NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR
MERCEDES — Soledad Cruz had a strong freshman season. She raised a lot of eyebrows at the District 32-5A meet in October 2015, finishing second with a personal record time of 19:18.91. She was the only freshman to finish within the top 20.
Then, Cruz took a hiatus from the cross country team. The move was just as big of a surprise as her best run.
“I didn’t finish the season last year, because I was busy with other stuff,” Cruz said. “But now, I’m back, and I’m trying my best. I missed it, and I just came back hungry.”
Now a junior, Cruz is still hoping to recreate that special performance of a few years back.
“It was pretty hard (to come back), but I just kept training hard,” Cruz said just days before her second career regional race, which takes play today in Corpus Christi.
In her year away from cross country, as a sophomore, Cruz still ran track in the spring. She stood out on the short course, as well. She finished in the top three in five of her six 1,600-meter races. She finished in fourth at regionals, keeping her just outside of a state qualification.
In the 3,200-meter, she finished first in her opening race of the season, then saved her next gold-medal race for district. Her season ended with a ninth-place finish at the UIL state meet.
Now, she’s back on the long courses of cross country.
“I’ve been training really hard, and I go to hell and back,” Cruz said about her training.
The junior didn’t expect to be good immediately after the time off.
“Honestly, no,” she said. “I thought I wasn’t going to be where I was my freshman (year).”
She proved herself wrong and raced to her first district cross country gold medal.
Cruz completed her championship run in 20:04.5.
“I was just trying to run a smart race. I didn’t really care about the time,” Cruz said about her district run. “I just wanted to be on top of the pack.”
Veteran distance coach Pete Martinez is happy she’s back in the mix.
“Having her back adds a spark to the team,” Martinez said. “With the group of girls that we have, and then her, she fits in. They jelled in really well. Our girls are unique, in a good way. For her to come back and be part of it, I know she gets a lot out of it, and our team gets a lot out of it.”
Her responsibilities have changed since she was a freshman. Now she’s a key part of the leadership group that is guiding and molding the younger girls.
“My team has been working very hard, and we all push each other,” Cruz said about her peers, who earned district silver as a team Oct. 14 in Brownsville.
One of those young runners making a name for herself is Yaremi Cobos, a freshman.
Cobos finished in ninth place at the 32-5A meet. Her time of 22:10.01 was strong, but nearly 2 minutes off her personal record time of 20:21.8, set Sept. 2 in the Donna ISD Invitational.
“The team motivates me to want to be better, to want to be one of the top runners,” Cobos said through a translator. “Training under coach Martinez, I have learned a lot of the running technique, especially keeping my knees up and the arm motions.”
One of the team’s assistant coaches said Cobos has reached a high level because she’s been running since she was 8 years old.
“I’ve been running since a small child. I ran in middle school and excelled because my father is also a runner,” Cobos said.
With strong groups of new and experienced runners, Martinez enters today’s regional meet in Corpus Christi with high expectations.
“I really expect a lot as far as being a cross country runner here at Mercedes,” Martinez said. “I think it takes a lot of work as far as coming in practices. Sometimes early in the morning, sometimes we have to wait if they are taking college classes. It’s about being flexible.”