By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
It’s early in the cross country season, but teams are already trying to see where they stand.
The Brownsville schools are playing host to the BISD Invitational meet at 8 a.m. today at the BISD Encampment.
The early season meet is open to any team, and many schools across the Rio Grande Valley are expected to compete if the expected weather doesn’t spoil the planned event.
“All of these (meets) are to measure where you’re at,” Brownsville Veterans Memorial coach Jorge Medina said. “To see where you’re at compared to schools in your district and see what you need to do to get an upper hand on them.”
Both the boys and girls teams are anxious to see how they stack up against the other Brownsville schools and the other competing schools.
“We’ve seen almost everybody,” Medina said. “I think (the girls are) OK, we’re working hard and getting after it. The boys are really working really hard, and we’re proud of the way they’re working. Hopefully we’ll get these guys qualified for regionals.”
The meet also is a warmup for the RGVCCCA Meet of Champions next week in Edinburg.
Rivera, which had runners who qualified for state last year, is expected to compete. The Raiders are focused on improving week by week and have several opportunities to do so until the district meet in October in San Benito.
“We want to improve every week. We hope to finish first, second and third (in each meet),” Rivera coach Arturo Hurtado said. “It should be pretty good competition, some of the best programs in the Valley (should be there).”
Porter returns with Gerardo Perez, who qualified for the regional last year. Porter coach Clemente Delgado is looking to find the right team around Perez.
“Right now we are still putting a supporting cast for Gerardo Perez,” he said. “I’m looking forward to watching Rivera against some of the Upper Valley teams, if they show. Hopefully the rain will stay away where we can have a competitive meet.”
Hanna returns four boys and four girls who ran at the varsity level last year. And they are just starting to get back into the groove with training.
“We still need a lot of work,” Hanna coach Olaya Teran said. “We’re trying to measure where we’re at and see who’s going to get those varsity spots. It’s a work in progress.”
The Golden Eagles are excited about the meet as well, since several competitors from District 32-6A are expected to be participating.
“We’ve looked at who’s up there. A lot of the teams competing are in our district,” Teran said. “It’s going to be a good meet.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.
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