By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Step by step, IDEA Frontier of Brownsville is building up its athletic program.
While the Chargers field teams in volleyball, basketball, soccer and track, the sport that has brought the school its most success to date is cross country.
The IDEA Frontier boys dominated the District 32-3A cross country meet Oct. 17 to qualify for Monday’s Region IV competition in Corpus Christi. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is the host of the UIL regional meet, which will be staged at the recently opened Dr. Jack Dugan Family Soccer & Track Stadium and the facility’s surrounding grounds.
At district, the Chargers won the boys title for the second straight year with 21 points, and Lyford was a distant second with 60.
IDEA’s top seven runners were among the first 11 finishers at their district meet. They were Jesus Garcia (second), Arturo Gutierrez (third), Cristian Davila (fourth), Kevin Sanchez (fifth), Jose Quintero (seventh), Irving Chavirra (10th) and Daniel Ramirez (11th).
IDEA had a regional qualifier for the girls as well. Sabrina Garcia took third at the 32-3A meet.
The top four boys and girls teams in each division at the regional meet, along with the top 10 individual finishers not on a qualifying team, earn a trip to the UIL state meet Nov. 7 in Round Rock.
The goal for the Chargers is going to state.
“It’s definitely taken a lot of hard work, but I’ve seen this great group of kids become athletes,” said Gutierrez, a senior. “It’s amazing. I just want to push these guys to get better and push myself as well. I’ve been on this team for a while now, so I want the best for us. I want us to go to state, and I feel we deserve it.”
Added Sanchez, a freshman, “It was great news hearing that we got first again at district. Being on this team has been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I couldn’t ask for anything else. I used to look at these guys (just) as my teammates, and now they’re more like family to me.”
Davila, a sophomore, said, “We’re just leaving it in God’s hands. Hopefully He’ll return the favor and help us get to state. At the end of it all, we’re running with our hearts, not our legs.”
IDEA coach Albert Alanis said the team worked hard on its own throughout the summer to reach this point.
“The No. 1 thing that is helping us do well is commitment,” said Alanis, who is assisted by Joshua Lumley. “We had a meeting last April after track season to see who would be interested in running cross country. More than 40 kids showed up. We talked about commitment and how success (in our sport) starts in the summer. We challenged them to log 300 miles (of running) during the summer, and sure enough, most of them did it.
“When I got them the first day (of fall practice), we didn’t have to start at Square 1,” Alanis added. “We got better this year because our runners did their summer work.”
Along with the IDEA runners, the Metro area will be well-represented at Monday’s Region IV meet.
At the District 32-6A meet Oct. 16 in San Benito, for the boys, Rivera, Hanna and Harlingen High finished first, second and third, respectively, to qualify for regional competition. For the girls, it was Hanna, Brownsville Veterans Memorial and Los Fresnos earning trips to the regional as the top three teams.
The Rivera boys, who advanced to state for the first time one year ago, were led at district by Anthony Garza, Jonathan Herrera, Raul Caslano and Emmanuel Guerrero. They finished in the top four places. The Raiders won district decisively with 22 points compared to 78 for runner-up Hanna.
Rivera’s Andrea De La Rosa and Jennifer Lopez took first and second in the girls race at district, and Hanna’s Sydney Salazar came in third.
Along with De La Rosa and Lopez, there are some other Metro-area runners advancing individually to regional competition. They include Porter’s Gerardo Perez in Class 5A and Port Isabel’s Gabby Torres in Class 4A.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.