LCM"S Bean Repeats As 4A Region 3 CC Winner

[KFDM COOP]

LC-M's Bean repeats as Class 4 Region III cross country winner

HOUSTON - He did it again.

For the second year in a row, Drew Bean of Little Cypress-Mauriceville won the Class 4A, Region III Cross Country title.

Bean ran a personal best time of 15 minutes and 27 seconds Saturday to win the overall Class 4A title at North Harris College.

"It feels good to win the title again," Bean said. "That was my fastest 5K time of the season, so I am very happy with my performance."

It took Bean less than a mile to take the lead.

And before it was all said and done, Bean established a 100-meter gap over second-place finisher Luis Pena of Elgin. Pena finished in 16:05.20.

"I got out fast, so I just tried to stay relaxed and get into a rhythm," said Bean, who also won his second straight district title this season. "There were a couple of runners with me at the beginning of the race, but they began to slow down and I just kept going. I felt good today."

Nederland's Phillip Rogers was among the group of runners who ran with Bean for the first mile.

"We ran side by side for the first mile," Bean said. "We have been running together since the seventh grade, so I'm very happy that he got a medal and was able to qualify for state."

Rogers picked up speed in the final 30 meters to hold off James Welin of Seven Lakes for third place in 16:11.04.

"I thought I went out too fast at the beginning," Rogers said. "I began to slow down in the middle of the race, but I realized what goals I set for myself at the beginning of the season, and I just went after it."

This will be Rogers' second appearance at the state meet. The last time Rogers made it to state was during his sophomore year.

"It feels good to qualify for state," Rogers said. "I just wish my team could have qualified as well. This win gives me a lot of confidence, so my goal for state is to try and finish in the top 10."

Nederland's Chelsea Yaws will join Rogers at the state meet. She is the only runner from the Nederland girls squad to qualify for state. She finished 10th overall with a time of 11:56.93.

It will be Yaws' second appearance at the state meet. She qualified for state as a sophomore.

"I'm very excited about going to state," said Yaws, who won the District 22-4A meet this year. "This race was extremely fast, and all of the team ran personal best times, but we didn't qualify for state as a team."

Both the Nederland boys and girls teams placed fifth overall. The boys had a total of 185 points while the girls had 161 points.

In Class 3A, Bridge City didn't quite have the success as in years past.

The Bridge City boys and girls teams failed to qualify runners to the state meet.

Ryan Kelly finished in 13th place to lead the Cardinals' team. He ran the race in 17:30.99.

Morgan Broussard finished in 30th place to lead the Bridge City girls squad with a time of 12:43.36.

The Bridge City boys finished in 16th place, and the girls finished12th.

In Class 2A, Joe Dooley of Deweyville and Brittany Henson of San Augustine both finished in seventh place. Dooley ran across the finish line in 17:57.67, and Henson finished the two-mile course in 12:58.48.

Shamika Singleton of Hemphill missed the state meet by one place. She finished in 11th place in 13:07.77.

The top three teams and the top 10 finishers qualify for the state meet in Round Rock next weekend.

[rhino1877]

Congrats to all the runners in the regional race. Good luck to Joe and Drew as they make it to state!

[77]

good job. As Forrest Gump said " I just felt like running"

[LU05]

congrats to both runners, those two have been running really good all year, its nice to see their hardwork pay off!

[LU05]

** make that all three runners

[LCM21]

Way to go Drew!!

[KFDM COOP]

Saturday: LCM's Drew Bean won the 4A Region III Cross-Country Meet and will advance to State.

[blt22]

Great job, Drew!!!

[12]

Go Drew Bean!!