By ROY HESS | The Brownsville Herald
It’s pretty much a given that Brownsville annually will send an athlete or a team to state in cross country.
This year it’s a combination of both for Saturday’s UIL state meet at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.
Rivera standout Andrea De La Rosa is returning to state individually as a senior for the third time in four seasons. Brownsville IDEA Frontier is advancing its boys squad that captured the District 32-3A championship last month and placed fourth as a team in Class 3A at the Region IV meet Oct. 22 in Corpus Christi.
De La Rosa, a repeat District 32-6A champion, was undefeated in eight meets this season before taking third place individually at the Region IV meet in the Class 6A division.
“I feel great about my season and I feel great about state,” said De La Rosa, who overcame an injury as a junior to regain her winning form during her final season of cross country. “I want to try to finish in the Top 10 at state. My best finish at state before was 37th as a sophomore.
“I feel proud to be able to put the name of Rivera out there,” added De La Rosa, who hopes to sign soon to run next school year in college. “I’m happy to represent Rivera and Brownsville.”
Arturo Hurtado, one of De La Rosa’s coaches at Rivera, said it’s been a pleasure to work with the young runner.
“It’s been great to see her grow up into a beautiful young lady,” said Hurtado, a veteran coach of cross country and track. “I wish her the best at state and in her (college) future.”
The standout Rivera runner said she credits her success to her coaches.
“My coaches have always been there for me,” she said. “Without them, I would have never gotten to this point.”
De La Rosa is scheduled to run at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in the 6A 5-kilometer girls race. The IDEA Frontier boys will run a 5-kilometer race scheduled at 12:40 p.m. for the 3A boys.
“All I ask from these kids is to run with heart and for each other,” IDEA Frontier coach Albert Alanis said. “They’ve put in the work, and now it’s time to cash in. Our best at state has been 10th (as a team), so we’re trying to beat that and break into single digits (in the 3A boys team standings).”
Members of the IDEA Frontier squad are Victor Leos, Jose Mendieta, Irving Chavira, Juan Franco, Christian Lopez, Rafael Torres and Alex Trujillo.
Earlier this week, St. Joseph Academy had boys and girls runners compete in the TAPPS state meet in Waco.