12-5A Girls Cross-Country: Belton's Tindell runs away with title
Posted On: Saturday, Oct. 31 2009 05:01 AM
By Nick Talbot
Killeen Daily HeraldROUND ROCK – Not much can outrun Belton's Regan Tindell.
Maybe just a Gator.
Tindell won the District 12-5A girls cross country meet in blowout fashion Friday at Old Settler's Park.
The only thing in front of her all day was the Gator tractor that the organizers rode to pace the field.
"I was going to take it easy and I got caught up in it…," Tindell said. "I started thinking 'Hey, I could catch the Gator right now.' Then I had to say to myself 'hold on I need to slow down.'
"I kept speeding up and slowing down and speeding up and slowing down."
"This is my third win in a row to win district … so I was trying to save it all for region," said Tindell, who is trying to make it to the state meet for a third year in a row.
"I was only trying to only get a 15-second lead, but they are telling me that I got a little off."
A little?
Tindell paced the field with a time of 11 minutes, and 14.94 seconds. Her next closest competitor, freshman Karis Jochen of A&M Consolidated, crossed the line in 11:58.44.
Right on Jochen's heels was Harker Heights' Aliese Hyde, who finished third with a time of 12:04.22.
Hyde helped Heights to a third-place finish at the meet.
Hyde thought she could have taken second, but also wanted to save that extra push for regionals next week in Arlington.
"It was kind of hard (today) with the cold… we are used to the heat. It is just hard to breathe and it makes your muscles all tight," Hyde said. "I did what I wanted to do today, though. I just hope our entire team goes."
Her hopes became a reality only minutes later when the standings were posted. Heights finished third with 93 points.
Heights' Marissa Austin was 14th overall, Kassandra Booker was 15th and Melissa Garza and Anna Karcher rounded out the Lady Knights' scoring with 27th and 34th place finishes respectively.
In the team standings, Belton finished second with 40 points and A&M Consolidated won the meet with 29. In order, Shoemaker, Temple, Copperas Cove and Ellison rounded out the final standings.