FREDDY GONZALEZ | Valley Morning Star
Cross country was back in the spotlight this week as awards were handed out at the RGVCCCA Banquet.
Sharyland took program of the year, Destinee Longoria of Weslaco High was the Female Newcomer of the year, Mario Salas of Edinburg Vela was the Male Newcomer of the year, Beth Ramos of Edinburg North was crowned Female Runner of the year and Brandon Gracia of Rio Grande City was the Male Runner of the year.
AREA FEMALE RUNNERS: Outside of the top superlatives, Weslaco High placed two runners (Destinee Longoria and Aaliyah Garza) on the Girls Second Team All-Valley. Meanwhile, Harlingen High’s Michelle Medina was named to Girls Third Team All-Valley along with Weslaco East’s duo of Daniella Garza and Tessie Garcia.
AREA MALE RUNNERS: Harlingen’s Edward Ramos and Fernando Escovar were named to the Boys First Team All-Valley. If Ramos’ name sounds familiar it may be because he was the only Harlingen High runner to advance to the UIL state cross country championships this year where he placed 93rd overall with a time of 16:23.
Harlingen’s accolades didn’t stop there as runner Art Benavides was named to the Boys Second Team All-Valley. Earlier in the season Benavides was the District 32-6A champion, finishing the league meet with a time of 15:54. As a team, Harlingen was crowned the 2017 conference champions.
Another team that had an incredible season was Progreso and for the team’s success Red Ants head coach Margarito Jimenez was named the Co-Boys Coach of Year alongside Rio Grande City’s Joe Ramirez.
The Red Ants also had Everardo Esparza named to the Boy’s Second Team All-Valley and Omar Anguiano to the Boys Third Team All-Valley.
Additionally, Weslaco High’s Antonio Sanchez was named to the Boys Second Team All-Valley, as San Benito’s Juaquin Medina was named to the Boys Third Team All-Valley.