The top runners of the Southlake Carroll Cross Country teams traveled to Norco, California, to compete at thebr36th Annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic, a three-mile race heldbrunder the lights at night. The elite boys and girls teams faced toughbrcompetition from around the country and came away with some outstandingbrperformances.
“The Woodbridge CrossbrCountry Classic was a great event and provided a great experience for ourbrrunners to compete in,” said head coach Justin Leonard in a press release. “Ourbrgoal is to run against some of the best competition, not just in the state butbrnationally, as well. We had some great performances and we can build upon thisbrfor the rest of the season.”
The Elite Dragon girlsbrtook an impressive third place in California and were led by junior Cate Trachtbrwho captured 10th place with time of 16:49.0. Gillian Mortimer wasbrright behind with an 11th place finish (16:49.07), Ali White came inbrnext in 37th place (17:26), Sophia Santamaria was 60thbr(17:52) and Sarah McCabe rounded out the scoring positions with 63rdbrplace (17:53). Ari Lopez (17:54) Angie Riera (18:18) completed the elite sevenbrrunners for the Dragon girls.
The Elite Dragon boysbrfaced tough competition and came away with a sixth-place finish led by seniorbrReed Brown who took third overall and ran a 14:11. Next to cross the line for the Dragons wasbrCharlie Gardner in 41st place (14:57.1), Nicholas Fernandes wasbrclose behind in 44th place (14:57.7), Connor Rutledge was 84thbr(15:20) and Garrett Gabriel completed the scoring positions with a 140thbrplace finish (15:46). Evan Dunkel also competed and came in 155thbr(15:54).
The Varsity Dragon girlsbrcaptured an inspiring second place and were led by Cristina Canal in 11thbrplace, Lauren Esparza right behind in 12th, Regan Reilley in 13th,brRima Toure in 19th, Riley Lackey in 30th place and JennabrHolland 87th place.
The Dragon Varsity Boysbrcame away with a 5th place finish and were led by Drew Bliss in 15thbrplace, Henry Gardner took 29th, Jack Myers was right behind in 30th,brfollowed quickly by Nate Lannen in 31st, Tyler Coleman came in 42nd,brDavid Archer 59th and Vishnu Nair in 70th place.
The Elite and VarsitybrDragons will use this next week off to train hard and prepare for the ChilebrPepper Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on October 1. The JV teams will split up next week andbrcompete in Kingsville, Texas, at the Javelina XC Classic and in Colleyville atbrthe Colleyville Heritage Invite.
Pictured (from left):brCoach Justin Leonard and Elite Dragon Girls Angie Riera, Ari Lopez, SarahbrMcCabe, Gillian Mortimer, Cate Tracht, Ali White, Sophia Santamaria