By Douglas Pils
For the Franklin News Weekly
Junior Alonzo Duran capped Franklin’s championship cross country seasons with a trip to the state meet at Old Setter’s Park in Round Rock on Nov. 3.
On Oct. 9, Duran won the District 20-3A race in 17:18.96 to lead the Lions to their second straight District 20-3A championship at Fairfield, while sophomore twins Cheyenne Smith and Savannah Smith paced the girls to their third straight 20-3A title by finishing third and fourth with times of 13:59.06 and 14:00.04, respectively, on the 2-mile course. Coach Gary Watkins has guided the team to all of those titles.
On Oct. 23, Duran finished 11th overall with a time of 17:26.8 on the tough Region III-3A course at Kate Barr Ross Memorial Park in Huntsville to lead the boys to a 10th-place finish out of 24 teams. The Smiths led the girls to a ninth-place finish out of 23 teams, as Cheyenne was 37th overall in 13:55.9 and Savannah was 43rd in 14:04.3.
At state, Duran finished the 5K course 89th out of 151 runners with a time of 17:59.8.
At the district meet, the Lions’ girls team edged Fairfield for the team title by three points, 35 to 38. (In cross country, the lower the number, the better.) Freshman Jillian Reed (14:14.06) and junior Yaretzy Cruz (14:16.27) finished eighth and ninth, each passing a Fairfield runner in the final 200 meters. The Eagles finished with 38 points, so Reed and Cruz helped deliver the title with the crucial pass. Without that, Fairfield would have won 36-37.
Junior Mattie Brown (14:25.12) was 11th, while senior Marissa Rodriguez (14:39.51) and junior Kylee O’Quinn (14:41.84) were 13th and 14th, respectively, out of 41 runners.
Boys’ title comes down to runner No. 6
The Lions’ boys district title was even closer. They tied with Groesbeck at 52 points, but won the championship because junior Aiden Martinez (20:21.51) was the fastest sixth man among the two teams.
After Duran, sophomore Christian Rodriguez (18:10.39) was fourth overall, sophomore Ethan Stanley (18:56.17) was 11th, freshman Bentley Camp (19:16.16) was 17th and junior Kai Hidrogo (19:23.60) was 19th out of 40 runners.
Franklin dominated the junior varsity races. Addison Rhoden (15:14.48), Ayla Pils (15:25.02) and Alise Brown (15:26.03) finished 1-2-3 in the girls race. Meanwhile, Brandon Baker (20:48.65), Isaac Hooker (21:04.28), Luis Castellanos (22:00.68) and Gavin Adams (22:04.87) finished 1-2-3-4 in the boys race.
Every Franklin racer who attended the District 20-3A meet came home with a medal for their individual finish or as a member of the district champion.
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