Marble Falls Mustang runners get ready for district meet

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  Contributed photos/Luedecke Photography Marble Falls freshman runner Graham Goggans is consistently running as the Mustangs' No. 2 athlete.

  Contributed photos/Luedecke Photography Marble Falls freshman runner Graham Goggans is consistently running as the Mustangs' No. 2 athlete.
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  Marble Falls sophomore Owen Martin continues to drop his times and is poised for a great district meet.

  Marble Falls sophomore Owen Martin continues to drop his times and is poised for a great district meet.
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  Marble Falls freshman Reese Massey's drive for success pushes her to the podium.

  Marble Falls freshman Reese Massey's drive for success pushes her to the podium.
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  Marble Falls senior Tyler Hamblin is looking to advance to another regional meet in his final season wearing purple.

  Marble Falls senior Tyler Hamblin is looking to advance to another regional meet in his final season wearing purple.

The final week of the high school cross coun - try regular season is here. Therefore, Marble Falls and Burnet are prepar - ing for the District 24-4A meet that will be conduct - ed today, Tuesday, Oct.8, at Marble Falls High School. The girls varsity race is scheduled to start the meet at 8:45 a.m. followed by the boys varsity at 9:15 a.m., girls junior varsity at 9:45 a.m., and boys junior varsity at 10:45 a.m.

This year's meet will be more challenging in one way. When the Uni - versity Interscholastic League announced re - alignment in February, it

added more district teams. While the district still fea - tures Burnet, Georgetown Gateway, Jarrell, Lam - pasas and Marble Falls, it welcomes Liberty Hill Legacy Ranch, Salado and Taylor. What didn't change were the number of teams from each district that can advance to regional meets. The top three teams and top 10 individuals ad - vance to the Class 4A Region III, which will be conducted Monday, Oct. 21, at Kate Barr Ross Me - morial Park in Huntsville. To give district teams a chance to get a feel for the course, Marble Falls hosted its annual Leonel Manzano and Rick Ed - wards Memorial Invita - tional Sept. 28. Including

the middle school divi - sions, the meet featured 10 races.

"It was exhausting," Marble Falls head coach Brenda Gonzalez said. "It went well. Everyone was impressed in general." Marble Falls senior Tyler Hamblin won the 5A-6A 5K race, clocking 15:59.6. Burnet senior Isaias Zarate was the Bull - dogs' top finisher thanks to crossing the finish line 11th overall in 16:54.1.

Marble Falls was sixth overall in the team stand - ings. Salado took first place in the standings. Other Mustangs run - ning were freshman Gra - ham Goggans, who was 25th in 17:41.2, sopho - more Owen Martin, who finished 26th in 17:43.6, sophomore Brazos White, who came in 58th in 18:52.6, and freshman Logan Hargraves, who was 71st in 19:31.5.

“Everyone had a personal best or close to a personal best,” Gonzalez said.

The Lady Mustangs competed in the Classes 1A-4A division where freshman Reese Massey took silver in 11:36.1 on the two-mile course. The gold medalist was Salado freshman McCall Boyd, who was done in 11:34.3. Other Marble Falls runners were Chloe Ellis, Abigail Henderson and Hadalye Hernandez “(Massey) was on (Boyd’s) heels. She was a second or two off of first place. She ran well," the coach said. “The ones who ran, ran great. We improved.”

Burnet won the Class 1A-4A boys varsity division and both junior var- sity divisions and finished second in the 1A-4A girls varsity division.

Burnet freshman Isaac Vega finished the 5K course in 18:13.8 to finish third in the 1A-4A boys varsity race, while Burnet sophomore Abby Bennight paced the Lady Dawgs in the girls varsity race placing 19th in 13:04.9 on the two-mile course.

To show his support for the meet, Manzano, a 2004 Marble Falls graduate and 2012 Olympic silver medalist in the men’s 1,500 meters, attended where he took photos with the runners and fans, told stories and made himself available for conversations.

“It did pretty good for the kiddos,” Gonzalez said. “I think it was a nice environment. It was cool for the kids to have an Olympian there.”

Jennifer Fierro pub - lishes reports about area youth athletic events on her website TexasChalk - Talk.com. To send her a note, email fierrojenni -

fer@yahoo.com