Motivated by their past three consecutive District wins, the girls varsity cross country team members ran hard for five kilometers of dirt road and put four Chaparrals in the top six at this year’s District meet Oct. 18 at Walter E. Long Park. Senior Jessica Ellis finished first at District with a time of 19:22.97 and is looking to repeat the win at Regionals.The other varsity runners who made it into the top six include senior Rebekah Priddy, junior  Hannah Campbell, junior Remi Guyett and sophomore Sarah Zagorin.

The team took first in District and have a new swagger heading into Regionals Nov. 2 in Grand Prairie and then State  Nov. 9. Because the team placed first, the entire team will compete at Regionals. Senior Rebecca Little, junior Caroline McFarland and freshman Babo Fagerberg will compete, in addition to the runners already mentioned.

“District went well for the team in general, but now it’s all down to Regionals, and really that’s what it’s been about all along, only now we can’t ignore it,” Jessica said.

The Chaps have not won a State Title since 1990, but they have placed first in four of seven meets this season, and have a very good chance at placing at State.

“The season has gone pretty well so far,” Babo said. “We have great training and a great group of girls that make it fun.”

Their season started with a second place finish at the Katy Seven Lakes Showcase Aug. 31. From there, they breezed through the AISD Invitational led by Jessica. After that, they were on a roll, going first again at the Gerald Richey Invitational, first at the Cedar Park Invitational and second at the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Invitational.

Near the end of the season at the Chaparral Invitational the girls finished third, falling only to Katy and New Braunfels with Jessica coming in sixth as Westlake’s top runner.^.

“We really would have liked to have beaten either Katy or New Braunfels,” Jessica said. “We need to step up and drag those sorts of teams down.”