By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Buoyed by a pair of top 10 finishers, the Queens varsity cross country team earned a top 10 finish at this weekend’s NEISD Invitational Meet.
Not to be outdone, Del Rio’s boys team finished fourth overall at the meet that drew runners from more than 20 schools around San Antonio.
Del Rio junior Emily Torres continued her strong season, taking fourth overall in a time of 19:58.59. While none of the other runners were going to catch Clark’s Jade Perez, who finished in 19:18.97 and was nearly 40 seconds faster than the next runner, Torres stayed closed to the leaders as she was about seven seconds out of second place.
Senior Kimberly Gloria also finished in the top 10 for Del Rio, taking eighth place in 20:33.87. The only other school to have a pair of top 10 finishers was Brennan, which finished first.
A total of 114 runners competed in the varsity girls race, which kicked off the meet with a 7 a.m. start. Del Rio head cross country coach Vicky Perez said the early start was just one more thing for her runners to deal with.
“We left at 3 a.m. and the first race was at 7 a.m. for the varsity girls followed by the varsity boys at 7:30 a.m. JV girls ran at 8 a.m. and JV boys ran at 8:30 a.m.,” Perez said. “They ran well. It was a tough course – lots of hills, mud, gravel … that’s cross country for you.”
Freshman Ryland Ross was 22nd overall in 21:39.81. Senior Cassandra Martinez was 53rd in 23:05.54, and senior Nayeli Cordova was 72nd in 23:59.60.
Junior Ely Losoya was Del Rio’s top finisher in the varsity boys race. He was 15th overall in 16:58.41. LEE’s Arlo Gonzales was the top runner by about three seconds, finishing the 5K course in 15:56.16, just ahead of Southwest Legacy’s Anthony Zapata and his time of 15:59.21.
Del Rio senior Mikael Perez was 23rd overall in 17:35.61. Senior Jose Ramirez was 39th in 18:10.66, junior Jonathan Mendoza was 42nd in 18:18.82, senior Damian Espinoza was 46th in 18:22.73, and senior Joseph Fuentes was 62nd in 18:57.91.
A total of 123 runners competed in the race.
Reagan was the top boys team with 39 points. Three of its runners finished in the top 10, and six of them finished in the top 20.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Del Rio was fourth overall in the junior varsity boys race.
Senior Josh Reyes was Del Rio’s top runner in the race, finishing ninth overall in 18:45.63. Teammate Andres Rivera, also a senior, was also a top 20 finisher as he took 18th in 19:14.35.
Junior Jose Martinez was 22nd in 19:19.43, senior Jose Ortiz was 44th in 19:57.26, junior Emiliano DeLuna was 51st in 20:12.97, freshman Samuel Curtis was 80th in 21:08.53, sophomore Steven Waller was 81st in 21:08.78, junior Adrian Garcia was 84th in 21:10.35, freshman Jose Vielma was 85th in 21:11.53, sophomore Will Fooshee was 87th in 21:12.34, junior Erik Flores was 88th in 21:14.78, freshman Jacob Smith was 107th in 21:34.54, freshman Miguel Buitron was 110th in 21:35.28, freshman Kevin Olvedo was 144th in 22:47.77, freshman Eric Carriaga was 145th in 22:49.53, freshman Leonardo Rojel was 147th in 22:54.68, sophomore Owen Southam was 168th in 23:52.25, and Joaquin Taylor was 196th in 26:56.55.
In the junior varsity girls division, Reagan took first place as a team followed by Boerne, Brandeis, Clemens, LEE, Brennan and Del Rio.
Payton Becker was the top runner for Del Rio, taking 17th place in 24:27.48. Teammate Cynthia Rubio, a sophomore, was right behind her, coming in 18th in 24:28.13.
Freshman Carolyn Leija was 47th in 26:25.21, senior Natalie Cordova was 50th in 26:29.23, senior Isela Gonzalez was 84th in 29:02.78, junior Melina Ortiz was 86th in 29:11.11, and freshman Arianna Martinez was 87th in 29:24.74.
Del Rio’s varsity and junior varsity runners are next scheduled to compete in the Islander Invitational Sept. 16 and 17 at Momentum Campus in Corpus Christi.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
