giovanni Carranza qualified for regionals by finishing sixth at the boys District 9-3A meet with a time of 17:30. This will be the second-straight year that Carranza was made it to regionals.

In Class 2A, only one area boy qualified. Valley View’s Casey Calhoun was tenth at the District 10-2A meet with a time of 20:29.

On the girls side, the entire Valley View team qualified after finishing second in the team standings at the 10-2A meet. The Lady Eagles are led by Taylor Felderhoff, who finished first at district with a time of 13:33. Carley Calhoun also finished in the top ten, placing seventh (14:30).

Also running at regionals for Valley View will be Lauren Holt, Katy Alexander, Ashley Price, Kayla Johnson and Rebekah Davidson.

Callisburg senior Morgan Reed also qualified for the regional meet with a third-place finish at the 10-2A meet. She had a time of 14:14.

The largest contingent of area runners will be in Humble (just north of Houston) at the Class A Region III meet.

Saint Jo’s boys team qualified by placing second at the District 18-A meet. Coby Fleitman led the way with a fifth-place finish in a time of 20:10, while Nathan Cannon was ninth (20:51) and Nick Moran was tenth (21:05). Also running for Saint Jo will be Kenny Holmes, William Phillips, Luis Solis and Luke Chaffin.

Two other area boys runners will be in Humble. Era’s Zach Denison finished first at the District 17-A meet with a time of 18:13, while Lindsay’s Travis Block was ninth with a time of 20:03.

In the girls division, teams from Lindsay, Muenster and Era all qualified. Lindsay won the 17-A meet, while Muenster was second and Era was third.

Lindsay’s Kelsey Hermes finished first at district (13:02), while Muenster’s Emily Hellman was second (13:31), Lindsay’s Megan Caillier was third (14:06), Muenster’s Leaha Smith was fourth (14:12), Lindsay’s Megan Holt was fifth (14:17), Muenster’s Paige Herr was seventh (14:25), Lindsay’s Jordan Fleitman was eighth (14:30), Era’s Dana Schumacher was ninth (14:32) and Lindsay’s Shirley Hess was 10th (14:34).

Also for running for Lindsay will be Bethani Eberhart and Jessica Block. Joining the Muenster team will be Michelle Sicking, Kalyn Dangelmayr, Lana Heers and Lauren Rohmer. Running for Era will be Carlee Black, Leah Doughty, Jacy Steelman, Cheree Kiser, Brittany Wilson and Sabrina Mask.

The Saint Jo girls finished second at the 18-A meet to qualify as a team.

Kate Wegar was the top Lady Panther finisher. She was third with a time of 13:43. Chelsea Reeves was sixth (14:27), Kara Davis was seventh (14:29) and Jessica Ramirez was eighth (14:33).

Also qualifying for Saint Jo were Kyla Reeves, Chelsea Lanier and Maria Schoppa.

The top three teams and top ten individuals will qualify for the State meet to be held in Round Rock.