Machemehl leads girls to 4th straight district title

MISSOURI CITY - The varsity girls started a great day of running for the Cougars with senior Amy Machemehl and junior Elizabeth Westlake battling for the win with Willowridges' Brittany Williams. The three raced to the finish with Machemehl winning her first district title by edging Jones 13:30 to 13:35. Westlake came in right behind them with 13:42. Junior Bittany Moreno finished just behind that group with a 13:56. Senior Tommi Higgins and junior Nicole Schinderle narrowly missed their goals of finishing in the top 10 by coming in 11th and 12th respectively. The girls scored lower than last year with a total of 31 points. Machemehl ran 26 seconds faster than last year and the girls scored 4 points less than 2004.

The varsity boys race was next and with the loss of some key varsity runners the teams goal was to qualify for regionals by placing in the top 3 teams. Sophomores Errol Hampton and Shalin Dalal had the races of their lives and finished 5th and 6th with PRs of 17:42 and17:46 respectively over the 5k course. Junior Bernardo Palomera who has led the team all year did not have his best race but he did not quit. With the help of his teammate , junior Edgar Rubio, Palomera and Rubio came in together finishing 12th and 13th in times of 18:10 and 18:12 respectivley. It was a huge PR for Rubio. Our 5th runner James Currie fell just shy of his goal of finishing in the top 15 by running a PR of 18:37 and finishing 16th. The boys team score was 51 points just 10 points off the winners, Austin, who had the individual champion, junior Sam Hulse.

Highlights from the sub varsity race were sophomore Terrence Nwokorie finishing 6th in 20:21 and freshman Chris Ysais finishing 3rd in the freshmen race.

The varsity teams will compete at the regional championships Saturday, November 5th at the North Harris Community College course where the Aldine Invitational is held.