Cross country: Impressive performance delivers Permian girls to head of the pack

Laura Porras wasn't in a mood to lose anything Thursday.

So she didn't.

The Permian senior spent most of Thursday morning getting a root canal to save a tooth but was adamant about still running later in the day during the Odessa Invitational cross country meet at UTPB Park.

"I wanted this one so bad," Porras said. "The girls were clowning around and I go, ‘Put your serious face on.'

"We basically win all these other meets and if we lose here it's going to make us look dumb because this is our hometown."

The Lady Panthers looked plenty serious on the two-mile course, placing four of their top runners in the top seven and then getting a boost from senior Samantha Munoz in 16th for a solid team score of 32 points.

Permian won for the sixth time in seven meets this season, topping rival Odessa High (46) and San Angelo Central (60) in a field of seven teams and 64 runners.

Lakeisha Johnson, Bianka Cortez and Porras finished second, third and fourth to lead the way for Permian and Jamia Graham was seventh. Munoz then closed the door to give Permian - which struggled with some illnesses this week - its first Odessa Invitational victory on the UTPB Park course.

 "We haven't put too many good races here together," Permian head coach Carl Chancellor said, "and to come out with all the problems that we've had this week and come out and win, the girls have shown a lot of heart and character."

Odessa High had ample reason to be pretty pleased, as well, especially with Kirsten Taylor running to the individual title.

The junior has had a string of solid results the last few weeks and won on her home course in 12 minutes, 45 seconds, well ahead of Permian's Johnson (13:02.8).

"It felt great - that's the first time I've beaten Lakeisha in forever," Taylor said. "I felt so glad. All week I've been training hard. I've been working my butt off and I just needed to let it show."

Gaby Valeriano was sixth for the Lady Bronchos while Tiffany Barrera, Sabrina Cedillos and Victoria Jimenez finished 12th, 13th and 14th to round out their team scoring.

San Angelo Central had three finishers in the top 11, which shows it could be a serious contender as well at the District 2-5A Championships on Oct. 30 in Lubbock.

"We had a good day," OHS head coach Tracey Borchardt said. "We tend to do this slowly and I don't like it, but if that's just the way we're going to be, that's the way we're going to be.

"I saw big things happen with Kirsten and that's what I've been waiting for. She decided to change gears in workouts and I think that's where it paid off. Hopefully everybody else on the team saw that."