Kaitlyn Rossa, an Italy High School sophomore, competed in the Region 3 Class 1a Cross Country Meet today in Humble, Texas. Competing with a field of 159 runners, Kaitlyn placed 9th with a time of 12:56. Her performance has earned her a berth in the State finals that will be held in Austin on Saturday, November 14th.

Congratulations Kaitlyn! Good luck at State!

Comment received from Coach Robert Sollers, November 9 @ 8:39am

In our time of parity by gender, there seems to be a great deal made of ensuring that the girls are always treated EXACTLT eaqual to the boys. This is as it should be, and we do our very best to uphold those expectations from this end.

Today I see that Kaitlin’s awesome performance at Regional was mentioned, as well as he advancement to State. That is truly wonderful.

At the same time I noticed that our Male competitor at Regional, who the night before battled his heart out for Italy in a grueling war between Itasca and Italy in football, got injured, left the dressing room in Itasca after 11 PM, slept less than 5 hours, got out and competed in the Regional Meet with very little left in his tank, did his best and never quit, was not mentioned at all in the article. I am sure had that been the other way around the letter being written would not have the same upbeat tone as this one.

Please find it in your hearts to mention Heath Clemons’ efforts in representing Italy at Regional Cross-Country as well.

Thank you,
Coach Sollers

Comment received from Lee Hamilton, November 10 @ 12:52pm

Coach Sollers has a good point there, Miss Rossa took the night off from cheering for the football team, mr Clemmons was dedicated to his team mates, that take alot of pride for team and his school

Comment received from Patsy Howard, November 10 @ 2:02pm

I want to praise both of the kids for their commitment and dedication. I want to congratulate each one for their accomplishments and representing Italy with such determination.

This is about the kids isn’t it?? I am feeling like we are trying to pit one sex against the other here and penalizing both athletes. Aren’t we all on the same team??!!

It was a great article about Kaitlyn and I am sure there would have been another article about Heath had we given it some time.

(These comments, received by the Italy Neotribune, were reproduced as submitted.)