Cross Country Shows Improvement for District Meet

Canyon Lake’s Cross Country team is preparing for their final run to the tape as District 26-4A will commence this Wednesday at Navarro (Starke Park).

Head Cross Country Coach MaryBeth Gallag

The Hawks have had a lot of improvement this year as in other sports, there are several young athletes ready to take over.

“Well I am excited for our team as they have been working very hard this season to continue improving their times,” Head Cross Country Coach Mary Beth Gallagher started. “We know it is going to be tough at district and we know that for us to have a shot at any medals we will have to run our best meet.”

Canyon Lake has some accomplished runners but it might be the future that holds the keys for this team.

“We have seen a lot of our younger runners improve and they have been a great addition to the team,” Coach Gallagher said breathlessly.

Cross Country is a sport that finds it hard to draw enough athletes. Many people are not fans of running much less running for long distances.

The Boys team will run a three mile race while the Girls will be finished when they get to two miles in the district meet.

“We need to grow our team in numbers,” Coach Gallagher said. “Right now it will be hard to do anything at district because we cannot fill every scored slot, since our team is small. We have 24 kids running right now so we want to get our numbers up.”

There is some runners that will be bringing some experience to this year’s District 26-4A Meet.

Gordon the Plumber supports Canyon Lake Cross Country.

“Our boy’s varsity team is anchored by Senior Nash Opperman and he is running the best he has ever run in his four years,” Gallagher said. “We have had some hip injuries that have sidelined many of our runners this year and we are tried to use last week to heal so we can put forth our strongest team.”

This might not be the year for CL’s Cross Country team, but just like many other sports like this year’s Volleyball team where the athletes put in countless hours honing their skills to be in a position to strive for the top.

“Canyon Lake has to start training year around if we expect to be in the hunt,” Gallagher prognosticated. “We have not exactly done that in years past but many of the students are starting to make the commitment to run all year.”

Many times with sports that are based on a clock, a runner is not only running against other athletes but also the minute hand on that stop watch.

“We are hoping to have a lot of personal bests tomorrow,” Coach Gallagher finished.

Times of Runs for this year’s Varsity and Junior Varsity.

 Runner            Varsity/JV   Date       Meet           Time     Distance
 Duncan Coleman    Varsity      10/23/13   District       21:50    3 Miles
                                9/27/14    Billies        18:33

 Treven Martinez   Varsity      9/6/14     Liberty Hill   20:43
                                9/13/14    Hondo          19:32

 Chris Cole        Varsity      9/6/14     Liberty Hill   21:16
                                10/11/14   Navarro        20:08

 Ty Sexton         Varsity      10/23/13   District       20:59
                                10/4/14    Comfort        19:53

 Calvin Graves     Varsity      10/23/13   District       20:06
                                10/11/14   Navarro        19:40

 Nash Opperman     Varsity      10/23/13   District       18:58
                                10/4/14    Comfort        18:31

 Jacob White       Varsity      9/6/14     Liberty Hill   22:43
                                10/4/14    Comfort        21:26

 Wyatt Wiggins     Varsity      10/23/13   District       22:30
                                9/27/14    Billies        19:41

 Adam Wiewel       Varsity      10/23/13   District       21:28
                                10/4/14    Comfort        19:19

 Doug Fowler       Varsity      9/6/14     Liberty Hill   24:40
                                10/4/14    Comfort        19:50

 Reid Crownover    JV           9/6/14     Liberty Hill   25:34
                                9/27/14    Billies        22:32

 Cainan Claycomb   JV           10/23/13   District       24:44
                                10/4/14    Comfort        23:29

 Cole Kilpatrick   JV           9/6/14     Liberty Hill   32:44
                                9/13/14    Hondo          22:52

 Trevor Yandle     JV           9/6/14     Liberty Hill   25:37
                                10/4/14    Comfort        22:30

 Josh Patterson    JV           9/13/14    Hondo          25:54

 Thomas Grimmard   JV           9/6/14     Liberty Hill   25:25
                                9/13/14    Hondo          21:18

 Girls Team
 Christy Fowler    Varsity      10/23/13   District       13:47    2 Miles
                                10/4/14    Comfort        14:43

 Chandra Wise      Varsity      8/30/14    New Braunfels  15:14
                                10/11/14   Navarro        14:30

 Jillian Schley    Varsity      10/23/13   District       14:39
                                10/4/14    Comfort        14:15

 Lexy Jackson      Varsity      10/23/13   District       14:27
                                10/11/14   Navarro        14:43

 Kaylie Yuill      JV & Varsity 8/30/14    New Braunfels  15:18
                                10/11/14   Navarro        15:16

 Jenna MacConnell  Varsity      10/23/13   District       14:07
                                10/4/14    Comfort        14:10

 Rosie Quintero    JV           10/23/13   District       15:16
                                9/27/14    Billies        16:20

 Morgan Boles      JV & Varsity 10/23/13   District       14:38
                                10/4/14    Comfort        14:29

 Sydney Young      JV           10/23/13   District       14:48
                                10/11/14   Navarro        15:23

 Amira Allen       JV           8/30/14    New Braunfels  15:34
                                9/13/14    Hondo          15:41

 Bethany Thibodeaux JV          10/11/14   Navarro        16:38