Arabian XC team closing the gap between top competition

The Arabian Cross Country team is making great strides as the District 29-4A Meet nears. Devine finished in second place in the team standings, narrowly being edged out by Pleasanton 44-38 at City of Devine Golf Course last Wednesday afternoon.
Brianna Bowyer led the Arabians with a 14:37, 5th place finish. Brooke Runyan, 7th overall, ran a 15:07. Espi Mendoza placed 10th, running a 15:09.
The golf course in Devine is the toughest course we run on all year long. The times ran here are a little inflated to other meets simply because the course is a tad longer. It provides a great place to train for post-district competition, plus, the District 29-4A Meet is hosted at the golf course on October 16.
Team rankings: 1st Pleasanton 38, 2nd Devine 44, 3rd Carrizo Springs 74, 4th Pearsall 116, 5th Lytle 150, 6th McMullen County 154, 7th Hondo 175, 8th Sabinal 214, 9th Natalia 224.
Top 10 individuals of 70 runners: 1st Caeli Taylor-McMullen County 13:53, 2nd Aaliyah Charo-Cotulla 14:02, 3rd Karolyna Martinez-Pleasanton 14:13, 4th Caitlyn Nieschwitz-Pleasanton 14:35, 5th Brianna Bowyer-Devine 14:37, 6th Jalene Hodges-Carrizo Springs 14:54, 7th Brooke Runyan-Devine 15:07, 8th Cherish Dunlap-Utopia 15:07, 9th Mary Martinez-Pleasanton 15:09, 10th Espi Mendoza-Devine 15:09.
Remaining Arabians: 15th Yessika Garza 15:29, 17th Audrey Longoria 15:31.0, 18th Kristina Moralez 15:31.8, 36th Kelli Geyer 16:52, 52nd Brianna Bernal 18:17.
By Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer