Windthorst Freshman Cameron Belcher finished 41st at the UIL State 2A Cross Country Championships with a time of 13:35.30 in Round Rock Tuesday, Nov. 24.
Archer City junior quarterback Ty Bates garnered District 6-2A Offensive MVP honors after leading the Wildcats to a 6-4 record and berth in the area round of the playoffs. Bates accounted for 36 touchdowns and 2,824 yards of total offense.
After battling for a 21-20 win in the regular season on Sept. 11, fourth-ranked Windthorst (11-1) left little to the imagination as to which team deserved to continue playing in the postseason.
Few in Archer County and the North Texas area compare to Tatum Veitenheimer. The pig-tailed blonde left Windthorst as the region’s all-time leading scorer with 3,311 career points, averaging nearly 25 points pergame to garner all-state accolades all four years of her illustrious prep career.
The Holliday (11-1) defense stymied S&S Consolidated (6-5) all night, holding the Rams to just 10 first downs and 206 yards of offense in a 44-7 area-round beat down on Thursday, Nov. 19, in Bowie.
The Holliday Lady Eagle cross country team had a goal to repeat as state champions this year. However, competition at the state level is a field of elite athletes, so duplicating last year’s success was going to take a major effort.
Bushland proved it deserved to be the top-ranked team in the state. The Lady Falcons (26-2) entered Saturday’s Region I-3A Final having not dropped a set in their previous 14 matches and only losing 10 sets all season. That trend held true in Childress as Holliday (24-5) ran into the Bushland buzzsaw in a 3-0 (25-6, 25-13, 25-16) season-ending loss.
Setter Maddie Lopez garnered District 9-2A co-MVP honors after helping Archer City to a 19-5 record, a district championship and an appearance in the regional quarterfinals. Lopez shared the award with Petrolia senior Haygen Fleming. The junior tallied 80 kills, 56 aces, 395 assists, 247 digs and seven blocks to take home the district’s top honor.