Cross-Country: Cowboys Are Off To A Great Start
SportsTrack & Cross-Country September 23, 2011 Admin
Photo Courtesy of: BOB NICHOLS
BY ALYSSA FISHER
Cooper City High School’s cross-country team has had a successful start to the season. In the last two 5K meets, both the boys and girls ran some of their best times yet.
There were record setting times at the Spanish River Invitational held Saturday, September 17. On the brand new course at South County Regional Park in Boca Raton, the varsity boys team finished 19th out of 40 teams from throughout Florida. The Cowboys were led by Nassor Whitehead (17:53), who finished 68th overall in a field of 283 boys. Whitehead was followed by Kalan Williams (77th), Will Dean (108th), Trent Austin (151st) and Cody Statler (195th). In the freshman boy’s race, Nico Lopez finished 28th overall in a field of 72 freshman runners. Nassor Whitehead, Will Dean, Cody Statler, Ram Rebbapragada, and David Samuelson all set career best times during this meet.
The varsity girls finished 26th overall and were led by Tara Butler (23:43), who finished 92nd overall in a field of 224 girls. She was followed by Shelby Turner (98th), Christine Samuel (188th), Kaitlyn Valiente (191st) and Lindsay Lovins (211th). Tara and Christine both set career best times during this meet.
During the third meet Tuesday, September 20 at Markham Park, the boys team finished 3rd and the girls 5th overall. A total of 9 schools competed in the 5k race at Markham Park. Nassor Whitehead led the boys (18:00) while Shelby Turner led the girls, running a career best time of 22:25.
Some of the highlights:
- The boys season record is now 11-3 overall
- Nicolas Ouano (25:59) and David Samuelson (30:28) ran 2 year personal best times
- Shelby Turner finished in the top 10 overall with a record time of 22:25
- Elizabeth Baltazar set a new 2 year best as she clocked a time 29:06
