Cross Country/Track

Track/Cross Country - Cross Country/Track

In four weeks, if her injury continues to heal, Dallas Greenhill's Chelsey Sveinsson wants to run again. She believes that a successful senior year in cross country is still a possibility. The feeling is shared by Lewisville Marcus' Craig Lutz, his summer training beset by illnesses.

Lutz, the defending Class 5A state cross country champion has battled illness -- staph infection, intestinal infection --- since a sinus infection began his summer. Sveinsson has not run since last spring when she found out the pain in her lower back was a stress fracture in her sacrum.

Dallas Morning News

Track/Cross Country - Cross Country/Track

Despite losing all but two runners from last year’s push to a second straight Class 4A championship, along with a Nike national title, Boerne Champion still has hopes of another banner season. The Chargers may not have the dominant appearance they had the previous two years, but the presence of seniors Travis Barclay and Josh Hernandez is a good place to start the rebuilding.

San Antonio Express-News

Track/Cross Country - Cross Country/Track

Northeast ISD has shuffled its girls cross country coaches, San Antonio Reagan, San Antonio, Johnson, San Antonio Roosevelt, San Antonio Churchill and San Antonio Jefferson have new coaches.

San Antonio Express-News

Track/Cross Country - Cross Country/Track

Hereford track and cross country coach Ray Baca, one of the premier high school track and field coaches in the area, is the new Canyon girls track and cross country coach.

The 40-year-old Baca, a 1988 Canyon graduate, accepted the position Thursday, Canyon Independent School District athletic director Brent McCallie said.

Amarillo Globe News

Track/Cross Country - Cross Country/Track

One of the most-debated topics at Tuesday’s UIL Athletic Committee meeting was changing the distance of the girls cross country race from two miles to three. Now, it’s going to a vote... or really a survey.

The Athletic Committee voted to continue to study the issue as well as have a survey. The survey would go to superintendents, as do all UIL surveys, as well as female cross country athletes at the schools of UIL Legislative Council members.

“What do the Class 1A girls want,” UIL executive director Charles Breithaupt asked after hearing results of a Texas Girls Coaches Association survey where 80 percent of the 1A girls cross country coaches were against raising the distance for post-season championship meets.

Alpine girls cross country coach Rick Keith and Houston Cy-Fair girls cross country coach Tom Kennedy spoke before the committee in favor of increasing the distance. Kennedy said he has run an “increased” mileage program at Class 5A Houston Spring Woods and Cy-Fair with positive results in participation.

“I have no fears about participation,” said Keith of his 2A team. “I have asked our kids and our kids want the change. They would prefer a 5K. It would better optimize their abilities.”

In the TGCA’s survey, the larger the classification the larger the percentage of coaches for the increase. Class 5A coaches are 59 percent in favor, while 4A coaches are 42.4 percent in favor. The TGCA’s April 2009 poll got a different response than the Cross Country Coaches Association of Texas’ June 2009 poll taken at its annual clinic.

The Cross Country coaches polled were in favor of the increase in all, but Class 2A and overall were 73 percent in favor of the increase.

Texas and Oklahoma are the only states that have girls running 2 miles for cross country. Eight state (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin) run four kilometers (2 ½ miles), while the rest of the states run five kilometers.

Last fall’s Legislative Council requested a staff study on the subject. The concerns investigated were possible injury or decrease in participation. No evidence of increased injury or a decreased participation was found by the UIL. It was noted that when investigating increases in distance, most states jumped from a 4K to a 5K and not a 3K (or two miles) to a 5K.

Track/Cross Country - Cross Country/Track

Days after the Bloomington school board proposed not renewing the contract of Edgar Vander Stucken, the softball and cross country coach responded to the board's decision.

"It's unknown to both by myself and the athletic director why they have taken these steps," he said Friday..

The board went against the recommendations of Bloomington school district's athletic director and superintendent as well as the high school's principal and proposed to non-renew Vander Stucken, he said.

Victoria Advocate