Cross Country runners qualify for state, Wellington’s Kyla Kane wins fourth Region 1 title and Dumas girls make program history

LUBBOCK, Texas (KFDA) - The Region 1 cross country meet finished with many Texas Panhandle runners qualifying for state, and a few teams made school history. The top four teams in each class advanced to state, along with the top 10 runners that were not on those teams.

Dumas and Canadian’s girls teams became the first from their programs to advance to UIL state. Canadian’s Konnar McClendon finished second in 3A in 12:20.3. Dumas was led in 4A by Sarai Chavez who raced a time of 12:24.8. She was followed by her teammate Mia Lujan. Canyon’s boys and girls teams placed first in 4A. Lady Eagles junior Abree Winfrey and freshman Avery Brown finished :02 seconds apart, taking the top two spots.

Amarillo High’s senior Isaac McGill finished the 5K in second place running 15:22.2. He helped send the Sandies team to state coming in third behind Denton and Grapevine.

”Definitely the best region in the state. The dude that beat me won state last year so, he’s definitely a good competitor,” said McGill. “I gotta find a way to get him at state for sure. I mean, got second here, I don’t see why I can’t get a top two spot at state for sure. I was happy with it.”

The 2A girls division was dominated by the Texas Panhandle. Three of the four teams that advanced to state were from the area including Wellington, Gruver and Farwell. Wellington’s Kyla Kane led the two-mile pack in 12:17.7. She was closely followed by Farwell’s Isabella Jaime in 12:50.9. Kane won her fourth Region championship, and was pleased with the finish after overcoming injuries this season.

”It was more of a challenge this year because, at the beginning of the year I pulled my hamstring,” said Kane. “This is actually my third race of the year so, this one means the most to me. I’m trying to get a PR at state which would be below 11-30. So we will see how that goes.”

UIL State cross country runs November 5-6 at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock. The schedule can be found here.

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