RETURN TO STATE IN SIGHT

Advancing to Class 3A, Region III Championship meet in Huntsville, Ochoa leads Clifton boys to District 17-3A title, Barsh claims individual silver medal to pace Lady Cubs as runner-ups

Competing at the District 17-3A Cross Country Championship last Saturday at Troy High School, the Clifton boys and girls teams qualified for the Class 3A, Region III Championship Meet held Oct. 21-22 at Kate Barr Memorial Park in Huntsville, hoping to make a run at the UIL State Championship Meet Nov. 1-2 at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.

Led by senior Ray Ochoa, the Clifton boys won the team district title with 39 points, followed by runner-up McGregor with 50 points, third place West with 64 points, along with Troy (71) and Whitney (136).

Taking second place as a team with 56 points, senior Camy Barsh led the Lady Cubs in edging third place McGregor with 59 points as both trailed district champion West with 35 points as Troy (75) and Whitney (148) rounded out the district field.

“Our teams performed like we expected, which was great,” Clifton cross country head coach Ryan Hunt said. “We have a small district, but it has a lot of depth. So, it’s a very competitive district. The kids knew that they would be challenged, and they were ready for it. It’s going to be a district where you end up seeing a lot of these kids move on to the state meet in a couple of weeks.”

Ochoa led the Clifton boys with an individual silver medalist performance with a time of 17:15.09 on the 5K course, although Troy’s Grayson Williams ran away with the gold medal in a blistering time of 16:06.60.

With Clifton boasting five top 15 finishers, junior Brayden Stone place fifth in a time of 17:30.97, followed by sophomore R.J. Hikel in sixth with a time of 17:31.40, sophomore Giovanny Garcia in 11th with a time of 18:13.59 and junior Tristan Ward in 15th with a time of18:31.35. Other Clifton runners on regional qualifying squad include senior Jonah Payne and Xavier Quintero.

“Ray controlled the second spot for most of the race,” Hunt said. “He’s a competitor, and the bigger the race is the better he is going to be. Brayden and R.J. had their second consecutive top 10 finish at district. The rest of our kids have been rock solid all year.”

Barsh claimed the individual silver medal with a time of 13:01.62 on the 3.2K course, nipping at the heels of district gold medalist Amelia Cole of West (13:00.87). With the Lady Cubs placing four runners in the top 15, senior Kyndall Hunt placed 10th (13:38.23), followed by junior Evy Kennedy finishing 13th (14:01.85), and freshman Scarlett Kennedy in 14th (14:02.06).

Other Clifton runners on the regional qualifying team include sophomores Alli Hunt, Natalia Cathcart and Natalia Gaona.

“Camy put herself in a great position and just got edged out by another really good runner,” Hunt said. “She’s experienced and looks very comfortable right now. She’s in a great spot as we get ready for regional. Kyndall has been solid all year and got a top 10 district finish for the second year in a row.

“You can’t take a team to regionals having just one or two runners. Sometimes people dismiss cross country as being a team sport, but it absolutely is. Our kids encourage each other and push each other every day. Our focus is going to be on having our best race at regional and see what happens.”

In their final tune-up before putting it all on the line at the district meet, the Clifton boys and girls cross country teams looked primed and ready to make another run at state.

Competing in the Troy Trojan Invitational Sept. 28, Ochoa led the Clifton boys to the invitational boys team title with an individual silver medalist performance covering the three-mile course in 17:22.8

With the Cubs scoring 51 points as a team to beat out McGregor with 72, Rockdale with 85 and Lorena with 86, Ochoa finished behind gold medalist Ethan Locke of Waco Valor Prep Academy (16:35.7), and just ahead of Lorena’s Dale Hudspeth (17:28.2).

Leading the Lady Cubs to a third place team trophy, Barsh captured the individual girls bronze medal with a time of 13:17.8 behind gold medalist Jaylah Fish of Lorena (12:35.0) and silver medalist Erica Deters of Lorena (13:06.8). Lorena won the team title with 26 points, followed by West with 62 and Clifton with 110.

“We saw pretty much all of the schools in our district at the Troy meet,” Hunt said. “It is also the course we will run for the district meet. Our district isn’t big, but it has a lot of depth.

“We feel like we are in position to get both of our varsity teams out of district and on to the regional meet, but it will be tough. We just need to focus on being our best moving forward and keep working these next several weeks.”

Competing in a field of 91 runners, other Clifton boys among the tightly-contested top finishers included Brayden Stone in fourth place with a time of 17:28.9, sophomore R.J. Hikel in 11th place with a time of 18:00.3, sophomore Giovanny Garcia in 18th place with a time of 18:21.6 and junior Tristan Ward in 22nd place with a time of 18:59.1.

Competing in a field of 110 runners on the two-mile course, other Clifton girls among the top finishers included senior Kyndall Hunt in 23rd place, junior Evy Kennedy with a 26th place finish, and freshman Scarlett Kennedy in 29th place.

After running in five highly-competitive invitational meets, the Clifton boys and girls will compete in the District 17-3A Championships against McGregor, Waco Harmony Science, West, Whitney and host Troy this Saturday.

By opening the season at the Hillsboro Invitational in August before competing in the Pro Fit Invitational in Temple, the Midway Invitational, the West Invitational and last week meet in Troy, the Cubs and Lady Cubs have enjoyed success against some of the best runners in the state.

“Hillsboro, Temple and Midway were all big meets with a lot of schools,” Hunt said. “Hillsboro and Temple in particular were challenging courses. It was good for our kids to run on courses and against competition that is going to keep making them better. The West meet was another course that challenged our kids a little bit with some elevation changes.

“We have been to some competitive meets so far where we have run against some solid teams. Our girls and boys teams have both been competitive in every meet we have been to. We feel good about where we are at this point in the season, but also know that we need to continue to get better.”