BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
Despite humid conditions on an already slow course for the Region IV races, Edinburg North junior Beth Ramos cruised to the Class 6A girls regional cross country championship on Saturday morning.
Ramos ran the 5,000 meters in 18 minutes, 46 seconds, about 43 seconds slower than her season best. She still won by 12 seconds at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
“It just shows that she is a very strong runner,” Edinburg North girls coach Carla Hernandez said. “No matter the weather, no matter the competition, she is going to compete.”
Ramos has qualified for state all three years of high school, but this is her first regional championship.
“She has been working really hard.” Hernandez said. “She has been doing her training with the boys. She worked very hard over the summer, so that she came into the season ready to compete.”
The top four teams and the top 10 runners not on those teams qualify for the state meet Nov. 12 in Round Rock.
Two other 6A girls from the Upper and Mid-Valley qualified for state.
La Joya Palmview junior Brianna Robles came in sixth with a time of 19:12.7. Edinburg High senior Vianney Sanchez (19:37.4, 13th) was the final athlete to qualify.
On the boys side, six local athletes qualified in the 6A race: PSJA Memorial’s Cruz Gomez (16:01.8, 4th), Weslaco East’s Luis Ramirez (16:12.7, 7th), Edinburg North’s Tristan Pena (16:17.5, 9th) and Joshua Doria (16:32.4, 13th), and McAllen Memorial’s Evan (16:34.7, 15th) and Trevor Williams (16:39.3, 17th).
In the 5A boys race, it was a familiar story for Rio Grande City junior Brandon Gracia.
Gracia has been measuring himself against Corpus Christi Tuloso-Midway junior Ace Castillo all season. They have run meets together against each other this year and have two of the top three fastest times in 5A in the state. On Saturday, Castillo and Gracia ran well enough to race each other one more time.
“All year, Castillo had been taking the lead and not giving (Gracia) a chance to see if he could stay with him,” Rio Grande City coach Jose Ramirez said. “I said, ‘Let’s try to stay with Ace, and try to hang on as much as we can and see what happens.’”
Gracia started off strong, running close to Castillo and keeping the pace. About halfway through the race, Gracia saw Castillo start to pull away to finish second overall. Castillo ran a 15:49.9 and Gracia ran a 16:12.1.
Gracia also qualified for state last year. This year, his goals are higher.
“Top three,” Gracia said. “I want to get top three. I’ll try sticking close to Ace and see how long I can hang around.”
The only other boys 5A individual to qualify was Sharyland Pioneer sophomore Marcos Garza (16:31.5, 7th). Three teams advanced to state: Donna North finished first with 51 points, Donna High (137) took second and Mercedes (171) came in third.
In the 5A girls race, three girls qualified for state. Edcouch-Elsa’s Haley Villalpando (19:32.0, 4th), Sharyland Pioneer’s Yanelly Garza (19:39.1, 9th) and Edcouch-Elsa’s Leslie Alvarado (19:56.7, 13th) all qualified.
In the 4A boys race, Progreso finished first with 65 points and Hidalgo came in third with 147 points to earn a trip to Round Rock. Progreso junior Everardo Esparza came in second with a time of 16:32.8, a personal best, which was good enough to send him to state as well.