HS Cross Country: Scoring mistake keeps SM girls from winning 17-4A title

By Randy Stevens

Lockhart — LOCKHART — The San Marcos High School girls’ cross country team thought it had accomplished something that hadn’t happened in more than 20 years, but an unfortunate ruling after Saturday’s District 17-4A Cross Country Meet at Lockhart City Park, took away a district title the Lady Rattlers thought was theirs.

It was originally ruled the Lady Rattlers won by the slimmest of margins, holding off defending district champion Hays by one point. The team has its picture taken with the championship trophy, and the gleeful joy of winning permeated. Until later Saturday evening that is.

After looking over the results, Lockhart officials noticed that they had forgotten to omit a pair of runners from Elgin, which didn’t have enough runners to compete as a team, out of the top 10 runners when tabulating the team standings. That pushed the Lady Rattlers even with Hays at 50 points each, with the tiebreaker coming down to the best finish from each team’s sixth runner.

Hays runner Sarah Alexander placed 28th, while San Marcos’ sixth runner Kathryn Walpole placed 32nd, allowing Hays to capture the title.

“It’s a shame that it happened that way, but it was the right ruling,” SMHS head cross country coach Eloy Collazo said. “It’s tough for the team to take, but at least they are headed to regionals.

The top three teams and top 10 individuals qualify for the Region III, Class 4A meet to be held later this week in Humble.

“Still, it was an unbelievable meet, as all the girls ran personal bests when it counts,” Collazo said.

Manor was third with 74 points, Lehman came in fourth, followed by Del Valle and Lockhart.

The Lady Rattlers were paced by sophomore Mia Finch, who ran a personal-best time of 12 minutes, 50 seconds to finish third overall on the two-mile course.

Junior team captain Solana Dever placed fifth overall, running 13:03 and was followed closely by sophomore Laura Artiles in eighth place with a time of 13:06. Placing in the top 10 individually also qualifies a runner for Regionals, as designates them as first team all-district.

Placing 16th overall was freshman Carrie Walpole, who ran 13:30, while junior Giselle Gallegos rounded out the Lady Rattlers scoring by finishing 19st overall with a personal-best time of 13:39. The important “sixth man” was junior Kathryn Walpole, who ran 14:12 (32nd), followed by senior Hailey Westfall, who clocked 14:21.

The SMHS boys did not fare as well, placing sixth in the team standings. However freshman Frankie Torres placed eighth overall, with a time of 19:28, and will join the girls team to the Region III meet.

Placing 13th overall was senior Mark Jaimes who just fell short of a regional berth with a time of 19:45 on the three-mile course. Senior Erick Hebert placed 28th with a time of 20:44, and was followed closely by senior Henry Finch in 31st with a time of 21:00. Rounding out the scoring for the Rattlers was freshman Jacob Campa (43rd), with a time of 22:09.