ROUND ROCK, Texas — The Woodlands rules Texas in cross country, but Katy isn't far behind. The Highlanders swept the 5A state meet Saturday; the boys scored 56 points to take their third straight championship and the girls scored 61 to take their first title since 1989. Seven Lakes' boys placed second with 87 points, and Cinco Ranch's girls were runners-up with 85. Jimmy Welin (15:11.23, fourth), C.J.

  Cypress Woods senior Melissa Mahoney earned her ticket to next week's cross country state tournament with a sixth-place finish Saturday at the Region II championships at Vandergriff Park in Arlington.   Mahoney, who also advanced to state in 2006, was sixth in 11:23.58.   The Woodlands swept the boys and girls titles, scoring 38 and 45 points respectively.

      One little number wasn’t going to stop the Rat Pack.   Seven Lakes’ phenomenal trio of Chase Rathke, Jimmy Welin and C.J.

  Cypress Woods’ boys and girls country teams followed different roads to the same destination. The Wildcats swept the District 15-5A championships last week and will compete in the Region II meet Saturday morning to Vandergriff Park in Arlington. The girls team, led by a possible state qualifier in senior and district champion Melissa Mohoney, hope to improve on their seventh-place finish at the 2007 regionals with much the same group, save two runners who were reassigned to newly-opened Cypress Ranch and two more out with injuries. The boys, meanwhile, are led by a freshman and have two more on varsity to complement two seniors and two juniors.

    Stratford’s top girls runner was edged at the finish line in Thursday’s District 18-5A cross country championships.   The only black mark that provided the Spartans was notching their score up one point. Led by two freshmen, a junior and two seniors, Stratford emphatically ended Memorial’s 12-year string of district championships by scoring only 29 points to take the trophy at Bear Creek Park. Freshman Kellie Barranco finished third in 12:40, and four teammates followed in 32 seconds.

    WACO - Duchesne's Shannon Klenke ran for the gold.   The sophomore runner took first place in TAPPS girls Class 5A cross country meet with a time of 12:05.02 on Saturday at Baylor University. "I was in second until the last little stretch, and then I passed the lead runner," said Klenke, the only Duschesne runner entered in the event.

    Running down the list of teams participating in Saturday morning’s Strake Jesuit Invitational at Bear Creek Park, Crusaders coach Michael Kerley no sooner mentioned Seven Lakes than he added, “They’ve got to be the favorites.”   And that was before he knew the Spartans would compete without their Nos.

  The St.

  The 2007 Cross Country State Championship took place Saturday at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.

          Saturday morning qualifying teams and runners from all across the region gathered at North Harris Community College for the Region III Cross Country Championships.

   There is only one meet left before the cross country state championships, and that is the Region III meet.

        Twelve straight district championships for the girls team and four consecutive titles for the boys may lead observers to believe there's little for Memorial cross country to celebrate at this stage.

    On a beautiful day, at beautiful Buffalo Bayou, the St.

    THE WOODLANDS - Runners from across Texas converged Friday and Saturday at The Woodlands High School for the 2007 Nike South Cross Country Invitational.

    The Spring Branch ISD cross-country meet was held at Nottingham Park early Saturday morning.

    The 33rd Annual Rice Invitational Cross Country meet began Saturday at Rice University.

  Though only a junior, Strake Jesuit cross-country runner James Webb has plenty of work and some lofty goals ahead of him for 2007.

The Spartan junior varsity cross-country team finished second overall.

As the cross-country runners of District 19-5A prepared for their annual competition, they may not have factored in what would happen the day of the meet.

  The Stratford girls cross-country team was off to a good start this season.

After finishing fourth in district last year, the boy’s cross-country team has their hopes set on making regionals this year. Under the direction of coach Janis Jones, the boys came in an impressive third place overall in the Rice Invitational on Saturday.

  Houston, TX – American Rock and Roll Band Three Dog Night said it best, “One is the loneliest number.” That was how Strake Jesuit cross country runner Greg Casar felt last year when he made the trip to state alone without his teammates. “Last year I was eighth in regionals and I was the only one of us to advance to state,” Casar said.