BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
ALAMO — There are a lot of talented runners in the Valley, but Cruz Gomez is simply the best.
Through pure skill, athleticism and endurance, he makes a difficult sport look easy.
Like a lot of runners, Gomez mostly viewed running as a hobby in elementary and middle school. It was the summer before his freshman year at PSJA Memorial when everything changed.
“They told me I could join summer track and the coach there (at PSJA Memorial) is also the cross-country coach, so I joined,” said Gomez, now a senior. “I competed in those summer track meets and each week, my times kept dropping and dropping. I thought, ‘Wow, OK. Maybe I can be pretty good.’”
When PSJA Memorial competed in District 31-6A, one competitor Gomez measured himself against was former Edinburg North runner Tristan Peña. Peña is now a distance runner at UTRGV.
“Being a kid in the eighth grade, I saw Tristan win a lot,” Gomez said. “Sometimes I’d get second, but I don’t like to lose. I couldn’t figure out why I kept losing to him, so I set up a goal to try to be like him, or even better. He’s a very good friend of mine, and I think he’s helped me be where I am right now. He’s doing well for himself too.”
No matter the distance, course or time of day, Gomez won all six cross-country meets he participated in this season. His first win of the year came in the Yellow Jacket Invitational, a 5,000-meter race he won with in 15 minutes, 47.6 seconds on Aug. 17. Gomez captured the individual title on an almost three-mile course at the UIL Region IV-5A Cross Country meet in Corpus Christi on Oct. 22. His time of 13:57 was a personal record.
Sandwiched in between is perhaps his finest performance ever, at the McNeil Invitational on Sept. 29. The best cross-country teams and coaches across Texas view the McNeil Invitational as a dry run for the state meet held on the same course at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.
Gomez turned on the jets and won the McNeil Invitational 5K race in 14:48.7. Not only was it another personal record for Gomez, but his time was recorded as the third-fastest high school finish in the country at the time. Since then, Conroe The Woodlands’ Spencer Cardinal ran a 14:43.1 race to win the UIL Region II-6A meet in Dallas.
“I’ve always said that Cruz has the whole package,” PSJA Memorial boys cross country coach Leroy Perez said. “Cardiovascular-wise, no one has come close to what he can do as an athlete and I realized this his freshman year. We had a long-range goal to bring him around slowly, so that he could run his best during his senior year when he was more mature and be able to handle more work. Throughout his career, we’ve pulled him out of several meets because we felt there were bigger prizes at the end of the season.”
Gomez’s gifts have been on full display and big-time cross-country and track programs have taken notice. Arkansas, Texas, UT-Arlington and Oklahoma State were the schools most interested in Gomez’s abilities. On Oct. 26, Gomez made a verbal commitment to a school with five Valley distance runners on its 2018-19 roster.
“I committed to the University of Texas on my birthday,” Gomez said. “I went on my visit there and I met (men’s cross-country) coach (Pete) Watson, who’s a great guy. The runners are also great guys who are set on goals to win the conference, win the regionals and qualify for NCAA championships. The academics part, to me, are more important than athletics. Getting a degree from The University of Texas would be a big deal. I’m a Texas kid, and I want to represent Texas.”
Gomez can now zero in on Class 5A boys race at the state meet in Round Rock. It will be the final race on Saturday afternoon with an approximate start time of 3:10 p.m.
“I’m relaxed now, knowing where I want to go,” Gomez said. “My ultimate goal is to not just finish high at state, but to win the state title.”