Frisco ISD : FISD Cross Country Runners Earn Regional Championships

Press release from Frisco Independent School District:

Oct 26, 2021

A year ago, Wakeland’s Nati Enright and Independence’s Brighton Mooney left the 5A Region 2 meet having achieved their goal of qualifying for the state meet. This year, the pair of seniors are headed back to the state meet with the added title of regional champion.

Mooney pulled away in the back half of the girls race and Enright did the same in the boys race, earning each a decisive victory on the 3.1 mile course Tuesday (Oct. 26th) at Lynn Creek Park in Grand Prairie. They led an outstanding performance by Frisco ISD runners that included three teams qualifying for the UIL State Championships next week in Round Rock.

In the boys team standings, Wakeland was second and Reedy was third, each qualifying for the state meet. In the girls standings, Wakeland qualified for state by finishing fourth. Three FISD boys also qualified for state as individuals: Frisco’s Kevin Curry and Liberty’s Chance Moore and Andrew Jauregui.

Mooney, who finished 10th at the regional meet last year, took the lead for good just after a mile into the girls race and finished in 17 minutes, 51.15 seconds. She thanked her teammates for helping her win the championship.

“I wanted to do this for my team because they barely didn’t make it out here,” Mooney said, referring to Independence nearly qualifying as a team. “I finished 10th at regionals last year, but I feel like I barely finished the race last year. To come back and just kind of own regionals, it’s amazing to see all the hard work pay off.”

Enright, who was second at the regional meet last year, was at the front of the pack early and still had another runner by his side one mile into the race. But the senior took control after that and finished in 15:36.02.

“It was pretty cool that last year I got second and now I got first,” he said. “I see that I’ve improved and hopefully it will carry on to state.”

Reedy’s Aiden Gonzalez-Rodiles finished second in the boys race and two other FISD boys finished in the top 10: Frisco’s Kevin Curry (sixth) and Reedy’s Garrick Spieler (eighth). In the girls race, Wakeland’s Chloe Smith finished seventh.

A day before the 5A race, cross country runners from Emerson High School, Frisco’s newly opened 11th high school, competed in the 4A regional race. Emerson’s Sophie Fernandes qualified for the 4A state meet, which will be Saturday, November 6th. The 5A state meet will be Friday, November 5th. Both meets will be in Round Rock.

Full meet results can be found here.

This press release was produced by Frisco Independent School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.