The Roughnecks and Ladynecks competed in the District 16-3A meet on Thursday October 10th at Lear Park in Longview. In the girls race and qualifying for the Regional Meet in Grand Prairie were Sophia Lacey in sixth, 14:34, Lizzy Still seventh, 14:40, and Sophie Fisher ninth, 14:50. Just missing a qualification place was Ally Tatum in 11th in a time of 15:19. All of the girls performed well, and will represent White Oak on Tuesday, October 22nd. The boys varsity team raced to a second place team finish behind Tatum and will also advance to the Regional meet. The Roughnecks placed four runners in the top ten. Niko Soto led the Roughnecks placing third place in 17:51. He was followed closely by teammates Cooper Tucker in sixth place, 18:32, Isaak Olvera in seventh, 18:36, and Logan Langewisch in eighth place in a time of 18:39. Luke Bueno rounded out the team scoring in 18th place in a time of 19:40 by running the back portion of the course well. Kaleb Glenn finished in 22nd place in a time of 20:23 to complete the team finishes. All of the varsity runners improved their times for this course from their racing competition in mid-September. In the junior varsity boys race, Nathan Stringer led the Roughnecks to a second place team finish in a time of 21:03 for fourth place. Stringer was followed closely by Nathan Watson in fifth place with a time of 21:13. Also finishing in the top ten was Phoenix Turner, 21:43, in ninth place. Cole Jordan, 22:57, 13th place and Emry Morris, 23:24, in 14th rounded out the team scoring for the Roughnecks. Sometimes competitions that have advancement ramifications can become overwhelming because we tend to think more is better. More hype. More upbeat music. More snacks. More cheering. Sometimes more ends up being underperformance because we make it just too much. Several weeks ago, we chatted about the phenomenon of underperformance. Today was a normal race day for the Roughnecks and Ladynecks. We did things like we always do. They gave their best effort for today, just as they have done all the Saturday mornings this season. They adjusted to the race, just as they have done all the Saturday mornings this season. They ate gushers and some type of cracker, just as they have done all the Saturday mornings this season. And Monday morning they will watch the sun come up at Roughneck stadium, just as they have done all the Monday mornings this season.