By MARK MOLINA | STAFF WRITER
The race for state was on this morning at the Region IV cross country meet on the grounds of Texas A&M Corpus Christi’s Dugan Stadium.
Among the schools and athletes vying for a spot in the UIL state meet is a large contingent of metro-area teams.
In Class 6A, the Hanna girls and boys teams will look to keep their momentum going following second- and third-place finishes, respectively, at the District 32-6A meets last week.
The runners go in on 10 days rest and may have to deal with different weather conditions, but Hanna head coach Olaya Teran doesn’t believe the odd schedule, nor the possible cooler, wetter atmosphere should be an issue.
“We’re just trying to get used to it right now, having to run on a Monday, but they should be okay,” Teran said. “It’s getting cooler up here, but it’s going to be muddy and rainy for everyone if it rains a lot. Hopefully it doesn’t that much, but it’s still going to be the same for everybody.”
The Hanna girls placed two in the top 10 at district, starting with Cecilia Tellez who placed fourth after finishing the 5-kilometer course in 20 minutes, 24.7 seconds, followed by Shannon Perez, who came in sixth with a time of 20:35.5.
The course’s terrain will present some issues for runners, which is a big reason Tellez spent the week working on her conditioning and is going in confident.
“This week, I tried to get a lot of my mileage in,” Tellez said. “It’s a very long course for me because I’m not used to the incline and it’s always very muddy (on the Corpus Christi course). I always like to (aim for the top spot). I don’t like to put myself in there already, but I consider every race a fresh start so that I can try to get to that top spot.”
On the boys side, Leonel Pena hopes to bounce back after finishing 11th at district.
“At district, I felt unfamiliar with the race because i didn’t go to the two previous meets,” Pena said. “I know I run a lot, but I still feel that the other runners had an advantage over me. In practice (this week), I went harder than I have any other week, but I feel really confident. Right now, my legs are killing me but hopefully a little ice bath will cure that (by race time). I’m looking to stick with the top guys.”
The Rivera Raiders also will be looking to punch tickets to state as they send a small group of runners to Corpus Christi this morning.
Most notably will be Andrea de la Rosa, who will look to keep her dominant season going after becoming a three-time district champion after winning last week’s meet with a time of 19:28.
De la Rosa is comfortable going into this morning’s race, having already tasted victory on the TAMUCC course at this year’ Islander Splash invitational.
She hopes she can parlay that familiarity into more success.
“I’m excited and pretty nervous, but what I think is going to help me is me knowing the course,” de la Rosa. “I have to be really patient. I don’t have a plan, but I just know I have to be really patient — we have been training really hard this whole week.”
Also representing the Lady Raiders will be Bethany Guzman, who finished ninth at the district meet.
For the boys, Ruben Chapa will lead the Raiders after he finished in fifth at district with a time of 16:16.3. Teammate Christian Zalazar will be joining Chapa after an eighth-place finish at district.
Class 5A
The Porter Cowboys just missed out as a team at the District 32-5A meet last week, placing fourth with 87 points, just shy of third-place Donna High (86).
But their top three runners just made the cut as Jesus Delgadillo, Sherard Anabwani and Balmoris Deodanes placed eight, ninth and 10th, respectively.
Others representing District 32-5A are Lopez’s Ricky Cuvillier, who made the cut after a fifth-place finish. For the girls, Brownsville Veterans Memorial’s Valeria Gamez and Porter’s Estrella Medelin will join the fray after sixth and seventh-place finishes, respectively, at district.
Class 3A
The IDEA Frontier boys and girls teams are riding high after both squads took home the District 32-3A championships back on Oct. 7th.
The Frontier girls were led by Sabrina Garcia’s second-place finish, but also had Ashley Mascorro and Marissa Gonzalez finish fifth and sixth, respectively.
Garcia went to the state meet last year and finished 17th overall.
The Frontier boys had four finish in the top 10 with Victor Leos, Jose Mendieta and Cristian Davila placing third, fourth and fifth.
Diego Alfaro finished ninth.