Spartans Return to Action!

The Lady Spartan cross country team finally returned to action this week for the first time since August 30^th.  After two open weeks and a cancelled meet in Atascocita, the Spartans were hungry for an opportunity to run in a meet situation and see where we are.  On Friday September 26^th, the Spartans drove down to Corpus Christi and walked the course for the Islander Splash Invitational hosted by Texas A&M University Corpus Christi.  What they found there was a challenging course with many large hills and sharp turns.  After settling in to their hotel and eating dinner, the rains came to Corpus Christi and ensured that the following day’s event would be quite an experience.

The Varsity girls started the day running a 5K on the challenging course, and finished in 2^nd place, narrowly defeating a talented Austin Westlake team, and being beaten by a strong team from Smithson Valley led by UIL State Champion Devin Clark.  The girls finished with 95 points to edge out Westlake’s 98, while Smithson Valley ran away with the meet with 19 points.  Top finishers for the Spartans included Junior Captain Kacie Corbin who finished in 12^th place, Sophomore Tori Welkener who finished in 13^th and Junior Sydney Gandy who finished in 16^th. Sophomore Sharon Xu finished just outside the top 20, landing in 21^st place.

On the JV level, the Spartans had an outstanding day, finishing as meet champion scoring 29 points to 2^nd place Smithson Valley’s 59.  The Spartans placed 7 athletes in the top 20, and 9 in the top 25.  Leading the charge for the Spartans was Sophomore Camilla Broman who led most of the race but was edged out in the last 400 meter to finish in 2^nd.  Joining Camilla in the top ten were Senior Cassie Twiggs (5^th), Freshman Minea Tokar (6^th), Sophomore Fara Omilabu (8^th) and Junior Abby Smith (10^th). Rounding out the top 25 was Senior Captain Cameron Miller (17^th), Sophomore Sarah Turner (20^th), Sophomore Isabel Velazquez (22^nd) and Junior Mina Finnoeen (23^rd).

Complete results can be found at:

http://tx.milesplit.com/meets/180678-tamucc-islander-splash#.VCg1iU10y7S

This week the Spartans will travel to the Woodlands to take place in the Nike South Invitational.  The JV athletes will run on Friday at 5:20 pm, while the Varsity will run on Saturday morning.  This is a great meet, where the girls can challenge themselves against some of the best teams in the state.  Stay posted for further news!