ROY HESS | Staff Writer
The “Tennessee Connection” between Brownsville runners and Bethel University continues.
The McKenzie, Tennessee, college added three more Rivera runners to its roster Friday as Jonathan Herrera, Raul Casiano and Jennifer Lopez signed to compete in track and cross country for the NAIA Division I Wildcats.
Family members, friends, teammates, coaches and school personnel gathered just inside the hallway entrance at Rivera on Friday to celebrate the athletes’ accomplishment of earning scholarships to college with a well-attended signing ceremony.
“I’m very happy they can continue to run and get a good education in college,” Rivera coach Arturo Hurtado said. “They can use running as a tool to fulfill their dreams of becoming whatever they want to become.”
Herrera, Casiano and Lopez will be joining five other male runners from Brownsville who already compete at Bethel University — three from Rivera and two from Pace.
The nucleus of Rivera’s runners who went to the UIL state meet as a team in 2014 now will be running for the Wildcats, who qualified for the NAIA nationals for the first time in the fall of 2016.
Lopez becomes the first female runner from Brownsville to compete in track and cross country for the Tennessee school.
“This is an amazing experience,” said Lopez, better known as “J-Lo” to her coaches, teammates and classmates. “I did not believe (at one point) that I would ever be signing to run in college. And now, knowing that I have these (Brownsville) guys who are like my brothers up there to help me and guide me and show me the way, it’s going to be great.
“I would say running with my team in the hot weather and having hard practices (to get better) has been an awesome experience,” added Lopez, who plans to study psychology/criminology in college. “It’ll be even harder over there, but I know I’m ready for it. Definitely my coaches and my family have been a strong support system to help me achieve this. All the glory goes to the Man upstairs.”
Casiano also welcomes his chance to run at the college level and plans to study kinesiology.
“I’m the first one in my family to get a scholarship like this, so I’m very happy,” Casiano said. “I feel good because I’ll be over there with my friends. I just thank God and my family for supporting me and helping me receive this opportunity to become a college student and athlete.”
Herrera said he’s been to Tennessee several times already and likes the state’s landscape with its endless mountains, piney woods and winding roads. It’s far different than his current surroundings in South Texas, but it’s a place he’s looking forward to calling home for the next few years.
“This is a special day that I thought might never happen,” said Herrera, who plans to study mathematics and pre-engineering. “I just started running because of my Dad and we did it for fun. It ended up with me here (getting an athletic scholarship).
“I was born in Ohio, and every time we came down to Brownsville to visit, we drove through Tennessee, and I was impressed,” he added. “There are a lot of mountain ranges and trees. It’s something I look forward to experiencing (while living there). Hopefully, we have fun, do well with our studies and do what we’re going there to do, which is run.
“We want to get better while representing Brownsville and Rivera, the place we’re from and where it all started.”