Rogers High Dominates Frisco 5K

ROGERS -- Rogers High started the cross country season with a bag Saturday morning.

Mounties senior Christian Liddell pulled away from four of his teammates to win the men's division at the Frisco 5K Elininator Run in downtown Rogers. Liddell crossed in 17:12 as the first five runners to finish were Mounties.

In the women's race, Lady Mounties senior Claudia Cichy won the race with a winning time of 21:52. Rogers girls took the top four spots.

"That was an awesome race for her," said Rogers cross country coach Carlton Efurd. "She has improved a ton since last year. That was a good win."

Efurd said he was not surprised by Liddell's strong finish.

"Christian has been strong in practice and he has put in a lot of good miles this summer," Efurd said. "I expected him to do something like that. He is really fit right now."

Liddell finished third at the Class 7A State Cross Country meet as Rogers won the team title. He also had a strong track season last spring.

"This is a tough course, and this is a good way to start the year," Liddell said. "Our team is in really good shape this year, better than it ever has been. We are going to have to work hard because we know everyone is gunning for us."

Mounties seniors Austin Salazar (17:21), Jake Mankin (17:23) and Ian Smith (17:28) were the next three runners to finish on a hot and humid morning.

Taylor Bryant was the fifth Mounties runner to finish with a time of 18:16. Bryant won the event last year but then missed almost the rest of the cross country season with a stress fracture in his foot. Bryant said he is slowing getting back into cross country shape.

"The hill was pretty hard, but I feel I am in pretty good shape," Bryant said. "I had to put in a lot more miles and run a lot harder to get back into shape."

Lady Mounties seniors Lauren Harrell (22:19) and Braelyn Smith (22:31) took second and third while junior Lisa Lauschke (22:32) was fourth. Melody Zechiedrich, 31, took fifth in 22:39.