HARKER HEIGHTS – The cross country postseason will include some local flavor as the Harker Heights Lady Knights qualified for regionals during the District 12-5A Championships in Round Rock last weekend. 

Heights’ ladies placed third at the meet with 78 points behind district champion Belton (23) and A&M Consolidated (45).

“Qualifying is always tough in our district because we’ve got some really good teams in it,” said HHHS girls head coach Michelle Womack. “We finished behind two teams who have been ranked in the state for most of the season.

“Our girls have been real determined and they’ve run real well all year long. Our bottom four girls really picked up their game and that helped us out a lot.”

The Lady Knights were paced by junior Aliese Hyde, who finished third overall with a time of 11:59.40. Marissa Rozdilsky placed 15th overall (12:31.80) while Michell Pritchard (#19, 12:54.50), Monique McMichael (#20, 12:56.10), Kari Stewart (#21, 12:56.50), LaTeasha Mayo (#22, 12:57), and Jesse Calhoun (#37, 14.15.70) all finished in the top 40.

This marks the second year in a row that the Lady Knights have qualified for regionals, although last year’s run ended abruptly due to the absence of Hyde, who missed the meet due to illness.

“We’re pretty excited to have her with us this year,” said Womack. “Our goal is to try to finish in the top five. It would be a great thing for us to qualify for state, but realistically on paper it doesn’t look like we can do that.

“We do realize that anything can happen on any given day so we’re shooting for that top two and just hoping for the best.”

The top two teams at regionals advance to the state meet, while the top ten individual runners also move on to the championships. Womack said she is encouraged about the team’s chances to advance runners to state, specifically concerning Hyde.

“We’ve looked at the times and there are about nine girls in the region right now ahead of her within her grasp,” she said. “With her stubbornness and determination, she can definitely beat some of those girls.

“It’s hard to really say to a certainty in cross country because the courses are so different, but I would say she has a realistic shot to finish in the top ten.”

On the boys’ side, sophomore sensation Mike Odeh finished second overall to qualify for regionals at the District 12-5A Meet last weekend. Odeh finished the course in a time of 16:23.30 to place just behind district champion Stephen Case of A&M Consolidated (16:21.40).

The Knights had six other runners place in the top 50 including Adarius Stanford (#21, 17:42.80), Anthony Cruz (#22, 17:43.60), Komar Hassell (#28, 17:57.30), Tyler Moffett (#29, 18:12.10), Troy Barajas (#34, 18:45) and Cory Thompson (#43, 19:32.40).

Harker Heights finished in fourth place overall with 102 points behind district champion A&M Consolidated (40), Ellison (55) and Belton (68).

The Region II Class 5A Meet will be held in Arlington’s Vandergriff Park tomorrow, beginning at 8:45 a.m.