The Viking cross country team showcased their hard-work at the prestigious Southlake #2 Invite on Saturday, with both Varsity and Junior Varsity (JV) runners putting on a stellar performance in the 5K races. Over 480 runners gathered at Bob Jones Park across the 4 races, and the Vikings had 3 place inside the top 15.
The Southlake Invite, always known for its deep competition, brings runners together from TAPPS and UIL schools. The Vikings cross country team, under the guidance of Coach Lamb, rose to the occasion and delivered outstanding results.
Girls - Varsity Open 5K:
In the highly anticipated Varsity Open 5K race, the Lady Vikings team showed their resilience as they navigated the demanding course. Leading the charge was Ava Talabock, who displayed exceptional speed and endurance, securing a top-5 finish. Talabock covered the distance in a remarkable 20:08.58, earning her a fourth place finish among 90 other runners.
Another standout performance came from Georgia Giesinger, who finished 9th. Betsy Weber (23rd), Rebeca Pierce-Kondrawitch (25th) and Avery Schmidt (26th) pushed each other to round out to the top-30. The collective efforts of the Lady Vikings Varsity team resulted in an impressive overall 2nd place team performance.
Boys - Varsity Open 5K: The varsity boys also competed in a highly stacked division of 143 runners. Santiago Leslie led the way with a top-15 finish and a PR time of 17:03.93. Nahoa Rogge (40th) and David Granado (50th) finished right inside the top-50 and helped elevate the Vikings to a 7th place team performance. Noah Delgado (61st), Luke Warminski (64th) and Alex Aleman (66th) were all in the top half of the field as well.
Girls - JV 5K Results:
Sofia Marklin (77th), Ania Ramirez (85th), Kiera Connors (94th), Reagan Doyon (105th), Isabel Flores (111th), Jaybri West (118th)
Boys - JV 5K Results:
Tyler Wise (58th), Nicholas Ritchey (65th), Andrew Self (66th), Sam Steele (90th), Anthony Nguyen (97th)