Richards CC finishes 13th at Regionals

The Richards High School boys cross country season ended at the regional meet.

The boys placed 13th among 20 teams at the UIL 1A Region IV meet.

“I thought the kids competed really hard,” Richards first-year coach Justin Bane said. “They gave all they had.”

It was the boys’ first time racing on that course. “I thought it was a very nice course. It was well-maintained and kept,” he said. “It was challenging. There were some rolling hills.”

Junior Reece Wrobleski completed the 5,000-meter run in 21 minutes, 19.95 seconds to place 66th among 142 and lead the team.

“We thought it would be pretty hard, knowing it’s a regional run,” he said, yet noted that the course was not as difficult as he expected.

He and sophomore Noah Bay traded the lead position for the Panthers, though they weren’t able to stay with the runners up front. “It was unbelievable,” Wrobleski said. “When the gun shot, I saw how fast they went out.”

“We took the pace high and did what we could to get a good finish,” he said. “At the very end, maybe the last 200 yards, I like to sprint. I went all out and gave my all.”

Bay finished in 73rd place in 21:26.44. “I was happy,” he said. “We all did better than we expected.”

“We kind of divided into two groups,” he said about the Panthers. “We weren’t planning on it.”

Elijah Bay, Ryan Wrobleski and Liam Wilson occupied the 78 through 80 spots, respectively. Fanin Fuller and Joseph Miller also competed.