Cross country: Nowak, Wallace at the top

The friendly-yet-intense rivalry continued at the Humble ISD Region III Preview Meet last week with Nowak taking top honors and Wallace placing third in the Class 5A Gold Division on Sept. 17 at Atascocita High School. Nowak placed first at 4 minutes, 8.67 seconds, with Wallace second at 4:09.30 and Brinkley third at 4:09.36, and they're all back as seniors this school year. Craig caught him at about 40 meters and I got him with about one meter to go, and you could really hear the crowd yelling and cheering us on. Nowak also placed sixth in the 5A state 3,200 meters on the same day he struck gold in the 1,600, and he's advanced to the state cross country meet in 2010 (sixth place) and 2009 (15th). Matthews beat Nowak in the region 1,600 meters last spring, but Nowak came back to nip Matthews and win the event at state. Nowak is the defending 17-5A boys cross country individual champion and Wallace was second last year, and everyone expects to see them up front once again this season.