Edinburg Economedes cross-country head coach Brenda Lozano was hoping that, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, her girls team would be “just competitive” this year.
Led by junior Dianett Garcia’s first-place finish, the Jaguars won their second straight District 31-6A championship and fourth in the seven years with Lozano at the helm.
Economedes placed five runners in the top 10 to finish with 47 points Thursday at Ebony Hills Golf Course in Edinburg, beating out second-place Edinburg North, which finished second with 66 points. The two teams, along with the top 10, will advance to the regional meet Tuesday, Nov. 9, at Texas A&M Corpus-Christi.
Economedes made it a clean sweep as the boys also won its district title, placing three runners in the top 10 and five in the top 15 en route to collecting 48 points and outdistancing Edinburg Vela with 57 points. Economedes, Vela and the top 10 individual finishers will advance to the Nov. 9 regional meet.
As expected, Mission High’s Rogelio Aguirre and PSJA North’s Hector Solis finished first and second for the boys. Aguirre completed the course in 15 minutes, 54.60 seconds, while Solis came in at 16:02.40.
Lozano said that Garcia’s performance was especially impressive considering how little time Rio Grande Valley teams had to prepare for the fast-approaching postseason.
“We had only three-and-a-half weeks to practice,” Lozano said. “We didn’t really get a chance to train this week either, so I’m pretty pleased with the girls.”
Despite an obstacle-filled and late-starting season, Garcia was only a second off her personal-best time, setting that mark just a week ago in Rio Grande City.
“She just took it and ran on her own,” Lozano said. “She would go run with the boys at the park and try to stay around the kids who were running. These kids faced adversity, they stayed at home and some couldn’t even go outside. Then, suddenly, it was an eye-opener that we were still going to have a season.”
Six girls from different schools finished in the top eight. Only Economedes with Garcia and sophomore Francesca Alvarado, and Edinburg North with sophomores Maddison Surita and San Juanita Leal, had multiple finisher in the top eight. Lozano said that showed how competitive the meet was.
“We had five girls in the top 10 (in times) going this year but girls from the other teams showed how hungry they were as well,” Lozano said. “Our girls knew they were ranked first, but they still had to clinch it.”
When Roman Morin took over the boys cross country program at Economedes, the Jaguars — a freshman-heavy squad — finished last in the district meet at the end of that season. Morin said that was the day they decided they didn’t want to be in the spot again.
“They made a goal that day and they wanted to succeed,” Morin said. “They knew they were talented and they didn’t have a great outing that day, but they have been committed and dedicated since then and two years later found some success.”
Junior Esteban Avila paced the Jaguars in 16:49.60 to finish fourth overall. The next four runners —freshman Jesus H. Rodriguez and juniors Joel Garcia, Jorge Laredo and Heriberto Gonzalez finished ninth, 11th, 14th and 16th, respectively.
“Last year, we didn’t do well either — in sixth (place) — due to injuries and just the performance wasn’t there,” Morin said. “But we knew we had the talent and this year we had the right pieces. They are all extremely excited.”