STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer
The La Feria boys team and six individual qualifiers will be representing the East Valley and competing at the University Interscholastic League state meet Saturday at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.
Hanna’s John Abrego will be looking to leverage his past success at the McNeil Invitational on the same course on Sept. 28, where he ran the 5,000 meter race 16 minutes, 08.20 seconds.
San Benito senior Joaquin Medina was sixth in the Class 6A boys regional championship 5K race with a time of 16:02.49, or 5:10 per mile.
Abrego, a sophomore, earned the second-to-last 6A state qualifying spot by running a 16:22.27 and placing 16th in Corpus Christi.
“It’s a very challenging course, it’s probably the toughest course that they’re going to run,” Hanna coach Olaya Teran said. “He’s been running it since last year, so he knows what the course looks like.”
Teran said the course’s layout this year, which features 10 relatively sharp turns, has changed from the 2018 course, but Abrego’s familiarity with it should help him in Saturday’s competition.
The La Feria boys placed third at the Region IV championship meet in Corpus Christi on Oct. 28. The Lions were led by senior Santos Botello, who ran a 17:16.44 5K and finished 15th overall. La Feria finished 12th at state as a team in 2018.
The Lionettes will send their top runner, Marina Villanueva, who placed sixth in the 4A 3,200-meter race with a time of 12:17.30. At the state meet in 2017, Villanueva ran a 13:22.29 as a freshman, followed by a 12:50.72 in the 3,200 meter distance as a sophomore last season.
In Class 5A, Mercedes’ top runner, senior Guadalupe Reyes, placed 15th at the state meet in 2018 with a 5K time of 15:39.48, or a 5:01 mile pace.
Brownsville IDEA Frontier’s Victor Leos was the lone state qualifier from the East Valley in the boys division in Class 3A. The junior finished 15th overall and punched his ticket to Round Rock by clocking in with a 17:56.37 5K. As a freshman, Leos ran a 17:42.19 at the state meet, and followed that with 27th place overall finish in 17 minutes flat at Round Rock in 2018.
Chargers coach Albert Alanis said the focus for his runners in postseason meets is less on mileage and more on time, an inverse of the approach at the beginning when runners need to build up a base of high mileage.
“By hitting their times on a daily basis, their confidence goes up,” Alanis said. “And that helps tremendously in these big meets.”
Santa Rosa’s Desiree Guerra qualified as an individual in the 3A girls division with a time of 12:45.20 in the 3,200-meter distance that earned her an 11th place finish at the regional meet.
Guerra recorded a time of 13:26.02 at the state meet in 2017 as a sophomore.
“Really we’ve just been working on her mileage and speed,” Santa Rosa coach Larissa Hernandez said. “Figuring out how to find her place and being smart with her running. … This year she wants to be able to beat her time and place. All she really wants to do is run her best and hardest since it is her last year.”
The UIL state cross country meet is scheduled for Nov. 9 at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.
The Class 3A girls 3,200 meter race is scheduled to start at 10:50 AM, followed by the 3A boys 5K at 11:20 AM. The Class 4A girls 3,200 meter race is set to start at noon, followed by the Class 4A boys 5K at 12:30 p.m. The Class 5A boys 5K is slated for a 1:50 p.m. start, and the final event of the day is the Class 6A boys 5K at 3:10 p.m.
A complete schedule is available on the UIL website.
La Feria boys coach Joe Martinez, La Feria girls coach Graciela Campos, and San Benito boys coach Mark Buddle could not be reached for comment.