Forney boys win Poteet's "Run The Farm"

The final tune-up before the district meet turned out to be a good experience for the Forney boys’ cross country team Saturday at the Mesquite Poteet “Run The Farm” Invitational. The Forney coach elected to put the guys in the 5A division instead of the 4A and under. After all was said and done, Class 4A Forney turned out to be the top team in the 5A division in front of schools like Dallas Jesuit, Plano East and Rowlett. District foe and host team Poteet finished in 5th place.

Individually, Josh had another good performance finishing 4th overall with a time of 16.22 for the 5k course. At the same meet last year, Josh ran a 16:59 and then came back two weeks later at the district meet on the same course and ran a 16:41. This year’s district meet will once again be held on the same course at Samuel Farm in two weeks on Oct. 31st. Josh is wanting to break the 16 minute mark and if the course will dry out between now and then, he has a good chance of doing it. By the way, the winning time Saturday was a 16:02 ran by a kid from Cleburne who Josh ran against last year in track. He will more than likely see the kid again at the regional cross country meet on Nov. 7th.

As mention, the district meet is coming up after an open week this coming weekend. Forney has a very realistic shot at winning the district title for the first time in Josh’s high school career after coming in second place the last three years. If that happens, it will be the first Forney team in any sport to win an outright district title since moving up to Class 4A about six or seven years ago. Individually, Josh is really wanting to win the district title to go along with his 1600m and 3200m titles from track last spring.

As always, we will let you know what happens.

Until next time…

Nike South lives up to its billing

Well Joshua can now say he has ran against the best high school cross country runners in the state after competing Saturday morning at the Nike South Invitational held at The Woodlands just north of Houston. All the rain that moved through the DFW area on Thursday and Friday moved through the Houston area Friday afternoon and as a result, the course was very muddy. It was not raining during the meet and the temperature was ideal for runners in the high 50s.

Over all, the mud made for slower times than last year’s results, but never the less, there were some very fast times. Josh finished in 28th place with a time of 17:08 for the 5k. The winning time was a 15:35 turned in by the second ranked runner in the state, Craig Lutz of Lewisville Marcus. Josh ran against him earlier this year at the Southlake meet and the results were about the same. Lutz is a junior this year and he missed most of the track season last year with a stress fracture. Officially, there were 147 runners in the Elite High School division so to finish 28th was not too bad. Had Forney ran in the Regular High School division, Josh’s time would have got him third place.

As far as the team results, Forney placed 10th out of 21 teams. There were only four 4A teams in the Elite division with most of the teams being from 5A schools. The winning team was a 4A school from Boerne Champion. They are the defending 4A state champions in cross country and have all of their top seven runners back this year. In fact all seven of their runners finished in front of Josh. Their seventh runner was only 1.8 seconds in front of Josh.

Despite the course conditions, Josh said after the race, “This is my favorite course. I would love to run it again when it is dry.” The experience was a very good one for Josh and his teammates. It showed them how much they need to work over the next few weeks to get ready to compete in the post season meets. They have one more regular meet coming up Saturday in Mesquite. They will run at the Mesquite Poteet “Run The Farm” at Samuell Farm just east of Mesquite on Highway 80. This will also be the site of the district meet on October 31st. Josh ran very well last year on the Samuell Farm course and is expecting to run even better this year.

As always, we will let you know what happens. Hopefully the rainy weather will move out this week and dry things up around here. Over the last month, we have had over 12 inches of rain. Looking at the forecast, it doesn’t look very promising for a dry track Saturday.

I have attached a picture of Josh with all the mud on him after Saturday’s race.

Until next time…

Josh takes 1st at Rockwall Sting

After a week off nursing a sprain ankle, Josh came out Saturday morning at the Rockwall Sting Cross Country Invitational and for the second time this year came away with first place. He was a second off of his personal record with a time of 16:06 for the 5k course. His friend and teammate, Tommy McIntire, finished with him and took second. It was really hard to tell who won because the two finished the race with their hands together and over their heads. They gave Josh first and Tommy second. Josh did lead for most of the race.

The two got the idea after one of their teammates from last year who is running at Angelo State. Angelo State ran in Denton Friday night and a couple of the Angelo runners crossed the finish line hand in hand. Josh and Tommy had decided that if they were close enough and no one was close to catching them that they would do the same and they did. Third place was 12 seconds behind them.

To give you an idea of how much Josh has improved in a year, on the same course last year, Josh took fifth with a time of 18:06…a two minute improvement. The winning time last year was 17:22.

You would think a team with the top two finishers would take the team title, but Forney got nosed out by Rowlett by two points. Rowlett had 35 points to Forney’s 37.

This coming Saturday, Josh and his teammates will be running in one of the premiere cross country meets in the state at the Nike South Invitational held at The Woodlands. This meet is considered a preview of the State cross country meet. Don’t be surprised if Josh runs his best time ever and not finish in the top 20. There will be a lot of great runners there. As always, we will let you know how things go.

We did have our first home visit with a college coach Friday night. The coach from Sam Houston State was at the house for about an hour and a half. He is a younger guy and seems to be very down to earth. His main focus was on getting Josh an education first and then using running to help pay for it. We were impressed with him.

Until next time…

Heather's Wedding Pics

Fifth place finish on bum ankle at Lake Highlands

Hey all;

It was a good news, bad news scenario last Saturday at the Lake Highlands Invitational held at Norbuck Park in Dallas. The good news, Josh took fifth place with a time of 17:13 on the 5k course. The bad news, Josh “rolled” his right ankle about ½ mile into the race. How he finished I will never know because by the time he crossed the finish line, his ankle was the size of a baseball.

As a result, Josh, his coach and athletic trainer are all in agreement that it would be best for Josh to not run this coming Saturday in Wylie and concentrate on rehabbing his ankle. It is still too early in the season for him to take a chance on making a bad situation a season ending situation.

As a team, Forney took third place. The Jackrabbits were ranked 8th in the state in class 4A in the Texas Cross Country Association poll last week.

The colleges keep calling as Josh has gotten calls from coaches at Abilene Christian and Stephen F Austin. The ACU coach told Josh he has been watching him since he was a sophomore.

If things change between now and Saturday and Josh does decide to run, then we will let you know, but I really don’t think he will.

Until next time….

Weather plays havoc at Southlake Carroll

Hello from a very wet Forney. When I got up this morning, our 5 inch rain gauge was overflowing.

The weather also played havoc on Josh’s running Saturday as he proved he is still human. Josh and his Forney Jackrabbit teammates traveled to Grapevine to run in the Southlake Carroll Invitational. The meet was held with a pouring rain and the mud was deep. As it turned out, it was not mother nature that got to Josh, but rather stomach cramps. He finished in a disappointing 33rd place with a time of 17:16 for the 5k course. He stayed in the top 10 for the first mile, but when the cramps started, he fell off the lead pack. We must have a stomach virus going through the house as both Mom and Dad have been battling it this weekend too.

The winning time was a very fast 15:05 which turns out to be the fastest 5k in the state right now. If Josh would have been able to match his 16:05 from last week, he would have finished fourth. We knew the Southlake meet would have a very fast field and they did with some of the top runners in the state. Josh said he was embarrassed and disappointed with his results because he really wanted to put up a good time. I told him it is still early in the season and he will get another chance to run against some of the top guys in a few weeks at the Nike South Regional’s at the Woodlands.

As a team, Forney finished in 8th place behind seven 5A schools, so they were the top 4A team.

This coming Saturday, they will be going back to Norbuck Park in Dallas for the Lake Highlands Invitational which should also have some very good teams. As always, we will let you know what happens.

Until next time;

Cross country spotlight: Forney's Josh Taylor

Josh was highlighted in the Dallas Morning News this morning in their Cross Country Sportlight. Follow the link below to see the article.

http://www.hsgametime.com/dfw/sharedcontent/dws/spt/highschools/crosscountry/stories/091009dnspohsXCspotlight.3c70e26.html

Josh take 1st place at Tyler Lee Meet

Hey All;

Many more weekends like the one just completed and we will have to cut a hole in the doors so Joshua’s head will fit.

It all started Saturday morning at the Tyler Lee Cross Country Classic held on the campus of the University of Texas at Tyler. When all was said and done, Joshua was the first to cross the finish line and set a personal record for a 5k (3.1 miles) course. His time was an amazing 16:05, almost 30 seconds ahead of the second place time of 16:34. To put it in perspective, Josh ran the same course last year and finished in third with a 16:47. The winning time last year of 16:35.

Following the race, Josh was contacted by two different college coaches…UT Tyler and Lon Morris. There was a college race prior to the high school races. After talking to those coaches, he was interviewed by a reporter from the Tyler Telegraph. You can fine the story on the Sunday online edition at http://www.tylerpaper.com/ and then go to the sports page and look for the headline, “Forney Boys Dominate Lee Cross Country Meet.” By the way, four of the Forney runners finished in the top 10 and as a result, Forney took first place in the team totals.

The excitement continued Monday afternoon as the family was sitting on our boat at Lake Tawakoni when Josh’s cell phone rang. We could tell by his excitement that it was an important call. We all got quite and listened to what Josh was saying. Deshonna and I first thought it was another college coach calling, but it didn’t take us long to realize that it was probably a newspaper reporter. After answering several questions and being on the phone for about 15 minutes, Josh hung up and let out a scream that could be heard around the lake. It turned out to be a reporter from the Dallas Morning News who informed Josh that he has been selected as the DMN Cross Country Athlete of the Month. The story is suppose to be in the Thursday edition of the Morning News.

Earlier last week, Josh got another telephone call from one of the coaches at Sam Houston State. He has also been shown some interest from Stephen F Austin, Texas A&M and Baylor. Needless to say, Josh is very excited about all the attention and is even more determined to continue to push himself and get better and faster.

Oh, I almost forgot. It is still very early in the season, but Josh’s time Saturday puts him in eight place in the entire state of Texas and second in Class 4A according to Txrunning.com. Something tells me it is going to be a very exciting fall.

This coming Saturday, Josh and his teammates will be running at the Southlake Carroll Invitational at Meadowmere Park in Grapevine. This race will feature some of the top runners in the North Texas area including at least the number three runner in the state since he is from Southlake. I wouldn’t be surprised if the number one and two runners in the state are there too. Josh’s coach had originally signed the Forney team up for the “regular” varsity race, but after Saturday’s performance at Tyler, he was going to see if he could move them into the “Elite Varsity” race which of course would be the best of the best. As always, we will let you know what happens.

I have attached a couple of pictures. One is of Josh running about half way through the race and the other is him with his first place trophy and medal. You can see more pictures on my Facebook page.

Until next time…

Josh's 2009 Track Results

Feb 28, 2009 Pirate Relays @ Wylie High School
1600m 1st Place 4:44
Distance Relay 1st Place. Josh ran the anchor 1600m in 4:39

Feb 20, 2009 Richardson Coed Meet @ Eagle-Mustange Stadium, Richardson
3200m 1st Place 10:07
1600m 1st Place 4:43

2009 Forney High School Track Schedule

Feb. 20 Fri. Richardson Coed Meet @ Eagle-Mustang Stadium -- Richardson

Feb. 28 Sat. Pirate Relays @ Wylie

March 7 Sat. Clay Jones @ City Bank Stadium - Forney

March 14 Sat. Beverly D Humphrey Invitational @ Lancaster

March 21 Sat. Spring Break (TBA)

March 28 Sat. Bulldog Relays @ Royse City (boys and girls)
Jesuit (qualifying boys)

April 3 & 4 Fri/Sat. Texas Relays @ Austin (Varsity Only)

April 11 Sat. Lancaster Pre District Tune Up @ Lancaster

April 15 & 16 Wed/Thurs District @ Lancaster

April 24 & 25 Fri/Sat Regional Qualifiers Meets

May 1 & 2 Fri/Sat Regional Meet @ Denton

May 15 & 1 Fri/Sat State Meet @ Austin