By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
The Del Rio High School cross country teams opened their season Friday night against a large field of runners at the SA Friday Night Lights XC meet in San Antonio.
The meet, one of the larger early-season cross country meets in South Texas, was held at the Alamo City Youth Sports Fields and included varsity 5-kilometer races and junior varsity two-mile races.
“It was a great first meet for our runners, a lot of great competition,” Del Rio’s coach said. “We will continue to work and get better.”
Alexavier Medina led Del Rio’s varsity boys, covering the 5K course in 16 minutes, 36 seconds to finish 25th among 178 runners.
Ray Torres was next for Del Rio in 17:01, followed by Daniel Perez in 17:39, Jesus Robles in 17:51, Emiliano Zuniga in 18:26 and Abraham Garcia in 18:56.
Del Rio finished 11th among 26 teams.
On the girls side, Reba Salinas paced Del Rio with a 21:08 finish, placing 38th among 126 runners.
Celeste Garcia finished in 22:04, Giana Rodriguez in 22:15, Amya Mendoza in 23:19 and Sophia Rodriguez in 23:48.
The Del Rio girls finished 12th among 17 teams.
Del Rio also turned in a strong performance in the JV girls two-mile race, where Ellyana Gauna finished third overall in 13:35.
Gauna was one of only three runners in the 306-runner field to break 14 minutes, and her performance helped Del Rio finish third among 33 teams.
Frida Olmos finished 22nd in 14:22, Mariana Quintero was 35th in 14:42 and Kaighley White placed 39th in 14:45.
The Del Rio JV boys finished 21st among 38 teams in their two-mile race.
Eric Morales led the Rams with an 11:52, good for 42nd among 402 runners, while Max Constancio finished 67th in 12:13.
Izaiah Cedillo recorded a 12:42, Diego Martinez finished in 13:19, Daniel Abreu in 13:21 and Alex Perez in 13:26.
Del Rio will return to competition Saturday at the Medina Valley XC Invitational. The meet is scheduled for Aug. 29 at Medina Valley.
