Below is a complete list of where everyone finished at junior nationals. 2K (7-8 year olds)
Eleni Jo Browne:
Avery Anderson:
3K (9- 10 year olds) Cady McPhail:
Photos courtesy of The North Texas Road Warriors
138 out of 197 (10:30.4)
82 out of 197
(9:42.4)
171 out of 294 (14:30.5)
Samatha Humphries: 48 out of 294 (13:09.9) Nicole Humphries: 53 out of 294 (13:15.5) Dashiell Browne:
175 out of 306 (13:44.5)
Noah Tepera:
220 out of 306 (14:13.0)
Lukas Valdez:
3K (11- 12 year olds)
265 out of 306 (15:19.9)
Isabel Browne:
278 out of 300 (15:28.9)
Rachel Sutliff:
32 out of 300 (12:12.4)
Riley McGarry: Natalie Cook: Asher Leslie:
Ethan Borge: 4K (13- 14 year olds) Johnathan Flint:
266 out of 300 (14:50.2) 82 out of 300 (12:39.3) 104 out of 312 (11:56.8) 283 out of 312 (14:08.7)
215 out of 345 (16:04.8)
The North Texas Road Warriors, led predominately by runners from Denton County, had a strong showing at the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships on Dec. 12 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Of the Road Warriors’ 15 runners, 13 were from Lantana, Flower Mound and Highland Village. All runners had to finish in the Top 15 in their age group at a regional meet in November to qualify. “The club really has taken on a life of its own,” Road Warriors coach Matt Celone said. “I started this as a way to just keep everyone in shape. Then about three years ago we started getting serious.” This was the club’s third trip in as many years to junior nationals. Some of its top finishers included Flower Mound twin sisters Samantha and Nicole Humphries. Samantha finished 48 out of 294 runners in the girls 3,000-meter run (9-10 age group) with a time of 13:09.9. Nicole finished 53rd with a time of 13:15.5. Rachel Sutliff, a Grapevine resident, finished 32 out of 300 runners (12:12.4) in the 11-12 age group. Natalie Cook of Highland Village finished 82nd in the same race with a time of 12:39.3. Avery Anderson of Flower Mound finished 82 out of 197 runners in the girls 2,000meter run (7-8 age group) at 9:42.4.
Other runners who competed at nationals
included Lantana residents Cady McPhail, Isabel Browne, Eleni Jo Browne, Dashiell Browne and Riley McGarry; Flower Mound runners Asher
Leslie, Johnathan Flint, Lukas Valdez and Ethan Borge; and Keller resident Noah Tepera.
Celone, who also coaches the track team
for the Town of Flower Mound, said he loves coaching kids so much that he doesn’t charge
to be a part of the North Texas Road Warriors. The club competes in various events throughout
We run everywhere and sometimes even the parents come out and run with us, Celone said.
the year, and parents are simply asked to cover race entry fees.
Three years ago, Celone took eight runners
to the regional qualifier in Denton and six of
them advanced to junior nationals. In 2014, 11 of the 14 runners who competed at regionals
qualified for nationals. Celone said he brought
21 runners to this year’s regional meet, which was in Carrollton.
“It’s very organized and structured, and it has
good support from the area. All of these kids are
very strong runners, and they certainly won’t have stage fright by the time they get to high school.”
JANUARY 2016 | LANTANA living | 13