By STEFAN MODRICH, Staff Writer
CORPUS CHRISTI — After dueling for an entire season, San Benito’s Joaquin Medina and Brownsville Hanna’s John Abrego clashed again at the University Interscholastic League Region IV cross country championship meet Monday on the campus of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
Abrego bested Medina when the pair finished first and second at the District 32-6A championship meet Oct. 11, but it was the top Greyhounds runner who got the better of the leading Golden Eagles runner during the Class 6A boys 5K race, the final event of an action-packed day.
“I was running like I had a vengeance to run,” Medina said. “I just want to thank him for motivating me. That’s why I ran the way I did today. … It was good to run against him.”
Make no mistake — Medina insisted that the hard feelings exist only toward the competition between himself and the clock, and that he and Abrego have a mutual respect that extends beyond their admiration of each other on the course.
“Ever since freshman year, I’ve had that feeling,” Abrego said. “‘Man, I’m going to get this guy. I’m going to pass him up one day.’ And I have (before). It’s something we’ve built where we’ve always congratulated each other after every race and knowing that we will both be successful.”
Medina, a senior, placed sixth with a time of 16:02.49, well ahead of Abrego. The Hanna sophomore squeaked by with the second-to-last state qualifying spot in 16:22.27. Medina said he fell back after leading for the first mile and estimated his pace through two miles was around 9:53, or 4:56 per mile. He added that he felt his approach was well-planned, because the time he gained during the first two-thirds of the race helped offset the losses of the last mile.
Abrego admitted he didn’t envision barely skating by to get to Round Rock, but he was pleased he accomplished his goal nonetheless.
“My goal was to go to state,” Abrego said. “The way I executed it may have not been the way I wanted to. But God has blessed me with so much, and my surrounding community has supported me so much throughout the whole way. My coaches, Brownsville — they have all believed in me.”
Hanna coach Olaya Teran said it was important for Abrego to go into the regional meet with a goal of breaking 16 minutes, because even though he came up short in that regard, he pushed himself past the critical threshold of a sub-16:30 time, which allowed him to earn his spot.
“Each place counts, and that’s what helped him,” Teran said. “I’m really happy for him that he was able to pull it off, because it was super close.”
On the other end of the qualification bubble was Brownsville Veterans Memorial’s Valeria Gamez, who saw a significant dropoff from the time that won her a district title. Finishing in 22nd place and clocking in at 20:29.88 in the girls Class 5A 5K race, the junior missed out on a trip to the state field by two tenths of a second, losing a chance at the final individual bid clinched by La Joya Palmview’s Destiny Quintanilla.
In Class 4A, the La Feria boys maintained the formula that carried them to a second-place finish in District 32-4A behind powerhouse Progreso: running together.
Despite not having a single runner with an average pace better than 5:30 per mile, the Lions (167 points) showed they could hang tough with runner-up Liberty Hill (71 points) and the Region IV Class 4A champion Red Ants (55 points).
Pacing the La Feria boys was senior Santos Botello, who ran the 5K distance in 17:16.44 and placed 15th.
The Lionettes’ leading runner was junior Marina Villanueva, who recorded a time of 12:17.30, good for a sixth-place finish in the 4A 3,200-meter race and a state qualifying spot. She said last year’s experience in the regional meet helped her better prepare this time around.
“I kind of figured out my tactic that I like to use when I’m running,” Villanueva said. “At the end when you can’t feel your legs anymore, that’s when you run faster.”
In the Class 3A boys race, Brownsville IDEA Frontier junior Victor Leos 17:56.37 finished 15th and punched his ticket to Round Rock by qualifying as an individual. Santa Rosa’s Desiree Guerra (who ran a time of 12:45.20 in the 3,200-meter distance) also qualified by placing 11th in the girls race.
The UIL state cross country meet is scheduled for Nov. 9 at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.