WACO — The Shiner St. Paul Lady Cardinals continued their cross-country dynasty by winning their fourth consecutive state team title Saturday ( October 29, 2016 ) at Waco High School.
The Cardinal boys finished as runner up.
The Lady Cardinals scored 49 points with second-place Temple Holy Trinity Catholic recording 111 points. The St. Paul boys' team came in second place with 91 points.
"They just come in and work hard. This year's group has come in consistently and have worked to get better," head coach Dana Beal-Sestak said.
"Macy Grabarkievtz came in as a freshman and never settled for where she was. She decided she wanted to do her best to get a top spot, that in turn, pushed the upperclassmen because they just make each other better. They show up to practice every day and work hard every day. If one is off, another steps up. I am excited and happy for them."
The Lady Cardinals compared the state meet to the Tour De France.
"Sometimes, it's not your day but if you get out there and get worn by the competition a bit and your teammate has a different strategy than you, they have an opportunity to score," Beal-Sestak said.
"We went out fast, trying to make sure we defended our title. In doing so, we discovered we went out a little too fast but there's that point that if you want a shot at winning it, you have to go all out."
Emma Morgan, a senior, has been on all four state teams.
"It has been such a blessing to be a part of each of these teams," she said. "I am very thankful for all of it. Today's race was hard because it was a fast course. Our team handled it exactly how we have been trained."
Beal-Sestak said the boys team have nothing to hang their heads about since like the girls, they play another sport during cross country.
"The boys play football while running cross country. I am very proud of them as well," she said. "State runner-up is nothing to be disappointed about."
Morgan led St. Paul girls with a second-place fi nish in 12 minutes, 52.3 seconds. Elyssa Wagner was seventh with 13:21.5; Bailey Blair was No. 11 in 13:33.4.
Macy Grabarkievtz was No. 13 in 13:45; Hope Kapavik was No. 16 with 13:56.1; Ashley Waschmuth was No. 22 in 14:20.8 and Riley Johnson was No. 25 in 14:29.3.
For the Cardinal boys, Lane Jackson was ninth with 17:43; Walker Jackson was No. 11 in 18:05.5; Nathan Wagner was No. 18 in 18:40.9; Andrew Wagner was No. 23 with a time of 18:52.1; Frank Benes was No. 30 in 19:22.7; Jacob Darilek was No. 34 in 19:27.9; Cole Brown was No. 68 in 21:15.4.