Published: November 07, 2009 12:11 pm      

Jackets punch ticket to state meet

ARLINGTON — The Cleburne Yellow Jacket cross country team won its first district title on Oct. 28 at Midlothian, and carried the legacy a step further with a third-place finish at the regional meet Saturday at Vandergriff park.

Cleburne talled 123 points behind second-place Highland Park (92) and champion Frisco Liberty (86).

The finish assures the Jackets of a trip to Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock on Nov. 14.

Tyler Chappell, who won the 16-4A three-mile course, was the victor again on Saturday, outrunning the rest of the Region II field with a time of 15:22.

Cleburne placed three boys overall in the Top 20 with Tyler Bullard coming in 12th (16:34.14) and Carlos Chavez placing 16th (16:40.99).

Miguel Garcia placed 30th (17:05.72); Tim McDonald was 64th (17:34.16); Ross Kelley was 147th (20:01.22) and Tyler Pinkston was 149th (20:08.48).

With the Jackets locking down of the coveted spots at the state meet, Cleburne boys’ head coach Brad Pierpont was at a loss for words to describe the feeling.

Almost.

“I can’t even believe it,” Pierpont said. “It gives you chills down your back. I never envisioned going to state this early.

“I had a goal of getting a district championship and we were going to play it by ear after that.”

The Jackets needed to defeat perennial powerhouse, Mesquite Poteet to advance, and they did as Poteet took fourth place with 137 points.

“We have five seniors on this team and they wanted to go out and set an example,” Pierpont said. “They came out here and beat Poteet who’s been really good for 10 or so years.”

The Cleburne girls’ squad placed 11th at the meet.

Hillary McNutt finished 13th in the race while Layce Sloan placed 25th.

Further results were not available at presstime.