The varsity cross country team brought home two district championships Friday, Oct. 24. Both the girls and boys took first at the 13-6A district meet at Old Settler’s Park.

“I’m stoked about winning both boys and girls,” coach Kelly Thompson said. “They competed well against some extremely talented teams.”

The varsity girls kicked things off with the first race, sweeping the top three spots. Pulling away from the competition, junior Madie Boreman won the race in 18:19.30. This was the third year Boreman has won the district championship. As a freshman and sophomore, she won the District 25-4A race.

“It’s cool, especially in a new district,” Boreman said. “But now the team is champion too so that’s even more exciting.”

Junior Haley Timmons took second in 18:45.10 and freshman Helen Roddy was third, 12 seconds later.

“I think that was pretty cool, top Rouse girls, top three,” Roddy said. “I was kind of rooting for Haley because I wanted all of us to be together.”

Timmons, who said she was remarkably calm before the race, credited Roddy for helping her to finish so well.

“I’m surprised and amazed that I did that well,” Timmons said. “I really couldn’t have done it without Helen. She really helped push me.”

This was the first time all season, the top three girls finished 1-2-3.

“I wasn’t expecting that, but Haley did amazing,” Boreman said. “That was so cool to turn around and see one of our girls come in and then another.”

Sophomore Sarah Warrenburg and senior Savy Escobar finished 16^th and 18^th, which sealed the district championship over Round Round by four points.

“Goodness, they competed like champs,” Thompson said. “Sarah had the best race of her career.”

With two team first place finishes during the season, the varsity boys had a district championship in mind.

“We were pretty confident coming off a win two weeks ago,” junior Nico Escobar said. “We felt good with all the work we’ve done, we tried to come in being relaxed and being competitive.”

Led by senior Suede Mora, the team normally stays as a pack for the first mile, with Mora and freshman Danny Madrid then pulling ahead. But between the first and second mile, Mora aggravated an old injury, hitting a divet on the course and pulling his hip flexor again.

Mora tried to stay with Madrid, but the freshman had to take over as the team leader.

“Teamwise, I’m glad Danny’s here,” Mora said. “I can count on him to step up when something bad happens to me.”

Madrid finished strong, taking third in 16:24.64.

“It was a hard race with a lot of competition so it was pretty hard to get third,” Madrid said. “I think making it to regional is a huge accomplishment on its own but doing it as a freshman makes it more special.”

Two more runners finished in the top 10 – Mora powered through the race, finishing eighth and Escobar took ninth. During the race, Escobar was worried he wasn’t going to be in the top 10, the only runners guaranteed a spot at regionals. But after passing two guys, he saw Mora and knew he had a good chance.

“I’m pretty excited actually,” Escobar said. “It’s always been a goal of mine to be in the top 10 at district and go to regionals. I really felt awesome doing that and reaching my goal.”

Seniors Danny Guidry and Logan Zipkes were 11^th and 15^th to help the team decisively win the district championship, beating second place Hendrickson by 18 points.

The dual district championships for varsity girls and boys is a first for the school. The teams will compete at the regional meet next week in Arlington.

DISTRICT RESULTS

Varsity Girls – 1st Overall
1st – Madie Boreman, 18:19.30
2nd – Haley Timmons, 18:45.10
3rd – Helen Roddy, 18:57.70
16th – Sarah Warrenburg, 20:20.60
18th – Savy Escobar, 20:35.50
25th – Abby Lentz, 21:26.30
32nd – Ashton Hilsentager, 21:59.60

Varsity Boys – 1st Overall
3rd – Danny Madrid, 16:24.64
8th – Suede Mora, 16:44.35
9th – Nico Escobar, 16:57.60
11th – Daniel Guidry, 17:00.04
15th – Logan Zipkes, 17:10.99
17th – Connor Brooks, 17:18.20
18th – Mitchell Ballis, 17:18.34

Junior Varsity Girls – 3rd Overall
4th – Alexis Alvarez, 13:26.15
6th – Makenna Ludwig, 13:32.70
8th – Mya Butoryak, 13:41.93
14th – Celise Phillips, 13:56.50
31st – Cameron Wiese, 14:44.04
43rd – Janice Mclaughlin, 15:17.28
44th – Rachelle Rios, 15:17.99
45th – Destiny Luna, 15:20.98
51st – Dharma Boreman, 15:43.92

Junior Varsity Boys – 1st Overall
1st – Ben Escobar, 17:38.41
2nd – James Tisdale, 17:38.42
5th – Ethan Rogers, 18:36.07
9th – Brandon King, 19:01.78
13th – Ariel Sosa, 19:34.95
33rd – Conor Bryant, 20:24.34
36th – Ethan Case, 20:26.76
53rd – Art Loy, 21:10.23
68th – Daniel Myers, 22:07.35

Freshman Boys – 4^th Overall
11th – Cypher Miller, 20:20.30
13th – Ian Hoffmann, 20:37.23
21st – Nico Dunfee, 22:04.00
22nd – Nic Marcello, 22:04.14
24th – Seth Francess, 22:25.86
28th – Nic Ayers, 23:14.94
30th – Quasm Abbas, 23:21.15