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Kingwood Park girls win UIL 4A State cross country title
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| Kingwood Park's Bree Schrader runs in the UIL State Cross County Meet 4A race Saturday. Schrader led all Panther runners with a seventh-place finish. |
By STEPHEN WHITFIELD
For the second year in a row, Kingwood Park has a state champion girls cross country team.
The Panthers won the UIL Texas 4A State Championships in impressive fashion Nov. 15 in Austin, Tex. Kingwood Park’s 35 points were a full 60 points lower than the second-place team, Fort Worth Boswell, which scored 95 points.
Panthers head coach Brittney Lanehart said she did not expect her team to notch such an easy win.
“You go into the state meet hoping you have a good day,” Lanehart said. “In all honesty, most teams don’t run well in state. To go in and all of a sudden have everyone run the best race they probably have won all year is a great accomplishment.”
Despite not placing a single runner in the top five, Kingwood Park won by placing all five of its scorers in the top 12 individually. Bree Schrader led all Panther runners with a seventh-place time of 11 minutes, 38.39 seconds. Zahri Jackson finished eighth with a time of 11:43.50.
Two other Panther runners finished ninth and tenth, respectively - Grace Fletcher at 11:43.71 and Mariam Amadu at 11:43.76. Kaitlyn Boucher rounded out the scoring for Kingwood Park by running a 12th-place 11:45.42.
What made the performance more impressive was the fact that the Panthers brought an extremely young roster to the state meet. Every Kingwood Park runner is either a freshman or a sophomore. Boucher was a junior varsity runner for the first half of the season.
“It’s real easy to forget they’re all freshmen and sophomores,” Lanehart said. “We’ve come to expect so much of them. That’s why this was such an incredible meet.”
This is the second straight year Kingwood Park has won a state championship. Last season, the Panthers won the 3A state title.
Before coming to Kingwood Park, Lanehart herself won three 3A championships at Canyon High School. Of all of the teams she’s coached, though, Lanehart said she thought this year’s Panther team was the most successful. Kingwood Park won its regional meet the week before state with a perfect score of 15 points.
With every runner coming back for next year’s cross country season, the Panthers will be the favorites to repeat as 4A champions. Lanehart said her team should be ready to deal with the pressure.
“It’s going to be huge next year with such high expectations,” she said. “The neat thing for this group is the laid-back attitude. They’re intensely focused and try to get better and better. We’re going to try to be the absolute best team we can be.”
The Panthers won the UIL Texas 4A State Championships in impressive fashion Nov. 15 in Austin, Tex. Kingwood Park’s 35 points were a full 60 points lower than the second-place team, Fort Worth Boswell, which scored 95 points.
Panthers head coach Brittney Lanehart said she did not expect her team to notch such an easy win.
“You go into the state meet hoping you have a good day,” Lanehart said. “In all honesty, most teams don’t run well in state. To go in and all of a sudden have everyone run the best race they probably have won all year is a great accomplishment.”
Despite not placing a single runner in the top five, Kingwood Park won by placing all five of its scorers in the top 12 individually. Bree Schrader led all Panther runners with a seventh-place time of 11 minutes, 38.39 seconds. Zahri Jackson finished eighth with a time of 11:43.50.
Two other Panther runners finished ninth and tenth, respectively - Grace Fletcher at 11:43.71 and Mariam Amadu at 11:43.76. Kaitlyn Boucher rounded out the scoring for Kingwood Park by running a 12th-place 11:45.42.
What made the performance more impressive was the fact that the Panthers brought an extremely young roster to the state meet. Every Kingwood Park runner is either a freshman or a sophomore. Boucher was a junior varsity runner for the first half of the season.
“It’s real easy to forget they’re all freshmen and sophomores,” Lanehart said. “We’ve come to expect so much of them. That’s why this was such an incredible meet.”
This is the second straight year Kingwood Park has won a state championship. Last season, the Panthers won the 3A state title.
Before coming to Kingwood Park, Lanehart herself won three 3A championships at Canyon High School. Of all of the teams she’s coached, though, Lanehart said she thought this year’s Panther team was the most successful. Kingwood Park won its regional meet the week before state with a perfect score of 15 points.
With every runner coming back for next year’s cross country season, the Panthers will be the favorites to repeat as 4A champions. Lanehart said her team should be ready to deal with the pressure.
“It’s going to be huge next year with such high expectations,” she said. “The neat thing for this group is the laid-back attitude. They’re intensely focused and try to get better and better. We’re going to try to be the absolute best team we can be.”
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