Coogs roar at Aldine Invitational

Top 10 Results

Kempner cross country had a break-through day today at North Harris County College. Every Cougar runner in attendance set a personal record today. The varsity girls finished 4th in the Division 2 race behind Klein, John Cooper, and Klein Oak despite missing Tommi Higgins, Ashley Longoria, and Brittany Moreno. Sophomore Elizabeth Westlake finished 6th overall with a fabulous time of 12:15. Junior Amy Machemehl and Senior Veronica Rodriguez executed the race plan perfectly. V-Rod finished 15th in a PR of 12:39 and Amy finished 16th in a PR of 12:40. Sophomore Nicole Schinderle stepped up to run varsity for the first time and had a big PR of 14:09. Sophomores Elena O'Bryan and Nikki Gifford also stepped up to varsity and PRed with 14:40 and 14:44 respectively.

The boys were led by senior Eric Sheppard who set a 5k PR of 16:19 on his way to a 9th place finish. Senior Chris Pine also set a 5k PR of 17:28 and sophomore Bernardo Palomera PRed with a19:28.

In the JV race, Ukranian Yuri Lozovenko set a huge PR of 19:11 and Brian Zita PRed with a 21:59. Freshmen Shalin Dalal finshed 28th over the 2 mile course ina time of 12:01, and his brother Shannup finished in 12:59. Juan Trujillo also PRed with a 15:26.

Next Friday the Cougars go to Spring Creek Park in Tomball for the Cy-Fair Invitational.

KXC runners featured on RaceShots.net

Great photographs of Kempner cross country runners can be viewed and purchsed at www.raceshots.net. Almost every member of the team, including Coach Dye, were photographed at the Rice Invitational. Please check out these great shots and support a local photographer (who lives off Jess Pirtle).

V-Rod and Westlake roll Wednesday's AT Run

The team ran a hard aerobic threshold run Wednesday afternoon and produced fantastic results. Thr girls and freshmen boys ran three miles, while the varsity and JV boys ran four miles. The performances of the day came from sophomore Elizabeth Westlake and senior Veronica Rodriguez. Westlake led the way with a 19:50 followed closely by V-Rod in 19:55. Junior Amy Machemehl had a solid run just over seven minutes per mile. On the boys' side senior Eric Sheppard went through three miles in 16:38 and finished four miles in 22:24. The teams are finally getting some rest and are ready for this week's Aldine Invitational.

Senior Chris Pine

Chris Pine gets serious...

Senior Chris Pine is ready to run fast. He has been preparing for this season for three years. Chris, who has been known as Pine Tree, Pine Cone, Pineapple, etc, has the most nicknames on the team. Chris gave us a moment of his time to tell us what he is going to do this year.

KXC: Chris, let's start with some questions about you. Tell our readers, what is your favorite movie?
Chris Pine: The Matrix trilogy. It's mind boggling. It made me think hard.

KXC: What's you favorite food?
CP: My favorite food is Mexican food, but before a race I like to eat pizza.

KXC: What is your favorite cross country workout?
CP: It would have to be either 30x200 meters or 15x400 meters.

KXC: What were your goals coming into your senior season?
CP: I had several goals. 1) Winning district, 2) going to the state meet, 3) being able to run in college.

KXC: Looking back to last year, what were some of the things that held you back?
CP: I started speed work too late in the season.

KXC: Which meet(s) are you most looking forward to this season?
CP: District and regional. I want to beat all the schools in district.

KXC: What do you need to do to make it to the state championships in Round Rock?
CP: I need to be running 16:10 for 5k!

KXC: How is this year different from last year?
CP: The coaching staff is different this year? We are training through our meets now and that means we will be faster for the big races.

KXC: How do you feel right now?
CP: My lungs feel great but my legs feel extremely tired.

Thanks Chris. This week Chris and the Cougars travel to the Aldine Invitational to run the region III meet course. Next week we will talk to junior Amy Machemehl.

KXC to compete in regional meet preview

The Cougar cross country team will travel to North Harris County College on Saturday to run on the new UIL Region III course. The meet is being hosted by Aldine MacArthur this week and the course is rumored to be flat and fast. The team will be running a little bit more rested than usual as we are getting into the October racing season.

The meet starts at 8:00am and is on a rolling schedule. There will be two varsity boys races to start the day, followed by two varsity girls races. The teams have not been assigned to specific races yet. JV boys will run next, followed by JV girls, and the freshmen boys race will conclude the day. Awards will be given out to the top 20 this week so the Cougars should bring home plenty of hardware.

Next week the team goes to its first Friday meet at the Cy-Fair Invitational and tomorrow we will have the interview with Chris Pine posted.