Reicher girls rally in stretch to earn state track title
Sunday, May 04, 2008 By Chad Conine
Tribune-Herald staff writer
The home stretch proved oh-so sweet for the Reicher track and field team Saturday at the TAPPS state meet.
Lady Cougar mile relay anchor leg Sandra Ramirez passed Cedar Hill Trinity Christian’s Destiny Roseman in the final 50 meters, grasping a gold medal in that race and sending the entire Lady Cougars team up to the first-place podium.
The best TAPPS track & field athletes in Texas showed their skills.
As the TAPPS state meet wound down at the Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex, it was impossible to find a Reicher face without a broad smile on it.
“This is why we do this kind of stuff,” Reicher coach John Ryan said as he congratulated his girls’ mile relay team moments after the race. “When your kids come through, four years worth of work pays off.”
As the 4A girls stepped into the blocks for the mile relay, the final race of the day, meet announcer John L. Pritchett framed the moment.
Pritchett announced the team standings. Reicher and Cedar Hill Trinity Christian had each scored 66 points so far, tied for first place.
The mile relay would decide the 4A girls’ team championship.
Reicher’s first two legs — Katie Liu and Brianna Crenwelge — kept the Lady Cougars within striking distance as Trinity Christian’s fastest runners pushed out to an eight-second lead by the second baton exchange. “I was freaking out because she started so far behind everyone,” said Crenwelge about her reaction as she handed the stick to Katie Lopez on the third leg. But Lopez began to make up the difference.“Katie Lopez just took over the race,” Ryan said. “She ran the fastest quarter she’s ever run.”
Lopez clocked a split of just under 62 seconds and closed Trinity Chirstian’s lead from about eight seconds to less than three.
Ramirez trailed Roseman for about 300 yards, but Ryan could see what was about to happen.
“When they came into that stretch, you just knew with Sandra,” Ryan said. “You knew she was going to pass her.”
Ramirez knew it too. “She was getting tired and I was like, ‘I’ve got her in this 100,’ ” she said.
Reicher’s sophomore anchor made the pass with about 45 meters left.
Roseman fell back to third place as Reicher clocked 4 minutes, 20.10 seconds — .44 of a second in front of second-place San Marcos Baptist Academy.
Liu, Crenwelge and Lopez met Ramirez as she came off the track. The group embraced, celebrating the Lady Cougars’ third straight mile relay state title and their second consecutive team championship.
The mile relay team couldn’t have won the team championship by itself. The Lady Cougars claimed points all over the Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex, including silver medals in the 4x100 and 4x200 relays that scored crucial points.
Ryan pointed out that Madeleine Bruich ran 40 seconds faster than her personal best time for third in the 3200 on Friday night, scoring key points.
Reicher finished with 86 points, eight in front of Trinity Christian, which led most of the day.
Hurdler takes title
Lady Cougars junior hurdler Lindsey Thiele posted 18 points by herself on Saturday with a title in the 300 hurdles and a silver medal in the 100 hurdles. Thiele left the 300 hurdles field well behind her as she crossed the finish line while everyone else was clearing the final hurdle.
Thiele posted a time of 48.81, her fastest of the season by .46 of a second and 2.28 seconds faster than Eva Griffith of Arlington Pantego in second place. “I just tried to sprint the whole way through and not stutter,” Thiele said.
The Reicher boys’ mile relay team kept the celebration going for the school by running to a championship.
The Cougars mile relay came into the state-title heat set to battle Trinity Christian to the finish line.
But Trinity Christian suffered a heartbreak as its opening leg stumbled over the starting line before the gun sounded. Trinity Christian was disqualified, making
Reicher the favorite to win gold
“They were a little bit faster than us, but it was pretty close,” Ryan said. “Our strategy is to run with the lead. Either way, our plan was to run with the lead and keep the lead. When Trinity Christian false started, it made it tougher for somebody to come catch us.”
First taste of first
Reicher senior Nick Fung, who claimed silver in the 400-meter dash earlier in the day, pushed the Cougars out in front and they never trailed.
Reicher’s mile relay — made up of Fung, Nick Castillo, Matt Pineda and Ben Crenwelge — finished .71 of a second in front of Grapevine Faith Christian in second place.
Fung and fellow senior Crenwelge have run on the Reicher mile relay — along with senior alternate Jose Luna — since they were sophomores.
After a series of silver medals for the Cougars on Saturday, it was a golden ending.
"This is my first track state title,” Fung said. “It feels so good because we’ve been working for it for so long.”
"Be it known to all when here: Jesus Christ is the reason for this school, the unseen but ever present teacher in its classrooms, the model of its students and the inspiration of its faculty."
