Shiner St. Paul wins another girls’ state championship, adds boys’ state title to trophy case

WACO — Shiner St. Paul’s trophy case just got a little bit fuller Saturday.

The Cardinals added two state titles to the program, both cross-country championships, as the boys’ and girls’ teams took first place in their TAPPS 2A races at the meet in Waco.

The girls’ win makes it three years in a row for the Lady Cardinals as the team averaged almost two minutes less than state runner-up Dallas Cambridge School.

Leading the pack was junior Emma Morgan who took fourth overall with her time of 16 minutes, 10.8 seconds. Right behind were freshmen Bailey Blair and Hope Kavavik, taking sixth and seventh with their times of 16:15.0 and 16:25.2, respectively. Freshman Riley Johnson placed 11^th overall with her time of 16:53.0.

Sophomore Ashley Wachsmuth finished 16^th overall with her time of 17:22.4 and sophomore Elyssa Wagner took 25^th with her time of 17:48.5.

For the boys, despite this year’s Cardinals team being the first in five years, the boys “came back with a vengeance,” head coach Dana Beal said as St. Paul won the state title over Waco Live Oak Classical.

Leading the Cardinals was freshman Walker Jackson who took third overall, but first in scoring, with his time of 21 minutes, 56.9 seconds in the 5000-meter race. Freshman Lane Jackson took eighth overall with his time of 22:07.0.  Sophomore runner Nathan Wagner finished 23:03.9, good for 19^th while sophomore Andrew Wagner placed 22^nd with his time of 23:10.4. Senior Marco Ynclan rounded out the scoring with his 40^th-place time of 23:48.6. Other runners include sophomore Jacob Darilek who was right behind Ynclan with his 41^st-place time of 23:56.9 and freshman Cole Brown’s time of 25:38.6, good for 75^th overall.