Wylie freshman Anabelle Angeles earned first place in the Clay Hinton Invitational with a time of 12 minutes, 51 seconds. Submitted photo

By David Wolman

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With the Wylie Pirates cross-country team deciding not to run several of its top varsity runners at last Saturday’s Clay Minton Invitational in Sulphur Springs, that gave the underclassmen on the team the opportunity to compete and see what they are capable of.

First-year Wylie head coach Colton Reynolds was pleased with what he saw from his Pirates, especially on the girls’ side.

Annabelle Angeles captured first place in the varsity girls elite division with a time of 12 minutes, 51 seconds, leading a dominant effort for the Lady Pirates. She was one of four Wylie runners to place in the top five. Kinsley Ferguson ran to third place with a 13:16, followed by Vanessa Vazquez, who ran to fourth in 13:21. Tesnin Idris placed fifth in 13:39. Alexis Lee finished just outside the top 10, placing 11^th in 14:31. Nikki Bhakta was 13^th with a 14:58. Mia Palka placed 15^th in 15:19. 

Wylie had just as much of a balanced effort in the boys elite division. Jaron Savage placed fourth in 18:27 to lead the charge for the Pirates. Luke Boruk placed seventh in 18:45.1, edging Pirates teammate Karter Kekuna, who took eighth in 18:45.36. Jose Santiago also cracked the top 10, placing 10^th in 19:38. Lincoln Shumard took 11^th in 19:45, followed by Preston Manning (12^th, 19:49), Pedro Medina (13^th, 19:50) and Cameron Carter (15^th, 21:03). 

In the varsity boys open division, Matthew Mehari placed 23^rd in 19:25. Aiden Harlow took 38^th in 20:17. Cooper Reynolds was 48^th in 20:47. Colby Schlensker ran to 56^th in 21:17. Angel Santivanez placed 76^th in 22:16. Jayden Hall took 89^th in 22:49. 

On the girls side, Kyndell Bacon cracked the top 10, placing seventh in 13:48. Sarah Barbe clocked a 14:20, good for 16^thplace. Finley Radford placed in the top 20, taking 20^th with a 14:30. Landry McDaniel was 79^th in 16:36. 

Wylie is set to return to action this Saturday at the Marcus Coach T Cross Country Invitational, to be held at North Lakes Park in Denton. Coach Reynolds plans to run his top varsity runners the following week at the Southlake 5K Invite, set for Saturday, Sept. 6 at Bob Jones Park in Southlake.