STAFF REPORTS
ROUND ROCK — IDEA Frontier coach Albert Alanis gave his team a goal of finishing in the top 10 at Saturday’s UIL state cross country meet, and the Chargers did just that.
The IDEA Frontier Chargers, two-time District 32-3A champions, made their first appearance at the state meet at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock this year and finished 10th out of 16 teams in the Class 3A boys division with 282 points.
“The (race) conditions were pretty bad,” Alanis said. “It was 50 degrees and pouring (rain) the entire time. The course was muddy. Considering the poor conditions and the little amount of time we had to get used to the course because the traffic was so backed up (and we didn’t get there at the time we had planned) due to the weather, I thought we did great.
“Three of our top five finishers were underclassmen, so we’re excited and already talking about what we can do next year,” Alanis added. “Overall, it was a great learning experience, and our runners definitely did well considering the conditions.”
Luling and San Antonio Cole, both from Region IV like IDEA Frontier, finished first and second in the 3A boys competition with 40 and 70 points, respectively. Eustace was third with 125 points.
The top three finishers for the Brownsville charter school came in 43rd, 44th and 45th on a five-kilometer course.
They were sophomore Cristian Davila, 43rd in 18 minutes, 21.25 seconds; senior Jesus Garcia, 44th in 18:21.79; and freshman Kevin Sanchez, 45th in 18:22.21.
The next two runners for IDEA Frontier came in 73rd and 77th. They were senior Jose Quintero, 73rd in 19:08.30; and freshman Irving Chavirra, 77th in 19:12.58. The top five finishers for each school scored points.
Alanis said Sanchez really stepped up Saturday as he is usually the team’s fifth-place finisher. Alanis also said Gutierrez slipped and fell about 10 times during the race, but managed to get up each time and continue to run strong so he could help score points for his team.
Other runners in the 3A race for the Chargers were two seniors — Bryan Estrella, 86th in 19:31.11; and Arturo Gutierrez, 101st in 20:26.69.
Whitesboro’s Nic Butts won the 3A boys race in 16:03.89.
Also running for IDEA Frontier at state Saturday was sophomore Sabrina Garcia in the 3A girls 3,200-meter race. She came in 93rd in 13:59.70.
East Bernard’s Jessica Rabious won the 3A girls race in 12:00.87.
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