By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
With the most important meets of the season still ahead, it appears Brownsville Veterans Memorial is enjoying one of its best showings in cross country in the school’s brief history.
An indication of the Chargers’ potential to do well came last Saturday on South Padre Island when the Brownsville Veterans boys and girls captured team championships at the Port Isabel meet. They ran 3-mile races on the beach in the varsity division.
The Brownsville Veterans runners will have another chance to shine Saturday at the annual Brownsville ISD meet at Brownsville Sports Park.
Chargers coach Jorge Medina, now in his fifth season directing the team, said he has a talented group of girls and a hard-working squad of boys.
“It’s just a pleasure to work with hard-working kids,” said Medina, whose assistant coaches are Alberto Vasquez and Connie Uribe Solis. “It makes your job fun to do when you work with kids like that. I appreciate them.”
Top runners for the boys include Beto Aguillon, Andrew Garcia, Jesus Gomez, Eddie Guzman and Luis Ramirez. All five of them finished in the top 20 individually at the Port Isabel meet to help the Chargers win the varsity boys team title with 63 points, well ahead of runner-up Sharyland Pioneer with 90.
“Being a part of this team is something I’m very proud of,” said Guzman, a senior. “I love these guys. I’ve been running with most of them since I was a sophomore, so I feel pretty good about this team, and I’m pretty sure we can make it to the regional meet and hopefully state, too. We just need to try hard and keep working like we’ve been working.”
Added Aguillon, a junior who led the Chargers by coming in sixth at Saturday’s meet, “I really like that our team is very dedicated. We’re out here in the hot sun (practicing) every day. We never take a day off. Even though it’s hard and it’s tough, you see all of us out here running and trying our hardest. We wake up at 5:30 in the morning so we can be here to run at 6 and then we work out after school, too. I’m very confident about this team, and I’m pretty sure we can make it to regionals.”
Two other boys making strong contributions to the team are Gabriel Leal and Camilo Calleja.
“We’re trying our best, and we’re helping each other get better,” said Ramirez, a senior. “We have a lot of potential. I think we can make it to regionals if we try our best.”
The main runners for the Lady Chargers are Rachel Ysaguirre, Paola Villarreal, Cassie Gonzalez, Jordan Rudd, Reeanna Zamfir and Hayley Allen.
Led by Ysaguirre, who was the winner of Saturday’s race, and Villarreal, who came in third, all six girls placed in the top 20. They edged Valley View 43 to 44 for the varsity girls team title.
“I think we’re competitive enough to push each other but still close enough to be a family, and I like that about my team,” said Gonzalez, a junior. “We had a rough start (to the season), but I think we’re getting back to it now and we have full potential to be District (32-6A) champions. We come out here every day, and we’re working for the championship.”
Added Isaguirre, a senior, “Our team has a good attitude and we’re having fun together. We’re competitive with each other and we push each other, which is a good thing.
“I expect us to keep finishing in the top 20 and top 10 (individually), and by the district meet (on Oct. 17) we should all be peaking, and I think we can get first,” she added. “I just hope we all do our best, keep pushing and keep coming out on top like we’ve been doing.”