Varsity girls, JV boys are District Champions!!

The varsity girls started off the district meet in a huge way. Three Cougars worked together to sweep the top three individual spots. Sophomore Elizabeth Westlake won the individual title, completing the 2.1 mile course in 13:38. Senior Veronica Rodriguez finished second in 13:55 and Junior Amy Machemehl finished third in 13:56. Impressive runs came from sophomore Nicole Schinderle and junior Tommi Higgins. The girls beat Austin by 30 points.

The varsity boys competed in the second race. Senior Eric Sheppard followed the race plan perfectly and ran behind leader Eskander Abdalla from Bush, but could not hang on due to some recurring shin problems. Senior Chris Pine picked up the slack and finished fifth in 17:43. Sheppard held on for the Cougars and managed a seventh place finish in 17:52. First year runners, Evan Wilson and Bernardo Palomera had big days finishing twelfth and fifteenth respectively. Senior Kenneth Clark rounded out the top 5 with a twentieth place finish in 19:11. Despite their best efforts the team could not hold off Austin, who had four boys in the top 11 including second and forth. Austin won with 43 points, just 16 points ahead of Kempner.

The junior varsity boys race was a breakthrough performance for sophomore Allen Livingston. Livingston ran a smart race, and after the leaders took a wrong turn, capitalized by moving into the lead to become the eventual winner. Junior Yuriy Lozovenko had a great race with a 6th place finish and the team was packed up behind Yuriy! All five scoring runners finished in the top ten. Junior Sean Moreno, junior Emmanuel Osinowo and Sophomore Eric Stewart placed eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.

The freshmen boys ended the day with a second place finish. Led by Shalin Dalal's second place finish the boys ran a good race. Terrence Nwokorie, Corey Gabriel, Floyd James, and Shanup Dalal all finished in the top fifteen to round out the team scoring. However it was not enough to overcome Hightower's effort, who put five runners in the top eight including the individual champion.

The varsity teams will travel to Harris County College on November 6th to compete in the Region III Championships. Be there or be square! Results