COURTESY PHOTO BY SUSAN ARMANOVS One of the best Port Aransas High School Lady Marlins cross-country team member Lia Phillips, right, runs toward finishing 12th out of 161 runners in regional competition in San Antonio in Saturday, Nov. 3. Port Aransas High School Lady Marlins cross-country runners performed about as well as they possibly could at regional competition without qualifying to move on to state competition.

The Lady Marlins finished fourth out of 24 teams at the regional meet in San Antonio on Saturday, Nov. 3. But only the top three teams go to state. "We were literally just a couple seconds from qualifying, and 15 20 seconds from winning the whole

thing," said Steve Reaves, the teamcoach.

"These kids have put in a lot of long hours and a lot of miles to get ready for this meet," said Reaves, who also is athletic director for the Port Aransas Independent School District. "I am very proud of their effort and the commitment they made to each other."

The seniors were great leaders, Reaves said. Lia Phillips, for example, finished 12th out of 161 runners, and Elaine Franco finished 25th overall.

Charging COURTESY PHOTO BY SUSAN ARMANOVS Lady Marlins cross-country runners leave the starting line during regional competition in San Antonio. "They not only led in this race, but they were my leaders every day in every practice," Reaves said. "Without these two pushing, the other girls would have never been this successful."

Lia Phillips, 13:03, 12th Reba Armanovs, 13:33, 24th Elaine Franco, 13:33, 25th Katie Samudio, 13:48, 35th Marina Milligan, 14:19, 65th Kelsey Abel, 15:37, 110th Sarah Armanovs, 15:49, 117th