Katy ISD sent a number of runners to the state cross country tournament last week, but none took home bigger individual accolades than Seven Lakes’ Matthew Montgomery.

Montgomery, a senior, took home the gold medal in the boys finals of the Region III-6A meet, finishing five seconds clear of his nearest competitor, running the 5000 meters in 15 minutes, 11.39 seconds to finish first and clinch his spot at the state meet. He was joined on the medal stand by Tompkins’ Parker Woods, who finished third with a time of 15 minutes, 23 seconds.

Tompkins took home the top team honors of the boys tournament, finishing first overall with 78 points, while Katy took the silver medal, finishing second with 130 points.

Tompkins’ team was led by Wood and his third place finish, while Griffen Saacke finished 10^th, Austin Garcia finished 16^th, Aaron Ramshaw finished 29^th and Mathias Pitzel finished 33^rd.Juan Perez Salas and Diego Reyes rounded out the finishers for Tompkins, finishing 34^th and 51^st.

Katy’s team that took the silver medal consisted of David Kalwahali, who finished 11^th, Ryder Darcey who finished 18^th, Joshua Perez who finished 24^th, Evan Couture who finished 45^th and Logan Morris who finished 52^nd. Benjamin Robins finished 71^st and Diego Mion finished 72^nd for the Tigers.

The district also sent a few individual runners to the state meet along with Montgomery. Taylor had two runners individually qualify for the state meet in Michael Klahn, who finished in ninth place and Carlos Varela, who finished 17^th. Paetow’s Elijah Emerson finished 13^th and also qualified to the state meet.

On the girls side, Katy finished fourth as a team to qualify for the state tournament, while Tompkins narrowly missed out on making it as a team, finishing fifth.

Katy was led by Maddy Hunter, who finished fourth overall with a time of 18 minutes, 20.7 seconds, while Lauren Acopa finished 27^th, Victoria Guerrero finished 47^th and Hailee Greene finished 53^rd. Heidi Greene and Gracie Rocha rounded out the finishers for Katy, finishing 56^th and 84^th respectively.

Rowan Saacke reached the medal stand for Tompkins and qualified individually for the state meet by finishing second with a time of 17 minutes, 57.16 seconds, while Mayde Creek sent two runners to the state meet individually in Claudia Klander, who finished fifth overall with a time of 18 minutes 21.59 seconds, and Jamie Klander, who finished sixth overall with a time of 18 minutes, 22.80 seconds to round out the individual qualifiers from the school district.

Royal’s Kevin Martinez also made the state tournament individually, finishing 18^th overall in the Region IV-6A meet with a time of 17 minutes, 43.73 seconds.