Odessa High girls qualify for state

LUBBOCK Instant gratification hasn’t been a luxury enjoyed by Odessa High School’s girls at the Region I-5A Cross Country Championships.

But the payoff Saturday at Mae Simmons Park was well worth the wait.

The Lady Bronchos finished third in the team standings to earn the program’s first trip to the UIL State Cross Country Championships. They are believed to be the first District 3-5A girls team since San Angelo Central in 1993 to earn a state cross country berth.

OHS finished third by edging District 3-5A rival Abilene High by two points for the final team berth to state. Keller won the title with 60 points and Southlake Carroll finished second with 70.

“I’m still in shock,” said OHS senior Lacy McKinney, who led her team’s individually with a 20th-place finish. “We ran so hard and we’ve worked so hard for this all season. Everyone’s just been focusing on making it to state.”

OHS has been a girls power in District 3-5A for several seasons but hasn’t performed up to its expectations, for the most part, at regionals the last few seasons.

That left head coach Tracey Borchardt muffling her optimism about the meet, even after all 24 teams and 183 runners had finished.

“I just didn’t know the overall outcome and I was just shooting for the top five at that point,” Borchardt said. “Third place was pretty far out of reach, I thought.”

There’s no scoreboard in cross country and the finish at an event like the Region I Championships is hectic, so keeping count of the finish is nearly impossible for the naked eye.

But after McKinney came in 20th, Kirsten Taylor was 29th, Gaby Valeriano was 49th, Mindy Navarette was 60th and Jordann Beason was 62nd for Odessa High’s scoring runners. Tiffany Barrera wasn’t far behind in 76th while Ashley Carrasco was 140th.

Abilene High also had solid finishes, though, led by Jourdan Ellis in 10th, Jessica Prestridge in 27th, Stephanie Martinez in 40th and Elizabeth Prestridge in 48th.

“What happened is when I finished, I saw several girls in blue so I knew (Keller) had won,” McKinney said. “Then I saw Southlake Carroll and then I didn’t see a group of girls another color, so I knew that third was kind of open and I thought we might pull it off.”

Indeed, the Lady Bronchos did pull it off, with their top six runners breaking 13 minutes and the top five all finishing under 12:35.

McKinney said her time of 12:01.88 tied the effort of her freshman season, when she was 12th individually, and Taylor flirted with breaking the 12-second barrier herself before settling in at 12:10.77.

“We put it all together and we ran our hardest,” McKinney said. “I was really proud. We really ran good..”

Borchardt was proud of the effort from McKinney, who came down with flu-like symptoms Friday, to perform at her best and for the rest of the team to group together for the solid top-65 finishes.

It’s exactly the type of effort she knew the Lady Bronchos could pull off, and they proved her right - all the way back down to Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, site of the state meet Nov. 10.

“I am speechless,” Borchardt said. “These kids have worked hard, they’ve stuck together and they deserve every bit of it. It hasn’t sunk in yet. I can’t grasp it, but I’m so proud of them. They work hard, they’re good kids and it just all fell into place. I couldn’t ask for any more of them.”

Well, maybe not until training continues for the Lady Bronchos as they prepare for their first trip to the state meet.