By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
The Rivera Raiders continue to add to their list of achievements during the 2014 cross country season.
After advancing to Saturday’s Region IV meet in San Antonio as the first boys district champion from their school, the Raiders are now going to next weekend’s UIL state meet in Round Rock for the first time as a team.
Rivera finished third in the Class 6A boys division of the Region IV meet to earn its trip to state.
The athletes ran over a 3.1-mile course at the National Shooting Complex.
The top four teams and top 10 individual finishers not attached to the top four teams at Saturday’s regional meet qualified to compete in Round Rock.
“This feels great. I’m very happy for these boys,” veteran Rivera coach Arturo Hurtado said. “We talked about it all season, and today they went out and executed. I’m proud of them.”
Comal Canyon won the 6A boys division with 105 points. Eagle Pass was second with 111, and Rivera was third with 164. Del Rio also goes to state as the fourth-place team with 172 points.
The finishes of a team’s top five runners counted toward its score. Leading the way for the Raiders were Cristian Machuca (15th), Jonathan Herrera (17th), Manny Guerrero (23rd), Anthony Garza (33rd) and Ruben Chapa (76th). Also running for Rivera were Jose Villanueva (120th) and Jesus Gonzalez (159th).
“I felt kind of bad at the beginning of the race, but I kept running (among the front-runners) and it felt great (at the end),” said Machuca, the Raiders’ only senior. “All I can say is we tried our best.”
Added Garza, “We keep making (school) history for ourselves.It’s a dream come true.”
The Raiders are the only Rio GrandeValley team advancing to state in 6A. Advancing in 5A are Valley boys squads from Mission Veterans (second), Edinburg Vela (third) and Mercedes (fourth) along with the Sharyland Pioneer girls (fourth). Other Valley boysteams advancing with fourth-place finishes are Progreso in 4A and Santa Mariain 2A.
Among the Valley runners qualifying for state individually are Edinburg North’s Beth Ramos, Edinburg Economedes’ Emily Suarez, La Joya Palmview’s Natali Gonzalez and Eliseo Rodriguez, Weslaco East’s Jayven Cordova, Edcouch-Elsa’s Krysta Martinez, Sharyland High’s Rene Guillen, PSJA Southwest’s Victor Pedraza, Hidalgo’s Moises Campos, Lyford’s Thalia Polanco and Edinburg IDEA Quest’s Valery Tobias.
Advancing with his team, Santa Maria’s Jesus Gomez won the 2A boys race. Martinez was second in the 5A girlsrace and Tobias was second in the 3A girls race. Ramos was third among 6A girls, and Camposwas third among 4A boys.
Of the Metro-area 6A teams at the meet, Hanna’s girls and boys finished 19th and 20th, respectively, and the Brownsville Veterans Memorial girls were 23rd. The top finishers for Hanna were Sophia Salinas(51st) for the girls and Dominic Castellanos (89th) for the boys. Paola Villarreal (100th) was the top finisher for the Brownsville Veterans girls.
Individually in 6A, Los Fresnos’ Ricardo Torres and Valeria Tellez came in 72nd and 120th, respectively.
Individually in 5A, Pace’s Simei Tovar and Hope Ngo finished 26th and 29th, respectively, and Porter’s Gerardo Perez was 49th.