By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
Christian Manchuca is paving the way for future cross country athletes from Rivera.
Following a successful season that featured numerous accolades, Manchuca has signed to run on the cross country team for Bethel University in McKenzie, Tenn. Bethel is a member of the Southern States Athletic Conference, which competes in the NAIA at the Division 1 level.
“It sounded good. They seemed like they were interested in me, so why not?” said Manchuca after his signing ceremony Friday morning at Rivera.
Manchuca certainly has made his mark as a member of the Raiders’ cross country team. Being the only senior on the squad, he set the standard for his teammates, and it showed given the unprecedented success of the team during his final year.
This season, Rivera boasted its first boys cross country team to win a district team title as well as its first boys cross country team to advance to state. The Raiders were District 32-6A champions and placed third at the Class 6A regional meet to earn their state berth.
While at state, the team didn’t finish as well as it had hoped, but Manchuca was the Raiders’ leading runner. He finished 33rd overall, running the 3.1-mile course in 16:30.39.
“He’s a very gutsy runner, he never gives up,” said Rivera coach Arturo Hurtado, who has been at the helm for 27 years. “He was the leader of the team the whole season in cross country, and at the end of the year he broke the school record in the 3,200.”
The record to which he refers to earned Manchuca a place in the record books as well as his name on the wall at Rivera. Manchuca set the 3,200 record at the regional meet with a time of 9:33.95, passing the previous mark of 9:42 set by Juan Garcia in 2010.
Aside from the records, Manchuca will never forget the impact the Rivera cross country program has had on him.
“I’m going to remember my coach and the team,” he said. “Coach helped me a lot and we had a lot of success and we made history.”
As for Hurtado, he’s hoping the success of his senior star serves as a benchmark for his young team.
“I hope he opens doors for more runners coming up,” the coach said. “All my team is underclassmen, he was the only senior on the team.”
Adam Kujawski covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.