Milano’s Parker Jones won his fourth consecutive District 25-2A title and the Thorndale boys and girls cross country teams finished in first place at the cross country meet in Gause. All will compete in regionals.
Jones first place finish clocked in at 16:23.49, more than two minutes ahead of second place finisher Triston Burton of Holland, 18:31.91.
Milano’s Andy Gutierrez, a freshman, also qualified with a sixth place finish and a time of 19:33.14.
In the varsity girl’s race, Danni Shaw placed eighth with a time of 15:45.81 to advance to regionals.
Milano had two other runners in the race. Abby Miller place 13. with a time of 17:03.60 and 25. Angela Zeig, 21:54.39.
“Andy and Danni had their best times of the season,” said Jordan Merkord, Milano ISD cross country coach. “It’s great to see all of them be successful when they put in the work everyday.”
The Lady Eagles finished third as a team but according to the UIL rules, a school that enters fewer than five students cannot compete for a team title.
“We’ll be up (the day after the race) running, and do that everyday these next two weeks,” Merkord said. “It’s a grind, but it’s the price they pay to have a good race.”
Thorndale - Both the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs runners qualified for regionals as teams.
“I thought we competed very hard,” said Bradley Dickerson, Thorndale ISD head cross country coach. “We have overcome some injuries this year, and continue to improve.”
Two Bulldogs placed in top ten. Mason Drumm came in fifth place with a time of 19:02.10 and Evan Ivy finished ninth 20:32.46.
Other Thorndale runners were: 13. Jason Penick, 21:39.89; 14. Trayle Schroeder, 21:49.93; 16. Ethan Williamson, 22:15.07 and
20. Scott Widner, 23:31.21.
Three girls finished in the top ten for the Lady Bulldogs.
They were: 6. Ashton Kiesling, 15:13.88; 7. Ava Vicknair, 15:24.24 and 9. Trew Schroeder, 15:46.66.
Landry Laywell, who ran 16:21.14, missed qualifying for regionals by seven seconds behind Holland’s Jocelyn Smith’s time of 16:14.18.
Other Thorndale runners were: 14. Savana Taylor, 17:06.0; 21. Taije Schroeder, 18:12.49; 22. Ariana Anders, 18:28.73.
“This week, we will focus on getting in our mileage along with doing speed work, and hill work. At this point it’s balancing training, and making sure we have fresh legs for the race.”
Thorndale also had three runners do well in the junior varsity district race. Ty Pesl placed second with a time of 19:05 in the boy’s race.
In the girl’s race, Sandra Perez placed first with a time of 21:50.83 and Layla Rodriguez placed third with a time of 25:55.83.
The Milano and Thorn-dale runners compete on Monday, October 22 at the Texas A&M campus in Corpus Christi.
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