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The Stratford Cross Country team traveled to The Woodlands on Friday evening to compete in the Friday Night Lights meet at Bear Branch Park. Although a smaller event this year, 1,300 runners from 10 middle schools and 15 high schools across the greater Houston and Central Texas areas competed. Despite the warm, muggy, conditions, the atmosphere was electric and elite-level competition was on display in the varsity races.
Our varsity girls entered the competition as the #5 ranked team in the state in the class 6A coaches poll, and once again they displayed strong teamwork by running together as a pack and coming away with third place overall out of 10 teams in the varsity A competition. Only #3 state ranked The Woodlands and #7 ranked Klein Oak finished ahead of us. Our top five girls finished 16th, 18th, 19th, 21st and 22nd in a field of 128 runners, and were led by sophomore Niamh Collins.
In the boys race, senior Emanuel Galdino proved once again why he is one of the top distance runners in the state of Texas. In a field of 148 runners, Emanuel out-kicked Reese Vannerson from Strake Jesuit to take 1st place overall in a photo finish. Junior Maddox Durnell also had a strong race and finished 13th place. The Stratford boys team came into the race ranked #4 in the latest 6A state coaches poll, and came away with a 4th place team result in the race behind #3 ranked The Woodlands, #1 ranked Atascocita, and Strake Jesuit. There were 13 teams competing in the varsity A boys division.
During the JV Girls competition, sophomore Amelia Bommer ran at the front of the pack the entire race, and finished 2nd place overall (out of 79) after a head-to-head battle that came down to the last 50 meters.
Freshmen boys Ben Pearce and Nathan Hirst were impressive again this week, finishing 2nd and 3rd overall in a field of 100 freshman boys. These two young men have been on the podium in each of the first three cross country races of their high school careers.
The Spartans will compete in the Seven Lakes Showcase next Saturday morning at Seven Lakes High School. The Varsity races will start at 7:00am.
Check out this video of Emanuel’s photo finish victory: