ROY HESS | Staff Writer
At this early stage of the cross country season, coaches are looking for runners to emerge and round out the top five to seven spots for boys and girls on their varsity squads.
Los Fresnos coach Frank Falcon sees improvement from his athletes and believes it will translate into some strong showings in the coming weeks as the District 32-6A meet on Oct. 14 in Harlingen draws nearer.
So far, there have been meets in the Rio Grande Valley the past three weekends. Most schools have competed in at least two of them.
Falcon said keeping everyone healthy is a priority at this point of the young season while also finding out which runners can make an impact at the varsity level.
“Overall, the runners are progressing quite well and they are starting to battle for the top spots (on our team),” he said. “This year we have a larger amount (of runners) at this stage, so there’s more competition for those top spots. The competition is healthy as they’re beginning to push each other.”
Brenda Garcia and Kassidi Arellano, a pair of freshmen, are making a strong bid for spots on the varsity, Falcon said.
“Brenda finished 10th (last weekend at the Mercedes Invitational), just ahead of Clarissa Tellez, our top sophomore,” the Los Fresnos coach said.
Another Los Fresnos runner, Cynthia Gutierrez, came in 19th at the Mercedes meet as the Lady Falcons finished fourth in the team standings.
Led by upperclassmen Ricardo Torres and Florencio Davila, the Los Fresnos boys finished fifth as a team at Mercedes.
“Several upperclassmen are the nucleus of the (boys) team,” Falcon said. “Ricardo continues to be the leader and Florencio has shown very good consistency in these past two meets. We do have a couple of other boys who have started showing potential to break into the top seven. I look forward to seeing how they’ll react to tougher competition.”
Along with additional Metro-area schools, Los Fresnos will be running at the Brownsville ISD Invitational on Saturday.
BISD INVITATIONAL: The Rivera boys and Edinburg Economedes girls were team champions at the BISD Invitational in 2015. Last year’s individual winners from those two schools have graduated.
The annual meet returns on Saturday to the BISD Encampment near Olmito and will get under way with the girls varsity race at 8:30 a.m. followed by the boys varsity competition. Both varsity races will be run over a 3.1-mile course.
“Our goal for this meet is to place in the top six teams in the boys division and have improved times individually,” Porter coach Clemente Delgado said.
Besides the BISD Invitational, other meets scheduled Saturday in the Valley will take place at Mercedes, Progreso, Mission and Rio Grande City.
VALLEY RANKINGS: Upper Valley schools dominate the most recent rankings compiled by the Rio Grande Valley Cross Country Coaches Association.
Here they are:
Girls — 1. La Joya Palmview, 2. Edinburg High, 3. Sharyland Pioneer, 4. McAllen High, 5. PSJA North, 6. La Feria, 7. Harlingen South, 8. Hanna, 9. San Benito, 10. Edinburg Vela
Boys — 1. Donna North, 2. Edinburg North, 3. PSJA Memorial, 4. Donna High, 5. La Joya High, 6. La Joya Palmview, 7. Mission High, 8. Rio Grande City, 9. Sharyland Pioneer, 10. Mission Veterans
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess