Published: November 07, 2009 05:58 pm      

Mildred's Knight going to state in cross country

Wortham's Libhart, Rhodes advance in Class 1A

Mildred junior Ben Knight is going to the UIL State Cross Country Meet.

Knight finished in 10th place, running a time of 19:59 over the three-mile course at the Class 2A Region II Meet on Saturday in Arlington.

The top 10 individual qualifiers at regionals make it to the state meet in Round Rock next Saturday at Old Settlers Park.

Mildred took 17th place as a team.

Knight said he was in a pack of the top 10 runners most of the race and tried to push up to seventh, but couldn't do it. He still was comfortable in 10th, finishing well in front of the runner behind him.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever gone," Knight said. "This year I said I was going to do it.”

Knight's goal at state is to finish in the low 16s.

"But I don't want to train too long," Knight said. "I'll just do long runs to keep up my stamina."

----

Wortham freshman Amber Libhart didn't feel like her conditioning wasn't at its best for Saturday's regional cross country meet.

It didn't matter.

Libhart was the runnerup at the Class 1A Region III meet in Humble with a time of 12:24. Lindsey's Kelsey Hermes won the race with a time of 11:59.

Wortham senior Ashley Rhodes also qualified for the state meet next weekend in Round Rock with a seventh-place finish.

Libhart, whose best time this year is 12:18, said her expectations were to finish in the top 10, but even though she had one of the top times in the region going into the meet, she wasn't expecting second place.

"I knew I could finish the two-mile," she said. "I was planning on going to state coming in."

Rhodes said earning a trip to state with her freshman teammate means a lot.

"No one has ever run cross country (at Wortham) and made it this far," Rhodes said. "We love to run and we really take it seriously."