The Wall girls cross country team advanced to the UIL state meet on Tuesday, Oct. 27, after winning the Region I meet at Mae Simmons Park in Lubbock.
The Lady Hawks 38 points earned them the gold medal, which was 79 points ahead of second place Holliday. Whitesboro earned third with 145 points and Peaster was fourth with 184 to earn state title berths.
Wall freshman Keller Batla won silver with a time of 12-minutes and 2.60 seconds and was the highest finisher for the Lady Hawks. Allison Baird (6th, 12:37.60), Heaven Jackson (10th, 12:49.30), Emma Reel (12th, 12:51.80) and Amelia Taylor (15th, 12:58.50) rounded out the scoring. Brailey Beam (16th, 12:59.70) and Dailyn Beam (46th 13:43.30) also competed and advanced with the team.
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Holliday’s Sarah Spears won the meet with a time of 11:50.20.
On the boys side, Wall’s Zechariah Cuevas was the highest finisher among area athletes with a 20th-place finish at 17:12.10.
REGION I CROSS COUNTRY MEETS
Tuesday at Mae Simmons Park
Note: Top four teams and top 10 individuals not on qualifying teams advance to UIL state meet.
* — individual qualifier from San Angelo area
REGION 1-3A
BOYS (5K)
Team standings — 1. Crane, 131; 2. Peaster, 143; 3. Tuscola Jim Ned, 145; 4. Valley View, 157; 5. Eastland, 162; 6. Presidio, 175; 7. Holliday High School, 200; 8. Whitesboro, 216; 9. Wall, 266; 10. Canadian, 271.
Individual results — 1. Cole Bettger, Peaster, 15:39.30; 2. Joseph Dominguez, Canadian, 15:55.00; 3. Brayden Willett, Bowie, 16:17.20; 4. Kenny Pritchard, Tuscola Jim Ned, 16:23.80; 5. Creed Kirles, Tuscola Jim Ned, 16:29.60; 6. Rhody Gingras, S&S Consolidated, 16:39.10; 7. Aidan Samaniego, Presidio, 16:43.90; 8. Noah Villanueva, Littlefield, 16:44.40; 9. Glyn McCleskey, Eastland, 16:49.20; 10. Kellen Rater, Bowie, 16:51.60.
GIRLS (2-miles)
Team standings — 1. Wall, 38; 2. Holliday High School, 117; 3. Whitesboro, 145; 4. Peaster, 164; 5. Comanche, 184; 6. Pilot Point, 185; 7. Valley View, 190; 8. Eastland, 221; 9. Alpine, 221; 10. Brownfield, 280.
Individual results — 1. Sarah Spears, Holliday High School, 11:50.20; 2. Keller Batla, Wall, 12:02.60; 3. Ava Rhodes, Compass Academy HS, 12:14.80; 4. Chaska Downs, Hamilton, 12:28.50; 5. Avy Mauldin, Holliday High School, 12:33.60; 6. Allison Baird, Wall, 12:37.60; 7. Nya Degraffenreed, Whitesboro, 12:44.20; 8. Selah Smith, Childress, 12:44.70; 9. Brooklyn Bewley, Valley View, 12:45.50; 10. Heaven Jackson, Wall, 12:49.30.
Paul Witwer covers high school sports and Angelo State University sports for The San Angelo Standard-Times. Reach him at sports@gosanangelo.com. Follow him on X @Paul_Witwer, Instagram and TikTok at pwitwer_sast.
This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Wall girls cross country team heads to state meet