Water flowed, but it wasn’t from rain

It was tears.

Happy tears—mostly from Coach Coby Bird

The Lady Jackets cross country team, behind the sixth place finish of Katie Shaw, finished third Saturday at the state meet in Round Rock.

“This has been one of the most emotional things I’ve ever been through,” Bird said. “I am so proud.”

Shaw finished the two-mile course at Old Settlers Park with a personal best of 11:38.

Katie Shaw sprints to the finish line during the state meet on Saturday. She finished sixth overall with a time of 11:38. Photo courtesy of David Beans Photography

“I think I only did as well as I did because of all the Cleburne people around the course,” Shaw said. “It feels really good to be part of this team.”

Seven Lady Jackets qualified at the regional meet to run at the state meet.

Senior Diane Green finished with a time of 12:11. Her sister Davy Green finished with a time of 12:30.

“I think this race was by far the best race we’ve ever run,” Diane Green said. “We all ran together. We pushed each other. It was the best.”

Davy Green said this was the best the team had run all year.

“I think the best part was we came into this race with no expectations whatsoever,” she said. “It’s the first time all season we’ve ran to the best of our ability.”

Teammate Holly Maddox posted a 12:13 time with Danielle Nunley finishing with a time of 12:27. Monica Vasquez and Amy Ortiz rounded out the seven-member team with times of 12:40 an 13:35 respectively.

Amy Ortiz thanked all the seniors for helping the team get to the state meet.

“Without their contributions we wouldn’t be here today,” she said. “We started the season with 34 team members. Only seven of us got the opportunity to run today, but we couldn’t have done it without the encouragement of all the seniors.”

The Lady Jackets finished with 97 team points behind the defending state champions El Paso Del Valle with 68 points, putting them in second place. Highland Park finished first with 35 points.

“Finishing 12^th last year, very few people gave us the respect we deserved,” Bird said, choking back tears. “To finish in top three with schools like Del Valle and Highland Park is an awesome feeling.”