NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR
Elite runners did elite things Friday morning at the District 31-6A cross country meet at Edinburg’s Ebony Golf Course.
Edinburg North’s Tristan Pena finished the boys race first with a time of 15:54.9 after coming in 10th a season ago. He finished ahead of last year’s winner, Cruz Gomez from PSJA Memorial, who posted a 16:11.6 on Friday.
Pena was happy with his gold-medal performance and also pleased that his brother, sophomore Aaron Pena, ran a personal record 16:52.6 to earn seventh place.
Tristan gave his brother a stern talk to motivate him, and it seemed to pay off.
“I always knew he could do it. In the earlier meets, he never really tried,” Pena said. “I told him, ‘You have to do it. This is our genes. You have to use your talent that you’re given and not put it to waste.’ I guess that snapped something inside his head.”
Aaron says the resolution was for him to shadow his brother in training and try to keep up with him on Friday.
“If I could train with him during our practice, I could keep up with him in the race,” Aaron said. “He just told me to make sure I could see him throughout the race.”
Aaron said the strategy led to his fastest first mile and best finish of the season. His development is dangerous news for the rest of 31-6A, which will have to race Aaron even after Tristan graduates this spring.
“We’re going to pick it up a notch. Just a little bit, not too much, just to maintain,” Tristan Pena said. “Maybe put a little bit more speed work.”
Edinburg Vela’s Mario Salas, Ramsey Moreno and Alex Nieto finished in third through fifth place, helping the SaberCats claim the team district title. Vela’s score of 31 beat Edinburg North’s 62 and PSJA Memorial’s 81.
Edinburg North’s Ariana Beth Ramos won the girls race by 59 seconds with a time of 19:01.8. Ramos is one of the most dominant runners in the RGV, but her final high school season has been hampered by injury.
“It’s my last district. I’m a senior, so it feels good to win this meet,” Ramos said. “I’ve been having shin splints, so I couldn’t train consistently, so I didn’t want to go all-out in this race. I really wanted to compete. I like to push myself, even if I’m by myself, but for today I just wanted to play it safe and not get hurt.”
Winning by such a large margin despite a cautious approach may seem absurd, but her time at last year’s district meet was almost 50 seconds faster than the mark she posted Friday.
Her win was impressive, but she knows she must pick it up to reach her goal of placing at state. Last year, she finished 24th with an 18:31.9.
She said that Friday’s race was a step, but not where she wants to be yet. She’ll have until Oct. 23 to rev it up for regional competition in Corpus Christi.
“I’m behind. I need to catch up,” Ramos said. “I’m going to pray and hope I get healed.”
Economedes won the girls team championship, ahead of PSJA North and Edinburg North. Jaguars coach Brenda Lozano said her team had to battle adversity off the course, which made the day even sweeter.
“After all this, all that we have worked for, we’re just really thankful to God for that, and also our hard work really paid off in the end,” Lozano said. “We’ve had our ups and downs, but we have really rose to the top.”
For Economedes, Mayra Bernardo finished second with a 20:00.5 and Teresa Castillo finished in fifth place with a 20:38.1. Liliana Perez placed third, with a 20:11.2, to round out the podium.