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Bell hones for Cross Country Championships
by winning Haltom Stampede

Clint Bell of Dallas figured he's about where he should be as he heads to the USA Cross Country Championships in San Diego on Feb. 16. Even though the 28-year-old said he hasn't been doing speed work, he posted his fourth fastest time within the past year by winning the Haltom Stampede in an unofficial 15:28 on Feb. 9.

``It's fine,'' Bell said of his run. ``To put it in perspective, I haven't done any speed work for a 5K. So, it's hard to race much faster than 5-minute miles without doing speed work. But if I go back and look at last year, I think it's my fourth fastest time in the last year.''

Winning the women's division was Ashley Flores, a 15-year-old runner at Haltom High School. She ran a 19:10 to take the victory. Ashley was a runner-up in district cross country, won regional and finished 17th in state. She's prepping for track season.

This was the second year that runners tested the new course for the event. It moved from the previous location near Birdville Stadium, and this year the date was moved to a week earlier. Also, the 10K was scrubbed from last year because many runners didn't like the double loop that was in place. A 1-mile fun run was conducted before the 5K started.

Bell is one of several Dallas-Fort Worth area runners expected to be in San Diego.

Bell said he could tell he hasn't been doing speed work because ``I'm still stiff from training.''

Yet, he is about on target for the Cross Country Championships. ``I didn't want to run any slower than 15:30,'' he said. ``It's faster than what I ran last spring.''

He said, though, his lack of speed work showed after the start on Broadway, which was slightly downhill until Beach Street. He said his leg turnover was exposed when being forced down the incline.

Age division winners took home these ceramic buffalo trophies.