By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
It was the kind of morning the Del Rio High cross-country program was looking for.
All but one of Del Rio’s team competing in Saturday’s Border Bash Cross-Country Invitational in Eagle Pass took first place in their divisions. Del Rio’s varsity boys team was fifth, but head coach Vicky Perez explained that the team was missing its number four runner and his time would have helped overall.
Del Rio’s varsity girls team took home first by four points over fellow 30-6A school Laredo United South, 58-62. Edcouch-Elsa was third with 62 points.
Four of the Queens runners finished in the top 15 overall led by senior Emily Torres who continues her torrid season. She finished first in 20:01, just missing out on finishing under 20 minutes.
Not too far behind Torres was freshman Keziah Bishop as she finished third overall in a time of 21:12.4.
Joining Torres and Bishop in the top 15 were teammates Cynthia Rubio and Ryland Ross. Rubio, a senior, was 13th in 22:42 and Ross, a sophomore, was 14th in 22:50.4.
Rounding out Del Rio’s squad was sophomore Nereida Martinez, who was 27th in 24:32.3, and senior Payton Becker, who was 34th in 25:47.2.
VARSITY BOYS
Del Rio’s varsity boys team had only five runners competing, but the team still finished fifth overall when other teams had seven runners.
Senior Ely Losoya, who has been the Rams’ top runner this season, took sixth place overall in a time of 17:32.7. Teammate Samuel Curtis, a sophomore, wasn’t too far off his pace, taking eighth place in 17:44.6.
Senior Jonathan Mendoza was 12th in 17:55.9, freshman Daniel Perez was 33rd in 19:16.1, and senior Adrian Garcia was 38th in 19:41.9.
Eagle Pass High took first as a team, Laredo Martin was second and Laredo Alexander was third.
JUNIOR VARSITY GIRLS
Four top 10 finishes for Del Rio’s junior varsity squad girls helped the team earn a first place finish.
Junior Kaylie Morales was the top finisher for Del Rio, taking second overall in 15:41.3. Sophomore Carolyn Leija was close behind, taking third place in 16:03.1.
Also finishing in the top 10, and back-to-back, were sophomore Zoey Martinez, who was eighth in 16:24.8, and freshman Debrah Beltran, who was ninth in 16:26.9.
Freshman Bella Montemayor just missed out on the top 10 finishing 11th in 16:38.2.
Freshman Camila Fernandez was 23rd in 17:41.1, freshman Karyme Valencia was 25th in 17:50.7, freshman Arianna Martinez was 30th in 18:27.1, freshman Camila Berain was 39th in 20:02.4, and freshman Daniela Garcia was 44th in 20:40.6.
JUNIOR VARSITY BOYS
Del Rio didn’t have the top runner in the junior varsity boys race, but they had plenty of runners in the top 10. The JV boys finished second through sixth and ninth through 12th to run away with the team title.
Junior Jose Martinez was Del Rio’s top runner, taking second place in 11:55.1. He was five seconds behind the first place runner.
Martinez led a parade of Del Rio runners including freshman Julian Dominguez (3rd, 12:10.9), freshman Alexander Perez (4th, 12:15.9), sophomore Antonio Padilla (5th, 12:16), and sophomore Jose Vielma (6th, 12:16.5).
Junior Eric Cariaga was ninth in 12:31.4, freshman Abraham Garcia was 10th in 12:33.9, freshman Santiago Pacheco was 11th in 12:34, and sophomore Luis Rodriguez was 12th in 12:34.6.
Rounding out the JV boys was freshman Abraham Cardenas (14th, 12:37.2), freshman Julyus Calderon (16th, 12:48.4), sophomore Andres Garcia (25th, 13:02.6), freshman Reynaldo De Los Santos (26th, 13:05.6, sophomore Alfredo Garcia (31st, 13:12.5), Alejandro Martinez (32nd, 13:17.6), senior Eric Flores (33rd, 13:19.2), freshman Zach Palazuelos (37th, 13:32.1), freshman Sebastian Rodriguez (48th, 13:56.3), junior Will Fooshee (51st, 14:00.4), junior Owen Southam (54th, 14:07.2), junior Nikolai Kalinchuk (55th, 14:09.1), senior Valdemar Hernandez (61st, 14:47.6), junior David Perez (63rd, 14:53.1), sophomore Joaquin Taylor (65th, 14:56.9), and freshman Antonio Scott (77th, 15:56.9).
EIGHTH GRADE GIRLS
First place finishes became the name of the game for Del Rio’s girls as the eighth grade team took first in its division thanks to a first place finish by Celeste Garcia.
Garcia completed the course in 14:35.6, about 10 seconds ahead of the next closest runner.
Teammate Natalie Bosko was fourth overall in 15:08.5 to give Del Rio two runners among the top five.
As for the rest of the top 10, Reagan Becker was sixth overall in 15:35.3 and Desiree Perez was ninth in 15:50.7.
Ava Jimenez was 17th in 16:34.4, Maria Ramon was 18th in 16:41.7, Nelly Zavala was 24th in 17:27.8, Galilea Hernandez was 25th in 17:46.6, Isabella Valdez was 29th in 17:57.5, Eva Medrano was 34th in 18:22.1, Scotlin Grant was 35th in 18:35, and Hadassah Elliott was 36th in 18:49.5.
EIGHTH GRADE BOYS
Del Rio’s eighth grade boys team placed five of its members in the top 10 overall in its division to claim the team title.
Ray Torres was the top finisher for Del Rio as he was fourth in 12:11.9. Right behind him was teammate Eric Barrera, who was fifth in 12:24.6.
Del Rio then finished seventh, eighth and ninth thanks to Jesus Robles (12:35.6), Landon Leyva (12:55.8) and Leo Cavazos (13:03.7).
Branden Velasco was 13th in 13:21.1, Alexavier Medina was 16th in 13:46.6, Carlos Jaquez was 18th in 13:59, Lucas Bryant was 21st in 14:21, Edwardo Estrada was 24th in 14:39, Ernesto Meza was 25th in 14:47.8, Juan Yañez was 26th in 14:59.4, and Allan Huerta was 27th in 15:00.9.
SEVENTH GRADE GIRLS
Del Rio’s youngest runners finished 1-2 to help pace their team to victory.
Xitalali Vasquez was first overall in 13:59.8 while teammate Sofia Rodriguez was second in 14:58.6.
The middle school Queens also finished eighth through 11th. Isabella Gutierrez was eighth in 16:58.2, Olivia Taylor was ninth in 17:07.1, Mirana Veda was 10th in 17:14.4, and Amaya Mendoza was 11th in 17:27.9.
Del Rio had a bevy of middle schoolers compete in the meet, which was about 60 miles from their home turf. Ember Mathews was 15th in 18:47.7, Virginia Ochoa was 19th in 19:29.4, and Lucy Sauceda was 20th in 19:40.
SEVENTH GRADE BOYS
Emiliano Zuniga led the way for Del Rio Middle School’s seventh grade boys team, taking second in 13:05.6. He was one of three Del Rio runners to finish in the top including Lewis Bryant, who was fifth in 13:35.9, and Emiliano Guerrero, who was seventh in 14:25.
Ethan Kriss was 12th in 14:41.9, Jacob Treviño was 15th in 15:33.7, Oliver Ibarra was 16th in 15:33.9, Luis Galvan was 21st in 16:09.9, and Liam Reimann was 27th in 18:37.7.
Del Rio’s junior varsity and varsity teams are scheduled to travel to Corpus Christi’s Momentum Campus Sept. 15-16 for the annual Islander Invitational.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
