By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — A day at the beach proved quite eventful for Rachel Ysaguirre of Brownsville Veterans Memorial and Jose Aleman of Sharyland Pioneer, as each of them captured an individual title at Saturday’s Port Isabel cross country meet.
Runners in the varsity races followed a course 1.5 miles up the beach at Andy Bowie Park, made the turn and raced back to the finish line.
Ysaguirre, a senior, won the girls 3-mile race in 21 minutes, 14.55 seconds, while Aleman, a junior, covered the same distance to take first place in the boys race in 17:45.80. It was the first time for each runner to win an individual title at a meet this season.
Ysaguirre said she dedicated her victory to Tom Morton, her grandfather, who passed away last week at age 64 due to cancer. Up until he died, Morton served as athletic director at Marine Military Academy in Harlingen and previously was the head football coach at MMA and Los Fresnos.
“It feels good (to win), but I just hope to do better because I’m not on my ‘A-game’ yet,” said Ysaguirre, who like Aleman took the lead before the turnaround point halfway through the race and did not relinquish it. “This was ‘B-plus.’ I can do a lot better.”
Ysaguirre crossed the finish line more than half a minute ahead of second-place finisher Monica Yanez of Valley View (21:49). Brownsville Veterans’ Paola Villarreal was third (22:16), Maya Price of Harlingen South was fourth (22:25.38) and Denise Loredo of Laredo Cigarroa was fifth (22:33.38).
Aleman also took the lead before the halfway point of his 3-mile race and cruised in a full 10-plus seconds ahead of second-place finisher Vicente Franco of McAllen Rowe (17:56.47). Simei Tovar of Pace (18:04.73) and Julio Chavez of Porter (18:08.70) came in third and fourth, respectively. Juan Castellanos of South was fifth (18:10.81).
“I was concerned because I was going into my race with an injury, but I still felt confident that I would do my best and that whatever was going to happen would happen,” Aleman said of the tightness he was experiencing in one of his legs. “I hadn’t ever really run a race like this on the beach before, only for practice.
“It took me a little while (to take the lead), because I didn’t want to start off too fast so my calf (muscle) wouldn’t get worse,” he added. “I just started by running a good pace and by picking it up gradually. I got to the lead after about three-quarters (of a mile). I finished the last half (of the race) by myself (alone in the lead). It feels awesome (to win), and it’s a pretty good accomplishment.
“Winning gives me confidence, but I looked at my mile splits and they were really off because I was trying something new (with my running strategy). I’m excited for the rest of the season because I feel I have a really good chance to make it to regionals and maybe even state. I’m just hoping for the best.”
Actually, it was a very good day for the Brownsville Veterans runners as the girls and boys both emerged as team champions.
The Lady Chargers finished with 43 points to edge Valley View with 44 points for the girls team crown. Besides Ysaguirre and Villarreal, teammates Cassie Gonzalez (12th), Jordan Rudd (13th), Reeanna Zamfir (14th) and Hayley Allen (20th) all finished in the top 20.
The Brownsville Veterans boys, led by the sixth-place finish of Beto Aguillon, took first with 63 points. Other Chargers contributing to the team victory were Andrew Garcia (eighth), Jesus Gomez (13th), Eddie Guzman (17th) and Luis Ramirez (19th).
Sharyland Pioneer’s boys were second with 90 points and Rowe was third with 112.