HARLINGEN — Brownsville Veterans Memorial junior Naia Gracia once ran a Thanksgiving 5K in jeans and poorly fitted shoes during the fourth grade. Despite signing up at the last minute — and her attire — she won.
Now, Gracia is a two-time District 32-5A girls individual cross country champion. The junior’s time of 18 minutes, 22.2 seconds bested teammate Itzel Rodriguez’s 18:26.5 and Harlingen South’s Alexis Fonseca’s 18:59.7 on Thursday at the Harlingen Sports Park.
“Tired, exhausted, happy, proud,” is how Gracia described herself following the race.
The junior returns to the UIL Region IV championship where, as a sophomore, she finished ninth to qualify for the Class 5A state championship.
“She has shown some great things this year,” Brownsville Veterans cross country head coach Jorge Medina said. “She is running really well, leading the team.”
Gracia and Rodriguez, a freshman, set the pace for the race, finishing the first portion of it together as coaches shouted instructions and encouragement. The Brownsville Veterans runners fell just short as a team, losing out to the Harlingen South Hawks.
The Hawks finished with 36 points from five runners. Alexis Fonseca was in third, Arianna Rodriguez in fifth, Aliyah Fonseca in sixth, Jessica Deleon in 10th and Sophia Jimenez in 12th.
Weslaco East joins Brownsville Veterans and Harlingen South to qualify for the regional meet. Edcouch-Elsa’s Rebecca Davila and Miranda Guerrero qualified as individuals. The top three teams and top 10 individuals qualify for the regional meet.
Weslaco East’s Aaron Nava won the boys individual district title.
The freshman finished the race with a time of 16:09.0, beating Donna North’s Benjamin Rubio by 20 seconds.
“I feel happy with it,” Nava said. “The course was pretty good, it was a little humid. During the second lap, breathing was getting a little hard. I am really happy with my run today. It is not a personal record, but first place is all that matters in these types of races.”
Donna North picked up the District 32-5A team title, finishing with five runners in the top 11. The Chiefs compiled 36 points from Rubio in second, Melvin Gomez in fifth, Ricardo Chacon in eighth, Marc Corpus in 10th and Jacob Moreno in 11th.
Weslaco East ended with 53 points in second place and Edcouch-Elsa picked up 92 points for third place. Brownsville Veterans’ Nicholas Sullins and Harlingen South’s Alejandro Hinojosa qualified for the regional meet as individuals.
The Class 5A UIL Regional meet is at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock.