Farmersville junior Landen Ware overtakes two runners near the finish line at the Region II-4A cross country meet in Fort Worth on Monday. He qualified for the state meet after placing with a time of 16:22. Photo by David Wolman / C&S Media
By David Wolman
FORT WORTH — Farmersville senior Breelynn Pollard wasn’t about to leave her fate to chance.
At last year’s Region II-4A cross-country meet, Pollard qualified for state for the first time. However, she didn’t learn until after the race that her 14th-place finish had been good enough to earn a berth.
She didn’t have to endure the same uncertainty Monday morning.
Pollard left little doubt about her postseason fate, finishing third in 12:11.6 at Rolling Hills Soccer Complex to secure her second consecutive state appearance.
With the top 10 individual runners from nonqualifying teams advancing to state, Pollard claimed the first available individual berth.
Godley junior Hadleigh Watson won the regional championship in 11:44.7, while Sanger’s Ashton Grahl finished second in 12:02.4.
“It feels really good,” Pollard said. “Compared to last year, my training has paid off. I’ve put in more miles, cared a little bit more about running. It’s really helped to get my mindset right.”
Pollard credited her experience at the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree with helping prepare her for the regional meet.
She finished 42nd out of 301 runners at the event, which featured competitors from larger schools.
“OSU helped me,” she said. “It was really hilly, really difficult. I’m not used to running a 5K. Running those hills just helped me to get my mindset right.”
Farmersville junior Landen Ware entered the regional meet with a similar determination to secure his first state berth.
An aggressive approach, particularly over the final stretch, helped Ware finish eighth in the boys race with a time of 16:22.6.
Ware passed two runners near the finish line to secure his top-eight finish and punch his ticket to state.
“That was really hard,” he said. “Right there, I was like, ‘There is no way I was getting in to state.’ The good Lord helped me out. He helped me out the whole race. I was like, ‘Let me do this, we can do it.’ I just went, I don’t know.”
Ware said his performance improved during the second half of the race after he struggled to find room to move up early.
“The first half of the race wasn’t so great,” he said. “There were a lot of guys in front of me. I was just stuck, but I was able to pull through. I just saw those openings. You just have to move up; you’ve got to take the risks. That’s just what got me through all of those groups of people.”
Sophomore Jesse Hamm posted Farmersville’s second-fastest boys time, placing 37th in 17:35.4.
Seniors Luke Lair and Travis Chambers competed in their final high school cross-country races. Lair finished 107th in 19:19.4, while Chambers placed 125th in 19:51.6.
Freshman Andrew Plotts took 150th in 21:21.2, and sophomore Ethan Cook finished 157th in 22:36.5.
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