Kempner XC at Rice

Kempner boys and girls raced a competitive field at the Rice Invitational on September 11. The team continues to train through their September races and are running tired. The course was again 3200 meters for all races but proved to be a little tougher than last week's and included the first real hill of the season.

The girls finished 8th out of 16 scoring 206 points and were paced again by sophomore Elizabeth Westlake. Elizabeth finished 21st in a time of 13:22. Junior Amy Machemehl had an outstanding performance, finishing 35th in 13:42. Senior Veronica Rodriguez ran third man for the second consecutive week, finishing 45th in 13:53. Sophomore Ashley Longoria moved from 5th man to 4th man this week, finishing 58th in 14:22 and sophomore Brittany Moreno rounded out the top 5, finishing 63rd in 14:38. Senior Abigail Cusi ran 6th man with a time of 16:11.

The boys team had two outstanding performances from seniors Kenneth Clark and Eric Sheppard. Kenneth had a huge PR from week 1 and ran as the team's 3rd man. He finished 69th in 12:02. Eric Sheppard had the performance of the meet, leading the team with a 3rd place finish in a time of 10:31. Senior Chris Pine felt the effects of the tougher course running second man, finishing 31st in 11:12. Sophomore Evan Wilson dropped to 4th man this week, finishing 77th in 12:17. Sophomore Bernardo Palomera, senior Jay Gary, and junior Jacob Charlez "packed it together" finishing 84th, 85th, and 86th in times of 12:31, 12:36 and 12:41 respectively. The boys finished 8th out of 16 scoring 248 points.

The freshmen boys' team was led by Shalin "Double Dog" Dalal in 14:04, followed by his twin brother, Shannup "Snoop Dog" Dalal in 14:52. Running 3rd man for the frosh was Floyd James in 15:30. Ryan Martin, Juan Trujillo, and Frank "Jiffy Lube" Lubrano rounded out the freshmen squad with 15:39, 17:27 and 18:49.

The junior varsity squads competed with only four runners on each team so they did not accumulate a team score but managed to run together and "pack it up" pretty nicely. The girls were paced by sophomore Tommi Higgins, who was competing in her first race and ran 15:42. Following very close to her were sophomores Nicole Schinderle and Nikki Gifford who ran 15:47 and 15:54 respectively; there was only 12 seconds between the three of them. Sophomore Elena O'Bryan also ran very well in the JV girls race with a time of 16:16, putting all four girls across the finish line within 34 seconds of each other.

The junior varsity boys race was led by up and coming freshman, Drake Jefferson. Drake led the team with a time of 12:41 (a big PR over last week). Sophomore Allen Livingston ran right behind Drake in a time of 12:47, also a PR and Yuri Lozovenko came across the line 2 seconds later in 12:49 (PR). Sophomore Augustine Banda rounded out the JVers performances with a time of 13:52. The first 3 men came in within 8 seconds of each other!

Other notable performances were run in the Yahoo race which did not include the hill and covered 3000 meters. Sophomore James Currie paced the group in his first meet, in a time of 11:12. Sophomore Tony Washington had a great run with a time of 11:34. Senior Chris Osagie had a big day with a 11:52. Senior Rohan Folkes ran 12:02. Sophomore David Faust, Junior Hector Cardona and Junior Phong Lam ran 14:02, 14:04 and 14:13 respectively to bring in the team.

Next Saturday the team travels to College Station, TX to compete in the Texas A&M Invitational...probably the toughest meet of the season.