Boys: Brad Bartee-9, Billy Brown-9, Duncan Ferguson-11, Matt Giangrosso-9, Chris Gonzales-9, MJ Hernandez-11, Robby Lenahan-10, Michael Pashkevich-10, Richard Sabatier-11, Drew Raspino-10, Zack Roberts-9, Michael Vedros-11

Girls: Cari McCurley-10, Devon Kravet-11, Mattie Schmolke-10, Jenna Songy-11, Elvia Trejo-9

The second edition of Lakeshore High Cross Country showed much improvement this Fall with most all of our returning runners improving their PR (personal record) times.  We had several new, young members of the team that showed marked improvement during the season.  We had several firsts this year.  Our kids competed in their first District Championship race and then went on to represent themselves and Lakeshore High in the Louisiana State Cross Country Championships in Natchitoches, Louisiana.  It was a big event for our kids. 
Our season began just as last year with practice in the August heat.  We survived!  We also had to weather some tough scorching races in September.  The experience made us a little tougher mentally though we appreciated the cooler Fall weather that followed.  The boy’s team doubled in size in 2011 and that made for some keen competition throughout the season.
The teams raced through a very competitive schedule and were prepared for their first District CC Championship Race.   The race was held in New Orleans at Audubon Park on November 4. Our Titan boys surprised defending champion East Jefferson by placing 5 runners in the top 10 and winning the District 9-4A Title, outscoring EJ, 31-44.  Michael Pashkevich led the Titans all season and finished the District race as runner-up.  Michael and Zack Roberts (5th place) earned First Team All-District Honors for their efforts.  Other top District 10 finishers included:  Richard Sabatier-6th, Brad Bartee-8th and MJ Hernandez-10th.   The boy’s team finished off a successful second season with a very respectable 12th place finish in the State Championships.
The LHS Lady Titans started a promising season with Mattie Schmolke leading the way.  Mattie came within six seconds of her 2009 PR, before being injured and missing the last month of the season.  The injury bug continued to bit the team when, Cari McCurley was unable to recover from a foot injury after the fourth race of the season.  The team was left with three runners, but they did not disappoint, continuing to train hard and setting new PR’s.   Jenna Songy learned how to be “Titan Tough,” and led the team the rest of the way by smashing her PR and highlighting her season with a 15th place finish in the District race and earning her LHS CC Letter.  First time runner, Devon Kravet, made big improvement during the season and along with Jenna earned her trip to the State Championship Meet.  Elvia Trejo, was the fifth member of the team and made some nice improvements throughout the Fall.
I am pleased with the steady improvement our kids made and the hard work they put in during the Fall.  I am happy that they were rewarded for their efforts with the Boy’s District Win!  That was exciting for them and their “old Coach”!   I am glad too, for our seven runners who had the opportunity to compete in their first “State Meet”.  We look forward to next Fall!
                                                                                                            Coach Andy Thiel