By MARK MOLINA | STAFF WRITER
In 2015, the IDEA Frontier Chargers boys cross country team was a senior-laden team that placed second at the regional meet and 10th at state.
It was the best regionals finish in the program’s short history, that is, until this season when the team finished second.
The program’s continued success is due in large part to the team’s foundation, which was built from the ground up by head coach Albert Alanis, who has coached the Chargers for six seasons since the program joined the UIL.
“When I started coaching, we had three kids in the program — a couple of guy runners and a girl,” he said. “We went through hard knocks where we were dead last.”
The program’s answer to a turnaround was simple: Start the runners early.
Now, the Chargers’ success stems from the program’s ability to harness talent at a younger age with the IDEA Frontier elementary to middle schools in close proximity to the high school.
“You start to realize you need like a farm system and what a place to have it; I have kindergarten through 12th here,” Alanis said. “We started talking to kids about running, implementing it to P.E. class and looking for kids who like to run. We’re feeding kids into our own high school. We knew if we can implement that while they’re young, they could be great runners for us.”
Just a few seasons later, the program has churned out the young core it has now, which consists of freshman Victor Leos, sophomores Jose Mendietta, Diego Alfarro, Josue Sixto, juniors Irving Chavira, Alex Trujillo and lone senior Cristian Davila.
It’s a far cry from the 2015 team in that it is led by a young core consisting of mostly seniors.
Davila was just a sophomore when a senior-laden Chargers team finished third at the regional meet to qualify for the program’s first-ever state meet. However, instead of being the team’s top runner, he has taken on the role of inspirational leader this year because of injuries and nagging shin splints. With a strong group of young runners, however, Davila has been happy to play the role of mentor.
“This feels great because the first time we made it to state, it was the other way around in that I was one of the youngest and there were four seniors on the team,” Davila said. “Our team took a step back last year, placing eighth at region. This year, most of my teammates are in their first or second year and it went better. My role as a senior, especially with a young team, is to help develop their leadership skills and push them on and off the field.
“It’s special that a young team was able to make it to state and I get to finish my high school career there because of them.”
Alanis said that Davila, who finished fourth among the team at regionals with a time of 18 minutes, 41.3 seconds (38th overall), has used his experience as a sophomore to bring the team along.
“He was a young buck as a sophomore, so he has played that role,” Alanis said. “That team was a family group, so he got that sense of what it takes to go there. He might have felt that disconnect his junior year with runners running as individuals, but now he has brought that family feel back and has built that teamwork in the group. He’s made sure to talk about family, togetherness, making sure the young kids are sleeping and eating right.
“I’ve seen him grow into that role even though he’s been injured this year.”
Emerging as the team’s top runner this year has been Leos, who finished 17th at regionals with a time of 17:53.4. He credits much of his success to the team’s ability to believe in Davila’s team-first mentality.
“When I came here, he was the top runner and I wanted to be like him one day as I watched him finish first and go hard in practice every day,” Leos said of Davila. “He’s always pushed me ever since Day 1 and he’s gotten me to be the top freshman. He’s more than just a teammate, he’s a friend, family and he means a lot. The journey was hard, but as we started to build up, saw our times increase and we were together mostly, we started to think we could do it.
“Everyday we started to push more until we were all within the same time. We were all pushing each other to the end.”
Davila said he will give everything he has to continue to set an example like he has done all season, but the true honor has been watching this team excel and give the program a bright future.
“When we first went to state, I thought it was the Dream Team and now, two years later, we made it to state and we topped even better at regions,” Davila said. “It shows the progress in the sport here at IDEA. I know that when I come back in a couple of years to check it out from (holiday) breaks, they’ll have runners all averaging 17-minute 5Ks.”
The Chargers will race at 2 p.m. Saturday morning at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.
GARCIA’S CURTAIN CALL
Sabrina Garcia will represent the Brownsville Frontier Lady Chargers Saturday as she competes in her third consecutive state meet.
As a sophomore, Garcia finished 93rd and then 17th as a junior.
She hopes to continue to trend up and crack the top 10, and she believes she can do it after stepping up her summer training.
“My coach did tell me to run this summer, but it’s been hard to do that since there are so many streets around here and I live near the border,” she said. “I went to Austin and started running. I was better conditioned when I came back… that’s the biggest difference. Top 10 is my goal and I’m actually pushing myself until I collapse or until my legs die out.”
Aside from family, friends and her senior class planning to go watch her, Garcia said she will be motivated by those she is leaving behind after graduation.
“The fact that I’ve been running for such a long time, and now that I’m going leave the team and my coach is just motivation for me to keep moving with my running career in college,” Garcia said. “They have brought so much motivation for me and it’s been a big factor in my life.”