However, Belton sophomore Regan Tindell showed little or no stress from a winning 11-minute, 41-second tour of the course in the District 13-5A Cross Country Meet early Friday morning. One of the younger members of the Lady Tigers’ delegation congratulated her and said, “I don’t think you’re human anymore.”
In winning the race by 19 seconds and easily besting the 11:47 posted by District 14-5A champion Alicia Jenkins in the day’s previous race, Tindell performed like a machine.
“I felt good,” said Tindell, who might have prevailed if she’d have been reading a book while she ran. “I ran it like any other race. I didn’t worry too much.”
Tindell will lead a large delegation of Temple-Belton area athletes to the Class 5A Region II Meet next Saturday at Vandergriff Park in Arlington. Both Belton teams finished second to College Station A&M Consolidated and Temple was third in the boys team race.
Despite Tindell’s domination, Consolidated posted 24 points for a 24-point victory over Belton as it took second, third, fifth, sixth and eighth in the individual standings. Harker Heights was third with 60 points.
“I don’t think that’s the best we ever ran,” Belton coach Denise Petter said. “It’s the first time we’ve run against A&M (this year). In the last 800, we didn’t have a lot of speed left.
“We’re looking forward to next week. We run well in Arlington and the girls are comfortable on that course.”
Belton’s Skylor Alford and Rachel Kimbrough were the Lady Tigers’ other runners in the top 10 at seventh and 10th, respectively.
The Temple girls were a distant fourth with 119 points. The Tem-Cats’ top runner was Diana Acosta in 16th.
In the 5,000-meter boys race, Consol bested Belton 29-45, and Temple was third with 101. Individually, A&M Consolidated sophomore Stephen Cage edged Belton’s Marc Sandlin by five seconds with a 16:20.
“I think I took off too fast,” Sandlin said. “I was coming back at the end. It was close, but I think he was out of energy.”
Cage took control coming off the dam and climbing the final hill with about 800 meters to go.
“Marc was so close,” Petter said. “We were hoping to make our move at the same point. It comes down to strength at the end of the race.
“We had three guys in the 16s and two in the 17s today, but at regional, everybody’s going to have to be in the 16s. Paul (Boston) ran well today after missing three weeks with ankle problems.”
Belton’s other two finishers in the top 10 were Zerrick Vriseno in fifth and Tyler Maddox in seventh.
The Wildcats were led by Isaiah Caldera and Romeo Guajardo, who took sixth and eighth, respectively.
“I’m speechless,” Temple coach Karron Taylor said. “We’ve come so close in the last two years - four points, one point. This year we made it. Our goal has been to stay positive - both myself and the runners. We’ve tried to improve every day as runners and athletes. That philosophy has paid off for us.”
As for Caldera and Guajardo, Taylor said, “When we got here, I could see it in their eyes. I saw what they expected to do and they were determined to do it.”
The 13-5A and 14-5A races were competed concurrently on the home course for the UIL State Meet, which is Nov. 10. Georgetown swept top team and individual honors in both varsity divisions in 14-5A.
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