Round Rock–It wasn’t the results they wanted, but then again it was the UIL Cross Country State Championships at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock Saturday.  The weather… it was the worst conditions Forney’s teams had run in all year.  The temp was in the high 50s, but the wind was blowing out of the north at 20 to 25 mph.   The course was by far the hardest the teams had run all year with rolling hills and several different types of terrain from grass to cement to running across a wooden bridge.  Did I mention it was the State Meet?

Despite all, the Lady Jackrabbits finished in sixth place while the Jackrabbits took 10th place.  Both teams were expecting better finishes after coming off first and second place finishes at the Regional Meet the week before.  The girls saw Highland Park finish in front of them in fifth place.  The Lady Scots had a team score of 128 compared to the Lady Jackrabbits 144.  The top three girls’ teams were Humble Kingwood Park, Fort Worth Boswell and Hereford.

District rival Mesquite Poteet took second place overall while Frisco Centennial jumped in front of Forney by eight points to take ninth place overall.  Centennial had 201 points compared to 209 for the Jackrabbits.  Poteet had 106 while Boerne Champion took the top spot with 54 points.  El Paso Austin was third with 134 points.

Individually, it was the three seniors for the Lady Jackrabbits that led the way.  Tyler Blacklock finished in 27th at 12:13.20.  Gabbie Corletto was 32nd at 12:14.56 and Jessica Boudreau came in 38th at 12:18.76.  Freshman Martha Romero was 45th with a time of 12:22.54 while three time state qualifier Melaney Ortega was 50th at 12:25.94.  The junior will be looking for her fourth trip to the state meet next year.

Rounding out the girls’ team were Samantha Amendson in 72nd with a time of 12:40.38 and Kara Hyde in 91st at 13:30.49.  Amendson is a freshman while Hyde is a sophomore.

Carly Kitts of Midlothian was the girl’s state champion with a time of 11:22.43 for the two mile course.  The top 18 girls were all under the 12 minute mark.

The Lady Jackrabbits are coached by James (Bodie) Posey and assisted by Sandy Cook.

Two juniors led the way for the Jackrabbits.  Josh Taylor finished .15 seconds in front of Tommy McIntire.  Taylor was 43rd at 16:47.29 and McIntire was 44th at 16:47.44.  Two seniors were next to cross the finish line for Forney.  Jose Chavez took 59th with a time of 17:07.34 and Isac Valdez with 66th at 17:16.73.  Junior Blake Withrow came in 71st at 17:23.50.  The last two runners, junior Nick Arnold was 84th and sophomore Joseph Doorneck was 95th.  Arnold’s time was 17:50.42 with Doorneck’s time being 18:13.91.

The individual state champion was Jordan Valle from Big Spring with a blazing time of 15:15.50 for the 5K course.  The top 13 runners were all under the 16 minute mark.

The Jackrabbits are coach by Jeff Pruitt.

The 2009 season looks bright for both of the cross country teams.  The Lady Jackrabbits will loose three seniors from the top seven, but will replace those girls with strong runners from this year’s junior varsity.  The core of the Jackrabbits team will be back next year as they will loose only two seniors.

To put this year’s teams and their results in perspective, there were about 240 girls and 240 boys cross country teams that started running back in August in class 4A.  Just looking at the top seven for each, you have roughly 1,600 runners.  To be among the top 100 runners in the entire state says a lot.

Forney High School did an excellent job of sending off the cross country teams Friday morning.  The drum line paraded the teams through the school as the students lined the halls.  The Forney Fire Department set up one of their trucks and did a water canon salute for the chartered buses to drive through while leaving the campus.

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