By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
LYFORD — The La Feria boys and girls cross country teams swept the District 32-4A meet Saturday in La Feria, and the Brownsville St. Joseph boys won the TAPPS 5A District 6 title in Corpus Christi.
The Lionettes recorded a team score of 18 to win the district title. Grulla (61 points) advanced to the regional meet as the second-place team. Raymondville (69), Port Isabel (97) and Hidalgo (116) rounded out the field.
Rio Hondo did not have a girls team as it only had four runners, but the Lady Cats’ top finisher, Mia Zuniga, qualified for the regional meet after coming in 10th.
La Feria’s Liana Navarro won the individual title with a time of 12 minutes, 21.8 seconds. Mia Trevino (second), Zaida Manzo (fourth), Leandra Fernandez (fifth) and Lindsey Cantu (sixth) were the other scored runners for the Lionettes. Keira Castillo (seventh) also finished in the top 10 for the Lionettes.
La Feria’s boys team was even more dominant. The Lions won the team title with a score of 15, and Hidalgo (58) took second to advance the team to the regional meet. Grulla (66) was the only other school to field a boys team.
The Lions had all five scored runners cross the finish line consecutively in less than 20 seconds, taking first through fifth place. Seven of the top 10 boys runners were from La Feria. Joshua Marquez won the individual title with a time of 17:18.1. Ethan Torres (second), Ryan Vela (third), Evan Torres (fourth) and Tomas Navarro (fifth) were the other scored runners, and Julian Dominguez (seventh) and Jose Dominquez (ninth) qualified as individuals.
Rio Hondo’s Johnathan Ayala (sixth), Hidalgo’s Mike Banda (eighth) and Raymondville’s Nathaniel Fuentes (10th) advanced to the regional as individuals.
Pedro Cardenas led the Bloodhounds’ boys team to victory with a first-place finish in 15:36.06. SJA coach Teddy Lopez said he was told by the meet’s host that Cardenas “is the first high school boy ever to break 16 (minutes) on that three-mile course.”
Alejandro Ramirez (third), Jorge Albores (fourth), Emilio Garcia (10th) and Javier Garcia (13th) contributed to the Bloodhounds’ winning team score of 31.
“Pedro has improved so much this last year. He’s been in a situation where there’s a runner from Victoria St. Joe who has been beating him the last two years. Their races are always close,” Lopez said. “In the last quarter of a mile, he was coming up right behind (Cardenas), and he told me, ‘I just thought, with all the work I put in this summer, it’s not going to happen. I’m not going to let him beat me.’ He ended up beating that kid by 25 meters.
“The boys ran fantastic. I’m so proud of them and the work they’ve been putting in,” he added. “I’m proud of our girls and the way they battled. They ran their hearts out.”
St. Joseph’s girls team was third with a score of 49. Isabella Douglas finished fourth and was the fasted SJA girls runner with a time of 14:09.68. Amanda Hinojosa (eighth), Emma Gonzalez (10th), Valeria Cavazos (13th) and Alejandra Gonzalez (15th) were also scored. Lopez said assistant coaches Michael Schlater and Louie Tijerina “deserve much of the credit” for the solid performances by all SJA runners.
Santa Maria competed in the District 32-2A meet, where the girls team finished third and just missed qualifying for the regional meet as a group. But freshman Mia Picazo was the district runner-up to advance to the regional meet. White said Picazo’s goal for the week was to break 13 minutes, and she achieved it.
The Harlingen High boys and girls teams both won the team titles in the second session of the BISD Invitational. Harlingen High, Harlingen South, Brownsville Hanna, Brownsville Veterans Memorial, Weslaco High, Donna High and McAllen Rowe competed in the second session.
Geovany Cisneros (third), Abel Montante (sixth), Dominic Luna (eighth), Ivan Montante (ninth) and Carlos Marchand (12th) contributed to the boys team win. Hanna’s John Abrego finished second behind Donna High’s Kevin Hernandez, and Harlingen South’s Pedro Cervantes was seventh.
Donna High (66) was the second-place boys team, followed by Hanna (71), Brownsville Veterans (117), McAllen Rowe (128), Weslaco High (134) and Harlingen South (157).
Victoria Scarberry (second), Ayianna Olivas (fifth), Annabel Reyes (seventh), Stephanie Suarez (18th) and Rebeca Garcia (21st) contributed to the girls team’s winning score of 53. Weslaco High’s Amity Ebarb was the first-place girls finisher, and Harlingen South’s Aliyah Fonseca was third.
Brownsville Veterans (61) was the second-place girls team, followed by Harlingen South (66), McAllen Rowe (85), Weslaco High (86) and Donna High (179).
San Benito’s boys team won the Dog Pound Invitational held in San Benito with a team score of 23, followed by Los Fresnos (39). Greyhounds runners Roy Gomez and Marcos Salinas finished first and second, respectively. Isaac Rodriguez (fifth), Nicolas Robles (sixth) and Adan Pina (ninth) were also scored.
San Benito’s Denandra Ibarra won the girls race and was the only Lady Greyhounds runner. Donna North was the top girls team with a score of 31, followed by Los Fresnos (34). Jasmine Ponce was the top Lady Falcons finisher and came in second.