BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
RIO GRANDE CITY — On a chilly, windy Friday morning at Ringgold Middle School, the Sharyland Pioneer cross country teams turned up the heat, as the girls team finished first and the boys second at the District 31-5A meet.
“The kids, they really performed well today,” Pioneer coach David Munson. “The weather was nice for us, and we came out and did what we had to.”
The Diamondbacks used a pair of second-place individual finishes to kick off a strong district showing.
In the girls race, Pioneer sophomore Yanelly Garza took second with a time of 19:41.3 to set a new personal best, almost 7 seconds faster than her previous best.
“The race was pretty fast,” Garza said. “It was hard, but it was short.”
Laredo Martin junior Abril Escamilla finished first with a time of 19:18.5. Escamilla led for much of the race, but Garza was close behind looking for an opening.
“It was pretty close, but (Escamilla) went off,” Garza said. “She just had more left.”
Valley View junior Ashley Arteaga rounded out the top three coming in at 19:58.7.
For the boys, Rio Grande City junior Brandon Garcia continued a string of impressive showings with a first-place finish in 15:59.6. This win was his fourth win of the year and his sixth top-5 finish.
“I am just setting it up for regionals,” Garcia said. “It feels good winning at home. I wasn’t going to let anyone beat me.”
Coming in second was Pioneer sophomore Marcos Garza. Garza’s time of 16:09.6 is almost 11 seconds off of his personal best.
Valley View junior Diego Monjaras took third with a time of 16:15.7.
Pioneer used that momentum, combined with other strong finishes, to lock up spots at the Region IV-5A meet for both the girls and boys teams.
The top three teams and the top 10 individuals advanced to regionals, which will be held Oct. 29 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. For the girls, Sharyland Pioneer (38 points), Sharyland High (62) and Valley View (82) advance. For the boys, Mission Veterans Memorial (47), Sharyland Pioneer (56) and Rio Grande City (74) move on.
Sharyland Pioneer boys, Rudy Aranda and Wilberth Soberanis finished seventh and eighth, respectively. That was followed by teammates Angel Avila and Giovanni Rangel, who took 19th and 20th, respectively.
“They really haven’t run together much this year,” Munson said. “But, today, they knew the importance of this race. They didn’t let anyone get between them and they were working together.”
For the girls, Sharyland Pioneer’s Ana Hernandez and Brianna Garcia took fifth and sixth, respectively. Arianna Gomez and Nydia de la Garza placed 12th and 13th. All five athletes improved their personal best time in the race.
“When you put your top five out there and they all run a new personal best, you have to give those girls credit and you have to give the coaches credit,” Munson said. “Sandra Guerrero and Lisa Chapa have done an excellent job this year.”
sberrios-thomas@ themonitor.com