NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
DONNA — The Sharyland High girls team has spent much of this season at or near the top of its game. Athletic.net has ranked Sharyland High as the top squad in the Valley, pairing the Rattlers and the Dripping Springs Tigers as the two best cross country girls teams in Class 5A Region IV.
The Rattlers entered Saturday’s Meet of Champions No. 1 in the region. And after picking up another team victory in Donna, Sharyland High is determined to stay there.
“This win is special, because we have not won the Meet of Champs since the schools split,” Sharyland High coach Melissa Dearth said. “We’ve been able to get the parents and the kids to buy in to our summer programs. Now that we’ve had more parent support and the summer program these last two years, we’ve been on the way up. The talent is here, just like our sister school (Sharyland Pioneer). If there isn’t a commitment in the summer, then we won’t be able to compete at the regional or state level.”
Brownsville Rivera’s Andrea De La Rosa won Saturday morning’s 5K with a time of 19 minutes, 33.7 seconds — nearly 25 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
Rattlers Andrea Gallardo (19:58.1), Arianna Gomez (20:01.6) and Samantha Guerrero (20:31.0) all finished in the top 10. Gallardo and Gomez placed second and third, while Guerrero took 10th. Six of the seven Rattlers runners took spots in the race’s top 21. Their seventh runner finished 22nd.
“The 19:58.1 was a season-best for me,” Gallardo said. “I feel better about how I did, because last year at state, I finished at 20 flat (20:00.8). I’m really improving this year.”
“From the start, I just took off,” Gomez said. “I felt loose the whole race. You know, if you feel loose, you feel fast. I pushed myself to be up with Andrea (Gallardo), but we’re both working off of each other. We wanted to come out here, get some PRs (personal records) and win the meet.”
The Rattlers’ regionwide acclaim doesn’t appear to have rattled them yet.
“Thinking about where we are, it’s a constant pressure to keep everything up,” Gomez said. “We also had (Sharyland) Pioneer here. They have a lot of talent, and of course, we wanted to beat our sister school. Our coaches have told us, ‘If you want to be on top, you have to work for it.’ We haven’t won every single meet, but we’re putting the work in. That’s why we are where we are.”
The McAllen Memorial boys narrowly lost to Rio Grande City in last year’s Meet of Champions but atoned with a first-place finish on Saturday.
“When you come out here to the Meet of Champions, you’re up against a bunch of great teams. You want to do your best when you’re competing against them,” McAllen Memorial coach Jesse Trejo said. “Christian Garza stepped it up today. Jorge Perez, one of our juniors, actually PR’d on this course. At this point, it’s about keeping the kids motivated and injury-free.”
Perez (16:30.1) and Garza (16:30.3) were two of four top-10 finishes for Trejo. The other two were seniors Trevor and Evan Williams. Trevor won the 5K (15:50.3), and Evan (16:09.9) took fifth.
“I’m ecstatic about how our team performed today,” Trevor Williams said. “I paced myself well today. I want to get to a certain place by the time we get to the regional meet. I’ve been calculating my pace after every race, and I’ve been lowering it every time. Hopefully by regionals, I’ll be at my goal pace.”
The McAllen Memorial boys, along with the Sharyland High girls, will compete in a meet next week at Round Rock McNeil, the site of November’s UIL state meet.
“That’s why we’re headed there,” Evan Williams said. “This year, I know we have a shot at state as a team. It’s a fast course, so I know a lot of guys are looking to PR. Seeing this course in full force with a lot of other fast runners is going to be a huge help when it comes to November.”