By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Things didn’t go quite as well as expected for the Rivera boys cross country team at Saturday’s UIL state meet at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.
The District 32-6A champion Raiders finished 15th among the Class 6A boys teams at state. Rivera totaled 334 points, while Southlake Carroll won the 6A boys team title with 94 points. The Woodlands was second with 105 points, and College Park was third with 117.
“We didn’t do so hot,” Rivera coach Arturo Hurtado said. “There are no excuses.”
David Strome of Colleyville Heritage was the 6A boys individual winner as he came in first over a 3.1-mile course in 15 minutes, 23.81 seconds.
The top finisher for Rivera was Cristian Machuca, who came in 33rd in 16:30.39. He is the only senior on the Rivera squad.
Other finishers for the Raiders were Jonathan Herrera (51st), Anthony Garza (69th), Manny Guerrero (72nd), Jose Villanueva (109th), Ruben Chapa (110th) and Jesus Gonzalez (111th).
“This was the only meet I saw (this season) that our guys really didn’t compete,” Hurtado said. “If everything goes well next year and we get to come back (to state), I hope this is a learning experience for them.”
It was still quite an eventful cross country season for the Raiders, who won a district boys team title for the first time and advanced to the regional and state meets, also first-time achievements.
The best showing by the Rio Grande Valley at the state meet Saturday came from the Mission Veterans boys, who finished fourth in the Class 5A standings. In the same division, boys teams from Edinburg Vela and Mercedes were 14th and 16th, respectively. Of the other teams at state, the Progreso boys were seventh in Class 4A, the Santa Maria boys were 12th in Class 2A and the Sharyland Pioneer girls were 12th in 5A.
Individually, the best finish by a Valley boys runner belonged to Sharyland High’s Rene Guillen, who came in seventh in his 5A race. For the girls, the best finish by a Valley runner was turned in by Sharyland Pioneer’s Maria Isabel Mendoza, who was 11th in her 5A race.
Other notable individual finishes by Valley runners came from Santa Maria’s Jesus Gomez, 11th in 2A boys; Hidalgo’s Moises Campos, 14th in 4A boys; Lyford’s Thalia Polanco, 18th in 3A girls; and Edinburg North’s Beth Ramos, 20th in 6A girls.