Pasadena Roundup: Deer Park keeps it going

The Deer were 7-3 overall and 2-0 in district last week, with district wins over South Houston and Pasadena and a big 18-6 non-district victory against Clear Springs, which they lost to last season. The Deer graduated key boys Chase Heffley and Ryan Cash, their top two players last spring, and steady girls player Katie Guillory But there is plenty of talent and experience back in the lineup. Even in a couple of the matches that he's lost, he's been right there, except for when we played George Ranch, but they had a very talented kid. "In the spring we tried her out at mixed doubles and she got a little tentative, so now we're trying to go back to those volleys and improve on her serve, improve on her reaction time," Rau said. Other key girls included senior Sarah Hill, who started playing as a sophomore and has grown her game tremendously since, and junior Courtney Johnson, who's notched several big wins at Line 7. The Pasadena Memorial boys cross country team ran away with the varsity team championship at the 14-team Deer Park Invitational last week, scoring 44 points with five runners finishing in the top 20. On the girls side, freshman Amanda Avalos set a new school record in the two-mile run with a time of 12 minutes, 21 seconds. The meet featured college and high school teams from cities across the state, including Austin, Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley.