Looking back at the 2021 GHS Cross Country Season
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(MIKE WILLIAMS | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Marcos Herrera (1261) completed his senior cross country season with two race wins, two third-place finishes and six top-10 finishes. He ran a personal record time of 17:08.06 at the Lipan Invitational on Sept. 15, 2021. Hererra graduated in May 2022 and plans to attend Cameron University where he will run cross country and track. -
(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO | KY GRAHAM) Lady Blues coach Ky Graham finished his final season as girls’ cross country coach by leading the team to a district championship. The team took first overall at the District 5-4A meet at Kirby Middle School on Oct. 14, 2021. Coach Graham retired following the conclusion of the 2021-2022 school year.
With school out for the summer and the end of the high school sports year, The Graham Leader will take a look back at the year that was before taking a look at the year ahead. In this edition of The Graham Leader, we will look back at the 2021 season for Graham Cross Country.
The 2021 Cross Country season was a beginning and end of eras for both the boys' and the girls' teams. Coach Ky Graham coached his final season of girls’ cross country while Coach Kris Hise coached his first leading the boys’ team. Coach Graham retired at the end of the school year while Coach Hise has taken over for Coach Marcus Morris, who left during the summer of 2021 to take over the head basketball coaching position at Midland Greenwood.
Burkburnett Jamboree
The season opened Sept. 2 with the Burkburnett Jamboree and the first of back-to-back race wins for senior Marcos Hererra. Herrera was one of four Steers runners to finish inside the Top 10 of the race with his time of 18:25.29. Holton Weatherman, Christian Coyac and Levi May each finished inside the Top 10. The Steers walked away with a team win.
The Lady Blues finished the meet third overall, led by a 13th place finish by Madi Wilde at 13:20.00. Macee Wilde (18th place), Alejandra Barrios (30th), Michel Graham (41st), Kylee Miller (42nd), Olivia Pettus (51st) and Alexa Palacios (57th) all represented the Lady Blues in the meet.
Barrios was the fastest runner for the Lady Blues with an eighth-place finish at 15:49.92. Olivia Pettus (16:15.93), Michel Graham (16:16.62) and Miller (16:24.37) finished 12th, 13th and 14th. Alexa Palacios finished 19th overall at 17:05.23. Vivian Gutierrez (19:20.11) and Kate Carrillo (19:40.08) finished 25th and 26th. “(I was) very pleased with the girl’s times when you adjust for the longer 2.2-mile course),” Coach Graham said.
Herrera won his second race of the season with a time of 20.05.81. Weatherman (22:01.96) and Coyac (22:28.21) finished in fifth and eighth place and also medaled for the Steers. Nathan Palacios finished 24th at 24:23.01 and May finished 31st at 25:26.11.
For the full story, see the Wednesday, June 8 edition of The Graham Leader.
