Men’s Cross Country Sweeps Jarrell Meet
Gavin Thomas ’21 begins in second place.
Zach Shrull ’19 begins the race in first.
Pablo Lomeli ’21 catches up to another westwood runner.
Gavin Thomas ’21 and Coleman Hewitt ’19 run side-by-side across the finish line.
Boys’ JV and varsity runners place first overall.
Boys’ varsity and JV cross country teams swept the Jarrell meet, leaving a robust impression on the field. Everyone showed up with a drive to succeed, which inevitably lead them to reaching their goal of placing first for both JV and varsity.
Like always, the varsity girls’ cross country team ran first, but none of the women were able to place at this meet.
“I wanted to get in the top 10, and since this was the first time our team has ran in this meet, I wasn’t sure what to expect for us,” Zach Shrull ‘19 said.
After varsity girls’ cross country ran, the varsity boys ran. At most of the meets, the boys are very mellow but still nervous at the same time. At a normal meet, they race against 140 other kids for a spot in the top 15.
“Seeing how many people there were at today’s meet I had high expectations for myself and my team. We did amazing in this meet,” Gavin Thomas ’21 said. “It has been years since we swept a meet and I am so proud to have been a part of it.”
At the start of the 5k, Shrull shot up to first and held his spot for the first mile of the race with Thomas close behind. Towards the end of the race, Thomas and Coleman Hewitt ‘19 came across the finish line one after the other, Thomas in 10th and Hewitt in 9th. Varsity runner Shrull finished in 17 minutes and 10 seconds and placed fifth, while Thomas and Hewitt placed in the top 15, Thomas running a time of 17:44.
For the JV boys’ team, Nima Ashtari ‘20 placed first, close to a minute ahead of the second place runner. At this meet, a total of seven athletes for the Warriors placed in the top 15 runners at the meet, something that hasn’t happened in years for the cross country team.
“I think we did great. We got first place, which is our first time this season as a team,” Shrull said. “Everyone ran a great race, we paced ourselves well, and put out a great result.”
In the majority of the meets the Warriors run in, the competition is very fast. Placing in a meet takes great skill, and they came home with a total of 10 medals between JV and varsity boys.
The cross country runners will continue their season with a meet at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 22 in Giddings.
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