Led by seniors Lorenzo Castaneda and Orser Rodriguez, who won the District 32-6A individual title in 2014, the Cardinals advanced to regionals and ran to a respectable 12th-place finish.
But with Castaneda and Rodriguez graduating in the offseason, and this year’s varsity squad consisting of four sophomores, a freshman and just one senior, the chances of the team making a return trip to regionals seemed a bit unlikely.
Well, maybe to everyone except the team itself.
Despite the bevy of youth, the Cardinals finished third at this year’s district meet and qualified for a return trip to regionals, which will be run Monday on the campus of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
One thing that worked in favor of the Cardinals this season is that while the majority of the team may be young, three members of the squad were part of last year’s regional-qualifying group.
Edward Ramos and Fernando Escovar, who were both freshmen in 2014, along with Adrian Hernandez, who was a junior last year, all came into this season with experience under their belts.
That experience paid off this season.
At the district meet a few weeks ago, Ramos led the Cardinals contingent by finishing fifth while Escovar came in 10th.
“We’ve been pushing the pace and training harder,” said Escovar. “We are a young team, but I think as a young team we know that we have more room for improvement and that’s what has helped us get better each meet.”
As an added bonus, sophomore Art Benavides, who had never run cross country before this year, stepped up his game and finished ninth at the 32-6A meet.
“I started off as a sprinter my freshman year and back then Coach (Efran Ambriz) pulled me off to the side and said he thought I had more potential as a long-distance runner,” said Benavides.
“Well, after a while he came to me and said, ‘I don’t want you to run cross country, I’m going to make you run it,’ and I’ve never looked back. It’s been a challenge to run, but my teammates help make me stronger and that’s why we’re successful because we push each other to get better.”
At regionals, the top four teams and the top 10 individuals not on a qualifying team advance to the state meet in Round Rock next month.
Last year, the only Valley team to qualify for state was Brownsville Rivera, which won the District 32-6A meet this season.
And while the Cardinals understand the challenge that lies ahead, they remain optimistic about their chances and look forward to a bright future no matter what happens Monday in Corpus.
“We’re young, but doing pretty good so we’re hoping that maybe at least some of us can qualify for state this year,” said Ramos. “But as a young team, we know that if it’s not our year this time, we’ll be back and by our senior year we’ll be there for sure.”