Region IV Cross Country: Killeen's Anderson-Kaapa, Salado boys, Florence's Meyer earn spots in state meet Posted On: Sunday, Nov. 8 2009 05:31 AM By Kevin Posival
Killeen Daily Herald

They had to go through San Antonio to do it, but Killeen's DreVan Anderson-Kaapa, Florence's Celeste Meyer and the Salado boys cross country team qualified for the state cross country meet Saturday.

Anderson-Kaapa placed third in Class 4A, Meyer placed fourth among Class 2A girls and Peralta Jace finished second to lead the Salado Eagles to a second-place team finish at the Region IV meet held at San Antonio's Brooks City Base golf course.

Anderson-Kaapa, a senior who's won back-to-back District 25-4A individual titles, became the first Killeen boys cross country runner to advance to the state meet since Zachary Davis in 2005 and led the Roos to an eighth-place finish overall with his 15 minute, 45 second time.

"The way (Anderson-Kaapa) ran today, there's no doubt about it that he could probably be in the top 15 or top 10 at state," Killeen cross country coach Carlos Quinones said via cell phone. "That was really awesome the way he ran today. He PRed for a course that's really hard … we have hills and a lot of twists and turns and he was able to perform that well."

Jace (16:45) was the Eagles' only top-10 finisher, but teammate Patrick Murray (17:36) finished 12th and Salado had top-30 finishes by Robert Peirra (20, 17:58), Juan Cazares (26, 18:03) and Jada Kornegay (18:13), to finish the meet with 79 points, behind East Bernards' 35.

Meyer (12:17), Florence's lone regional qualifier, was among five District 25-2A girls regional qualifiers to finish in the top-10 and qualify for the state meet to be held Nov. 14 at Old Settlers' Park in Round Rock.

The Salado girls team, led by Lindsy Martin (18th, 13:07), finished fourth behind team champion East Bernard, Geronimo Navarro and district rival, Rogers.

The top three teams and top 10 individuals qualified for the state meet.

Killeen junior Alonso Rivera finished 19th in 16:56 – five places and 15 seconds better than his 24th-place finish at the regional meet last year, where Anderson-Kaapa finished 16th.

"These guys, they came (Saturday) and they attacked," Quinones said. "They wanted it really bad but we just weren't at the level these guys are down here. They're just a step above us. We just need this kind of running, this kind of experience or this kind of feel more often."

Boerne-Champion, Mercedes and Juarez-Lincoln finished 1-2-3 and were the top 4A teams to advance to state.

Lampasas' Tiffany Fagg finished 123rd and Ashley Moore finished 131st in the 188-runner Class 4A girls field.

Contact Kevin Posival at kposival@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7562.