Looking much like a parade dressed in silver and black, four Raiders runners crossed the finish line in succession to help their team capture the league championship and return to the Region IV-6A meet on Oct. 26 in Corpus Christi.
Anthony Garza led the charge, finishing with a time of 16:12.46. Garza led the entire race but was challenged at the very end by teammate Jonathan Herrera, who crossed just milliseconds behind Garza with a time of 16:12.93.
“I almost got him at the end,” said Herrera. “We started out together and then he took the lead and I stayed behind him, but at the end I decided to charge hard and try to beat him. I came up just short, but that’s OK. We ran as a team today and that was our goal.”
Raul Casiano crossed the finish line in third with a time of 16:53.70 and Emmanuel Guerrero came in fourth with a mark of 16:58.95.
With the win, the Raiders will make the return trip to regionals, where the team took third last year.
Herrera said the team’s main goal this season was to not only return to the regional meet and win it, but to perform better at state.
“We didn’t do so well at state last year and that’s something we’ve been working on,” Herrera said.
Joining Rivera at regionals this year will be the teams from Brownsville Hanna, which came in second Friday, and Harlingen High, which took third place with 78 points.
Leading the charge for the Cardinals was a trio of sophomores. Edward Ramos finished fifth overall with a time of 17:08.40, Art Benavides, finished in ninth at 17:20.67, and Fernando Escovar, came in 10th at 17:27.95.
Cardinals head coach Efran Ambriz was pleased with his young team’s performance.
“One of the goals we set in the summer was to advance to regionals and now their hard work has paid off,” he said. “We are looking forward to competing in Corpus Christi.
“We are proud of them and with three sophomores finishing in the top 10, we know we have a bright future ahead of us.”
Meanwhile, on the girls’ side, Brownsville Rivera continued to shine as Andrea de la Rosa and Jennifer Lopez finished in first and second with times of 20:10.62 and 20:14.73, respectively.
However, despite the Lady Raiders’ 1-2 individual finish, it was the Brownsville Hanna Lady Golden Eagles that took home the team title with 66 points, followed by Brownsville Veterans with 91 and Los Fresnos in third with 97. Rivera as a team had to settle for fifth place.
Hanna was led by freshman Sydney Salazar, who came in third with a time of 20:24.88.
Los Fresnos had two girls finish in the top 10. Freshman Clarissa Tellez came in fifth and senior Valeria Tellez came in 10th.
San Benito, who finished in sixth place as a team, still had a pair of runners qualify for regionals. McKayla Guerra, a junior, finished in seventh and sophomore Monica Hernandez came in ninth.
Finally, despite a very solid season, the Harlingen South Lady Hawks missed out on regionals as a team, finishing in fourth place just one point behind Los Fresnos at 98 points.
However, on the bright side, South junior Mya Price finished in fourth place with a time of 20:59.17 to advance to regionals for the third straight time.
“Mya’s work ethic and focus in practice has really impressed me over the last several weeks and it’s shown in her improvement in her times, and in her fourth-place finish in district,” said South head coach Renee Lynn Bennett.
“As for our team placement, the girls were really disappointed when they found out we missed advancing by one point. We lost our No. 2 girl to a stress fracture, and even though our No. 4 girl Linsday Zamarano really stepped it up (she finished in 13th) and had her best race ever, we just fell short.”
District 32-6A meet results
At San Benito High School
Friday, Oct. 16
GIRLS
Team results: 1. Brownsville Hanna 66; 2. Brownsville Veterans 91; 3. Los Fresnos 97; 4. Harlingen South 98; 5. Brownsville Rivera 111; 6. San Benito 124; 7. Brownsville Lopez 141; 8. Harlingen 142
Individual results: 1. Andrea de la Rosa, Rivera, 20:10.62; 2. Jennifer Lopez, Rivera, 20:14.73; 3. Sydney Salazar, Hanna, 20:24.88; 4. Mya Price, Harlingen South, 20:59.17; 5. Clarissa Tellez, Los Fresnos, 20:59.17; 6. Reeanna Zamfir, Veterans, 21:06. 35; 7. McKayla Guerra, San Benito; 21:14.74; 8. Paola Villarreal, Veterans, 21:17.32; 9. Monica Hernandez, San Benito, 21:22.80; 10. Valeria Tellez, Los Fresnos, 21:32.69; 11. Imedla Garcia, Lopez, 21:35.47; 12. Cecilia Tellez, Hanna, 21:36.21; 13. Lindsay Zamorano, Harlingen South, 21:55.94; 14. Jennifer Hernandez, Lopez, 22:07.31; 15. Gloria Hernandez, San Benito, 22:19.44; 16. Estephanie Aviles, Hanna, 22:30.41; 17. Nadia Sinfuentes, Hanna, 22:37.87; 18. Audrey Pineda, Hanna, 22:39.46; 19. Crystal Lopez, Harlingen, 22:39.97; 20. Genesis Cruz, Harlingen South, 22:41.72; 21. Alice Garcia, Harlingen, 22:45.14; 22. Haley Allen, Veterans, 22:46.04; 23. Kaylen Aguero, Harlingen South, 22:51.08; 24. Allison Spier, Los Fresnos, 22:52.37; 25. Ashley Hinojosa, Rivera, 22:55.02
BOYS
Team results: 1. Brownsville Rivera 22; 2. Brownsville Hanna 78; 3. Harlingen 78; 4. Brownvsille Veterans 87; 5. Harlingen South 120; 6. Los Fresnos 153
Individual results: 1. Anthony Garza, Rivera, 16.12.46; 2. Jonathon Herrera, Rivera, 16:12. 93; 3. Raul Casiano, Rivera, 16:53.70; 4. Emmanuel Guerrero, Rivera, 16:58.95; 5. Edward Ramos, Harlingen, 17:08.40; 6. David Martinez, Hanna, 17:10.98; 7. Ricardo Torres, Los Fresnos, 17:12.88; 8. Joe Michael Lopez, Veterans, 17:19.47; 9. Art Benavides, Harlingen, 17:20.67; 10. Fernando Escovar, Harlingen, 17:27.95; 11. Joe Gabriel Lopez, Veterans, 17:32.95; 12. Ruben Chapa, Rivera, 17:43.84; 13. Eusebio Castro, Lopez, 17:46.10; 14. Daniel Rivera, Hanna, 17:55.17; 15. Adrel Aparicio, Harlingen, 17:56.29; 16. Adrian Hernandez, Harlingen, 17:57.56; 17. Julio Dragustinovis, Hanna, 17:57.93; 18. Balmoris Deodanes, Hanna, 18:00.91; 19. Julio Perez, Lopez, 18:04. 27; 20. Juan Castallanos, Harlingen, 18:06.42; 21. Humberto Aguillon, Veteans, 18:09.95; 22. Mauricio Besera, Veterans, 18:11.98; 23. Leonel Pena, Hanna, 18:13.24; 24. Gerardo Ureno, Rivera, 18:20.98; 25. Carlos Rodriguez, Veterans, 18:25.95.
NOTE: Top 3 teams and top 10 indivduals advance to Region IV-6A tournament on Oct. 26 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi