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	Falting, Kent Geometry, Statistics, Principles of Engineering
	Vrbka, Steven Algebra II and Advanced Math Teacher

Parkway, Benton cross country teams ranked among state's best

Thursday, 18 October 2012 22:20 Russell Hedges Sports - Prep Sports

With next month’s state meet fast approaching, three Bossier Parish cross country teams are ranked among the state’s best.
The Parkway girls’ team is ranked No. 5 in the state regardless of class in Louisiana Running’s latest power rankings. The Benton girls’ team is ranked one spot behind Parkway.
The Parkway boys’ team is ranked sixth in the power rankings.
Louisiana Running (la.milesplit.com) is a website that covers cross country and track and field across the state.
In the Louisiana Track and Field Coaches Association composite polls, the Parkway girls are ranked seventh and the boys are ranked eighth. The Benton girls are among teams also receiving votes.
Parkway junior Alison Ringle, who won meets at Calvary and LSU, has received honorable mention recognition on MileSplit’s rankings of the top high school girls cross country runners in the nation.
Ringle has also been in Louisiana Running’s Elite 5 all season.
Benton is the two-time defending Class 4A girls state champion.
Benton hasn’t raced as much as other teams across the state, a strategy coach Frank Trammel uses every year to prepare his team for the state meet.
The girls won one meet and finished second in the other. Katie McKay, Quinci Middlebrooks and Haley Dishman finished 1-2-3 in a meet at McNeese.
While not ranked, the Benton boys, led by Drake Heinz, have also fared well, winning both their meets.
Sophomore Hayden Kingfisher leads the Parkway boys.
The Parkway boys and girls top 10 runners will be competing in a meet Saturday in Lake Hamilton, Ark

Parkway sweeps LSU meet

Sunday, 23 September 2012 15:51

Russell Hedges Sports - Prep Sports

Parkway swept the boys’ and girls’ team titles in the LSU Invitational cross country meet Saturday in Baton Rouge.

The Parkway boys scored 57 points to 74 for runner-up Ruston and 77 for third-place Byrd.

The Parkway girls scored 35 points to edge runner-up Ruston by three points. It was the Lady Panthers’ second team title in as many meets.

Parkway junior Alison Ringle won the individual girls’ title, covering the 5K Highland Road Park course in 19 minutes, 12.3 seconds. She finished about 1:25 in front of runner-up Adaiza Austin of Ruston. It was Ringle’s second victory this season.

Three other Lady Panthers finished in the top 10 — Alayna Nevins (fifth, 20:54.3), Jayni Wilcher (sixth, 21:04.8) and Sara Funderburk (ninth, 21:37.7). Kaleigh Newman (21st, 23:25.7) was the Panthers’ fifth scorer.

Parkway sophomore Hayden Kingfisher finished runner-up out of 137 competitors in the boys’ division. He ran a 16:49.6. Lakeside’s Enrique Soto won in 16:05.0.

Parkway’s Taylor Bazo finished ninth in 17:40.9.

Other Panthers in the scoring were Lucas Moncla (12th, 17:51.7), Chance Vatovec (16th, 18:05.3) and Skylor Reese (18th, 18:16.8).

It was the first title of the season for the Parkway boys, who finished second in the Calvary Baptist Invitational.

The Parkway girls are ranked third in the state in LouisianaRunning.com’s power rankings and the boys are ranked fifth.

Parkway teams off to fast start

Wednesday, 19 September 2012 07:21

Russell Hedges Sports - Prep Sports

Parkway opened the 2012 cross country season in impressive fashion Saturday in the Calvary Baptist Invitational.

Parkway won the girls’ division and finished second in the boys’. Nine schools fielded teams.

The Parkway girls scored 27 points to 65 for runner-up West Monroe. Low score wins in cross country.

The Parkway boys scored 48 points. Champion West Monroe had 30.

Parkway junior Alison Ringle took the girls’ individual title with a time of 18 minutes, 27 seconds over the 3-mile course.

Ringle finished 24 seconds ahead of runner-up Kaitlin Tanner of Loyola. Calvary’s Hailey Hesterman took third in 19:04.

Lady Panther runners took four of the top eight spots. Alayna Nevins finished sixth in 20:44, Jayni Wilcher seventh in 21:02 and Sara Funderburk eighth in 21:08. Kayleigh Newman also figured in the scoring, finishing 16th in 22:34.

Sophomore Hayden Kingfisher led the Parkway boys with a fifth-place finish in 15:59. Lakeside’s Enrique Soto won in 15:26.

Parkway’s Taylor Bazo was ninth in 16:33. Teammates Lucas Moncla (16:56), Chance Vatovec (17:07), Chase Livesay (17:14) and Skylar Reese (17:18) finished 11th through 14th, respectively.

Jason Pugh: Parkway cross country goes distance for St. Jude

5:37 PM, Sep 4, 2012 |

A word of warning for those who attend Friday night’s Farmerville-Parkway game at Bossier City’s Preston Crownover Stadium — the people walking the track during the game know exactly what they’re doing and for whom they’re doing it.

For the third consecutive season, Parkway cross country coach Kent Falting’s team and volunteers will circle the track for 24 hours beginning at 7 p.m. Friday, the same time Parkway kicks off against Farmerville in the Panthers’ home opener. The proceeds go to St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., where children battling cancer are treated payment free.

Neither Falting nor Parkway head girls basketball coach Aaron Megee had family members who spent time at St. Jude, but took inspiration from a simple activity they both enjoy.

“A couple of summers ago, we went walking every night,” Falting said. “I had this idea I ran by him. I was looking for some sort of community service project my cross country kids could do so they could stop thinking about themselves and commit themselves to others.”

More than $50,000 later, the school’s commitment is clear.

As the donations climbed, Falting has racheted up his goals for the event.

Log onto www.goingthedistanceforus.com and you will see a goal of $100,000.

Considering the event pulled in a combined $50,000 the last two years, it is a calculated jump Falting wanted to take.

He likened it to coaching his cross-country runners.

“Everyone has a wall in cross country,” Falting said. “They think, ‘Oh I can’t run 3 miles in 16 minutes,’ or, ‘I can’t run 3 miles in 21 minutes.’ They can never hit that goal once they think like that. When they finally break through that barrier, they saw a huge drop in times. They realized you don’t have to put that limitation on themselves. It’s the same kind of mind-set.”

Falting expanded his use of social media to promote this year’s event, setting up a Facebook page to spread the word.

Two summers ago, Falting, who led Parkway’s boys to the 2010 Class 4A state championship, visited St. Jude and saw first-hand how much the money raised in Bossier City was helping chip away at the $2 million-plus-per-day operating costs of the facility.

That good karma has made it back to the stadium track almost without fail the last two years.

“Since this has started, every year people from St. Jude have shown up for this event,” Falting said. “By the time it’s over, a kid from St. Jude has been there for us to give the check to. It’s pretty amazing how it’s happened.”

Connect with Jason Pugh on Twitter at @JasonSPugh.

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PHS Cross Country

Ruston Meet Info

Congratulations to Logan Bazo!!!

Lake Hamilton Results

NSU PreState Meet Results

Mississippi College Results

Congrats to Alison Ringle-Honorable Mention USA XC Top 25

Current LA Milesplit Rankings 9/22/12

LSU Meet

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

2012 Schedule

STATE 2010

Going the Distance 2011