Cougar Harriers Set Standards at LaPorte

LA PORTE - The cougar cross country team set many new personal records Friday at Northwest Park in LaPorte. The meet was paced by teams from Clear Lake and Klein but the cougar runners made their mark.

In the girls' race senior Elizabeth Westlake paced one of the closest pack times in Kempner history there were only 72 seconds between Westlake and fifth runner Katherine Toy and only 15 seconds between Westlake and number four runner Briana Gifford (Fr). Westlake led the team with a 28th place finish and a 3200 meter time of 14:08, senior Brittany Moreno placed 30th in 14:16, senior Stephanie Cleghorn placed 32nd in 14:19 and the freshman Briana Gifford placed 34th in 14:23. Overall the girls ran very well and set great marks to improve upon this season.

In the varsity boys' race junior Erroll Hampton earned the only medal of the day by placing 15th with a personal best time of 17:20. Senior Bernardo Palomero led a group of 3 cougars placing 29th in 18:07 with Shalin Dalal placing 30th and freshman David Koistinen finishing 33rd in times of 18:15 and 18:33 respectively. Junior Juan Trujillo rounded out the top 5 with a 52nd place finish in 19:38.

The cougars were rewarded by a long Labor Day weekend with no scheduled practice, but should run all three days over the weekend. Practice will resume with the long run Tuesday after school.

Directions to the LaPorte Invitational

To get to Northwest Park in LaPorte from Sugar Land take US 59 North to Beltway 8. Go east on Beltway 8 past I-45 but before you get to 225 take the Fairmont exit. Turn right on Fairmont and travel to Underwood. Turn left on Underwood and drive for several miles (3 or 4?) to P Street and turn right. Once you turn on P Street you will quickly get to Northwest Park on the right hand side of the street.

*On Mapquest it looks like the park is called Lomax Park.

Photos from Bush Dual

Senior Elizabeth Westlake won the girls' race
Junior Errol Hampton won Friday night's boys' race