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Friday, October 29, 1999
Hair-raising conclusion possible for Calallen coach
By Stu Duncan
Caller-Times
The District 31-4A cross country meet is so important to Calallen sixth-year girls' coach Sandra Brownrigg that she's putting her hairstyle on the line to prove it.
Brownrigg told the Lady Wildcats they can give her a new look if the varsity team takes home the District 31-4A championship today at West Guth Park.
Calallen will have its chance at 9 a.m. during the varsity girls race. The varsity boys race - featuring the state's second-ranked Tuloso-Midway Warriors - will follow at 9:30 a.m. The top three teams in each varsity race and the top 10 individuals from the district meet advance to regionals next Saturday at the University of Texas-San Antonio.
Brownrigg said certain conditions apply to the deal she made with her team, should her runners dethrone Rockport-Fulton as district champions.
"I told them they can do whatever they wanted to with my hair if they win except dye it or cut it," Brownrigg said. "Let me tell you, I know these girls will come up with something."
Brownrigg has reason to be worried about her hairstyle being changed. The Lady Wildcats edged Rockport-Fulton by four points at the Calallen Invitational two weeks ago.
Calallen also stormed to victory (with 44 points) last weekend at the A. C. Jones Trojan Invitational, topping runner-up Tuloso-Midway (76).
Led by Tiffany Curry, Heidi Schulz and Amanda Merritt, Calallen will attempt to atone for last year's fourth-place district finish.
"I don't think I could pull them off the ceiling," Brownrigg said of what a district championship would mean for her program. "They are determined and they have just as good a chance as anyone. They also know, even though they won the last two weeks, that they are not a shoo-in to win district."
Returning District 31-4A individual champion Ursula Peterson (Gregory-Portland), Alice's Angelica Ramirez and Jenny Bueno, Tuloso-Midway's Yvonne Rodriguez and Yvette Rodriguez and R-F's Mari Flores and Emily Rice are a few of the runners standing in Calallen's way.
"We have a better team this year even though we don't have the star runners," said Rockport-Fulton's fifth- year girls' cross country coach David Rice. "We're a lot younger this year than last year but they have come a long way. Our strength is that we have almost seven runners that finish within a minute of each other. Our weakness is our top runners haven't placed as far we've placed in the past. Our runners can do better."
The unbeaten Warriors and returning district champion Robstown are expected to lead the pack in the boys race, although 1998 district runner-up Calallen cannot be discounted.
T-M has prevailed in all eight meets it has competed in, including victories at Rice University and at UT-San Antonio.
The Warriors (24 points) downed the Cotton Pickers (51) at last weekend's Beeville meet. Robstown's Gary Gonzalez (15:49) won the top individual honor, ousting T-M's David Rodriguez (15:59) and Roberto Ramos (16:02). The Warriors' Barry Dozier (fifth place, 16:09), J.J. Garza (sixth, 16:10) and Robert Cirilo (eighth, 16:36) also placed in the top eight at that meet.
How good is Tuloso-Midway this year? Rice, also coach of the R-F boys cross country team, said of the Warriors, "They have the best boys' team I've seen around here in a long time."
"I knew we would be pretty good," said Warriors sixth-year cross country coach Zeke Hernandez. "I didn't think we'd go undefeated. But when we went to the Houston competition (at Rice) and ended up winning it - that's when I knew we had something special here."
Hernandez has two state championships (1991-92) from Gonzales High School to his coaching credit
Staff writer Stu Duncan can be reached at 886-3615 or by e-mail at duncans @ at caller.com
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