By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Adding to the history they’ve already achieved at their school continues to motivate the Rivera boys cross country team.
The Raiders became the first boys cross country squad from Rivera to win a district team title two weeks ago. Now they want to become the first boysteam from the school to advance to the UIL state meet.
The Raiders’ opportunity to realize that goal comes Saturday at the Region IV meet in San Antonio at the National Shooting Complex. The Class 6A girlsrace starts the day’s competition at 9 a.m. The 6A boys run at 9:30 a.m. They’ll run 5-kilometer races, as will the Class 5A boys and girls.
“We’ve taken boys teams to the regional meet, but never as the district champ,” said veteran Rivera coach Arturo Hurtado, who is now in his 35th year of coaching and teaching, the last 27 with the Raiders. “We’re going to try our best to advance to state. If they compete like they’ve been competing, they’ll be up there.
“It’d be a dream come true (to go to state),” he added. “Eighty-nine percent of my (coaching) success has been on the girls side (in cross country), and this year it’s switched to the boys. We thank everyone for their support, and hopefully our boys can produce.”
Members of the Rivera boys squad are Cristian Machuca, Anthony Garza, Jonathan Herrera, Manny Guerrero, Ruben Chapa, Jose Villanueva and Jesus Gonzalez.
Machuca, Garza, Herrera and Guerrero finished second, third, fourth and fifth, respectively, at the District 32-6A meet Oct. 17, and Chapa, a freshman, came in 18th to help the Raiders gain their first district title with 32 points.
““We’ve got to stay mentally strong, keep pushing the pace and stay at the top,” Garza said. “That’s what we want to do. We’re ready for any challenge. We’re just going to go do our thing and try our best for Rivera.”
Added Machuca , the only senior in the group, “It’d mean a lot (to go to state). Everything’s as a team. I want to go as a team, not as an individual. We want to go together.”
The top four teams and the top 10 individuals not attached to the qualifying teams advance from the regional meet to the UIL state meet Nov. 8 in Round Rock.
The Hanna girls and boys teams also will compete at the Region IV meet. The Lady Golden Eagles, led by Mariana Sanchez, Naomi Lucio and Sophia Salinas, won the 32-6A girls team title, and the Hanna boys, led by David Martinez, were third. The Brownsville Veterans Memorial girls, led by Rachel Ysaguirre, also are advancing as a team after a second-place finish at district.
“ Regionals will host some fierce competition,” Hanna coach Olaya Teran said. “Our Lady Eagles have worked hard all season, and it paid off at the district meet. The girls continue to train hard and will give it all they’ve got at regionals . As far as the boys, we have a young team, and the experience at the regional meet will benefit them.
““We ran on the course earlier this season (at the UTSA meet), and, yes, I believe that it will benefit both of our teams,” she added.
Besides the teams, some Metro-area runners are advancing to the regional individually. On the 6A level, Los Fresnos’ Valeria Tellez and Ricardo Torres are going, plus Lopez’s Leslie Estrella .
On the 5A level, Metro-area runners who qualified individually to go to San Antonio are Hope Ngo and SimeiTovar of Pace along with Gerardo Perez of Porter.