Haileab, Peters, Pearland girls capture cross country district titles


PEARLAND — Two of the best boy and girl cross country runners in the state may be from Dawson and Pearland High Schools.

Senior Noah Haileab of Dawson HS captured the District 23-6A boys cross country title with a time of 16:29.4 while his second-place finisher from Strake Jesuit was over a minute behind with a time of 17:33.6.

Haileab set a new DHS school record at the Class 6A area track meet as he easily won the 3200-meter run in 9:21.72 last spring.

In last year's state cross country meet, Haileab finished in sixth place with a time of 15:32.19 and he was just 6.5 seconds out of third place.

The Dawson boys, as a team, finished in second place behind Strake Jesuit, who won the district title with a team score of 25. The Eagles finished with a score of 59 followed by Pearland (76), Alief Elsik (83), Shadow Creek (121), Alief Hastings (167), Alvin (180), and Alief Taylor (224).

Top finishers for Dawson include: Abel Haileab (18:11.1, 7th), Jaxson Artisst (18:12.1, 8th), and Noah Yared (18:43.2, 14th).

Top finishes for Pearland include: Joshua Estes (17:48.1, 5th) and William Atkinson (18:18.1, 9th).

The Pearland girls captured the District 23-6A cross country team title while sophomore Madison Peters won the individual gold medal with an impressive time of 19:29.4. Teammate Sarah Maddux-Hensley was a distant second with a time of 21:45.6.

Peters won the District 23-6A titles in the 1,600 and 3,200-meters in track in the spring.

The Lady Oilers captured the team title with 24 points while Dawson came in second with 48 points followed by Shadow Creek (57), Alvin (117), and Alief Hastings (134).

Top finishers for Pearland include: Mariah Deleon (22.43.1, 5th), Lea Murphy (22:51.8, 6th), Tailyn Higginbotham (23:48.3, 11th), and Serena Castillo (24:16.0, 14th).

Top finishers for Dawson include: Cara Gary (23:25.9, 7th), Jazlynn Garza (23:26.6, 8th), and Leah Rowland (23:26.6, 9th).