BY MARK MOLINA | STAFF WRITER
Cross country teams from across the valley set out to tackle some bumpy Brownsville terrain, but in the end it was Rivera’s Ruben Chapa and Andrea de la Rosa pulling through on their home turf.
Chapa led the Raiders with a firs-place finish, while de la Rosa did the same for the Lady Raiders at the BISD Cross Country Invitational Saturday morning at the BISD Encampment.
It was a close win for Chapa, who finished the race in 16 minutes, 39 seconds, as he found himself stride for stride with Hanna’s Leonel Pena for a majority of the race before pulling away in the final 500 meters.
While a tough outing, the Raider senior never waivered on a familiar course against a familiar course.
“I already know where the holes are and the hills are and where not to go through … it was like deja vu with the same result and the same placing — it’s nice,” Chapa said. “It was intense and I was nervous about running, too because I didn’t want to leave it to the last 100 meters and end up losing. The last 500 meters is where I felt that I needed to keep up with what I was doing and not slow down for (Pena)to catch up.”
Pena second a time of 16:56, while San Benito’s Joaquin Medina (17:04), Rivera’s Christian Salazar (17:26) and Edinburg High’s Tony Gonzalez (17:30) rounded out the top five.
For the Lady Raiders, de la Rosa took on the course feeling under the weather, but that didn’t stop her from separating from the pack heading into the first mile marker and finishing in under 20 minutes (19:59).
“I’m sick so I couldn’t breathe almost the whole way so it was a little bit difficult,” de la Rosa said. “I was hoping to hit an 18 (minutes), it didn’t happen … feel great finishing first. I’m starting to feel confident, I’ve been training really hard.”
Coming in second was Edinburg High’s Adriana Cruz (20:27), who also distanced herself from the pack despite trailing de la Rosa the entire way.
Cruz was pleased with her performance but felt the course and the field left much to be desired.
“The course was bumpy, but I managed to push through,” Cruz said. “I wish there was some more competition up (in front) with us to push us through the race. It’s all mental. If there is nobody there with you, you still have to push yourself through and you keep yourself mentally strong throughout the race.”
Rounding out the top five was the trio of Anna Hernandez (20:47), Nadia Gutierrez (21:05) and Maria Varela (21:21) from Sharyland Pioneer, which propelled the Lady Diamondbacks to a team championship with 33 points.
Hanna placed second with 77, followed by Edinburg (80), Brownsville Veterans (164) and Los Fresnos(175).
Over for the boys, Hanna once again had a strong showing as it placed first overall with three top-20 finishers and 75 total points, edging out Lopez’s 77.
Brownsville Veterans finished third (111), Porter finished fourth (132) and Harlingen South placed fifth (150).
With strong outings for both her teams, Hanna head coach Olaya Teran believes her teams are on the right track.
“We were first as far as the district but not all of the district was here, so we have some work to do, but we have some tough competitions coming up so hopefully they can improve their time.” Terran said. “The boys did good. I had two freshman who tried out and they ran well and of course my two seniors. Leo Pena placed second and I had Danny Rivera place eighth so that helped us out.
“We still have to work because Harlingen High has some fast times, so we know we have some work to do still.”