Reg.III Cross Country-BOY Elgin, Bridge City, West GIRLGiddings,Robinson, Bridge City

[Old Cardinal]

The Elgin and Bridge City Boys teams dominated the team stats in the Region III meet,as expected. Also, in the girls-- Giddings, Robinson and Bridge City were very close in the scoring. Bridge City had all 9th graders leading them into to third place position on the girls. In the boys bracket, it was all 9th and 10th graders that led them into the second place finish against a far superior and polished Elgin team. It might be noted that Barbers Hill's team placed 6th, they have an up-and-coming young program. The top three teams qualify for both boys and girls for the State Meet.

[buffalo booster]

The Giddings and Robinson girls actually were tied for 1st, with the same point totals for their top five finishers. So, it went to each team's 6th place runners, and Giddings came in 1st as a result of this tie-breaker.

First regional championship ever for a Giddings cross country team! Way to go Lady Buffs!

[Old Cardinal]

Giddings Girls look really good. I know Bridge City has been the District Champion for both Girls and Boys for 4 straight years now. I was wondering about the history of the Giddings program(and Others), in their District runs? It was kind of funny, the Bridge City Girls 7th and 8th graders, had the times to be the BOYS District Champs had BC chosen to let the boys not run in the District meet and just let the girls win it for them! We have an excellent development program over here in Lapland(where Louisiana laps over into Texas).

[buffalo booster]

The Giddings boys team is still developing. Took second in district, but Elgin is the class act in this area and, now, in this region.

The Giddings girls team won district for the first time in history last year, and came in 2nd in last year's regionals. Went to the State meet for the first time, and JoAnn P. (a freshman) won the individual gold.

This year, the girls won district again, and for the first time, also won our region. JoAnn was out for most of the season, but still came in 11th. Michelle G. (a freshman) came in 2nd overall. In fact, out of our top seven runners, two are seniors, one is a sophomore, and four are freshmen. (The girls JV team finished 1-2-4-5-6 in district.)

The girls are hoping to medal this weekend, and I believe they've got a reasonable shot at it. Since the team is young and deep, they may be strong for a few more years.

[Old Cardinal]

Thanks for the info. It's amazing how much we all know about HS athletics, because of this message board. It sure sounds like Giddings has an up and coming overall program. Did a change in C-C Coaching staff issue in the changes?

[buffalo booster]

Several years ago, Coach Gwen Finegan did a great job of developing interest in the sport of Cross Country at Giddings. She actively recruited kids at the Middle School level. The kids responded to her and came out in large numbers. She laid a good foundation for the program to build upon.

When she left Giddings, she was replaced by Coach Jim Pat Darcey. He's a competitor -- won a ring in CC at A&M Consolidated and ran at the college level. He's taken the program to the next level. The kids used to run for fun. Now, they run to win.