PROGRESO — If there’s such thing as destined to succeed, the Progreso Red Ants cross country team is a real-life example. This memorable season is almost a decade in the making, and it’s not over yet.
2017 was set to be a great year for Progreso cross country about seven years ago, when the current group of Red Ants seniors was in seventh grade and coach Margarito Jimenez was licking his chops at the potential of the group destined to take the team to new heights.
“I told the kids, ‘One day, you’re going to take us to state. Once we get there, it’s up to you to decide what place you want to be in.’ Since day one this year, they told me, ‘We want to go back to state and do something special,’” coach Margarito Jimenez said.
The cross country team has been on the same meteoric rise as the soccer team, with both making consecutive trips to state. That may be due to some of the overlap between runners and soccer players — many compete in both, and both programs are under the helm of coach Jimenez.
“The team is coming on strong,” Everardo Esparza said. “We’re coming in a little confident, not too confident. We’re just going in, and we’re going to show up and do what we know how to do best. Hopefully, we go and prove something out there and bring back some hardware.”
After back-to-back team regional championships the past two seasons, Esparza seems calm and ready for this weekend’s state race at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.
The boys will want to improve on their sixth-place finish from a season ago. Esparza is the right person to look toward when aiming for improvement. He’s been on a consistent path since his freshman season, getting faster as his career progressed.
As a freshman, his top 5,000-meter time was 17 minutes and 7 seconds. The next season, he hovered around the same time but improved his finish at state from 55th to 36th.
As a junior, Esparza saved his best run of the season for the 4A state meet and used a 16:28.6 to earn a 14th-place finish. This year, he’s already hit his PR (16:14.1) and ran close to his state time last race out.
The team’s top runner didn’t get to that spot overnight. He was a part of the soccer team but stepped away from the pitch as a junior to focus on the track.
“Ever is where he’s at because he worked for it,” senior teammate Anthony Vasquez said. “And out of nowhere, he just became the biggest runner.”
Esparza received a pair of shoes and got to run with the high school team as an eighth-grader, and the wheels of destiny were set into motion.
“We knew the potential the team would have and the gravity of the experience they would learn from us,” Esparza said.
He is right about the team getting better. In his first two seasons, he qualified for state as an individual. Now, it’s the second time he’s bringing the whole squad.
“It feels pretty good to have a team that’s been together for four years already,” Red Ants senior Omar Anguiano said. “I feel confident for my team that this might be our year to do something in state. To bring something back to Progreso, something that Progreso has never done before.”
Having three runners place in the top five at regionals does tend to create excitement. Anguiano placed fifth at the regional meet Oct. 23 in Corpus Christi.
Anguiano is a centerpiece on the Red Ants soccer team, and his approach to seemingly individual sport is to think of it as a team game. Unlike most teams, Progreso has consistently had multiple runners finish near the front of the pack.
“Well the key is just to stay together and run a strong race, talk to each other the day before the race,” Anguiano said.
In recent years, Progreso has been grabbing headlines for its soccer teams, but Jimenez has been sure to keep the kids locked in during the cross country season, even if they’re a part of both groups.
“The success we’ve had in the past is due to the support that we get from the entire town,” Jimenez said. “The kids know when they come to Progreso High and they want to try out for the cross country team, hard work is expected of them, and discipline. Once you get those two things together, you can do wonders with them.”
Vasquez, who finished fourth at regionals with a 16:54.4, echoed the appreciation of support from the tight-knit community.
“Whenever we run in the streets, they’re always honking at us and everything,” Vasquez said. “And I’m part of the soccer team too so it’s great, it’s motivation.”
Vasquez will join many of his cross country teammates as soon as the season ends and start training for Progreso’s soccer season. But the focus will not waver, and that is something Jimenez will make sure of.
“To me, he’s like a father. Like a second dad,” Vasquez said.