By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
Del Rio High School’s cross-country teams continued their season Saturday at the Medina Valley XC Invitational, with both varsity squads finishing sixth in their respective large-school divisions.
The Rams finished sixth among 15 teams in the Large School Varsity Boys 5A-6A 5K, led by Alexavier Medina’s first top-10 finish of the young season.
The Rams and Queens coach was pleased with the team’s progress. “A lot of the runners improved on times and some did not, however, it’s still very early in the season,” said Vicky Perez, Del Rio High School cross-country coach. “Kids are continuing to work hard and will continue to improve.”
Medina covered the 5K course in 16 minutes, 51 seconds to finish ninth overall. Ray Torres was close behind, giving Del Rio two runners among the top 11 by finishing 11th in 16:56.
Daniel Perez finished 38th in 17:56, Jesus Robles was 45th in 18:07, Emiliano Zuniga finished 63rd in 18:43 and Isau Salazar was 64th, also in 18:43. Rey De Los Santos rounded out Del Rio’s varsity runners, finishing 88th in 19:36.
The performance gave Medina back-to-back top-25 finishes to open the season. He placed 25th in 16:36 at the SA Friday Night Lights meet a week earlier. Torres improved his time from 17:01 at the season opener to 16:56 Saturday.
The Queens also finished sixth, placing sixth among 11 teams in the Large School Varsity Girls 5A-6A 5K.
Reba Salinas again led Del Rio, finishing 17th overall in 21:12. Giana Rodriguez placed 36th in 22:10, Hailey Dobbins was 47th in 22:46, Celeste Garcia finished 56th in 23:11 and Sophia Rodriguez was 77th in 24:22.
Salinas has also opened the season with consecutive strong performances. She finished 38th in 21:08 at Friday Night Lights before moving up 21 places Saturday at Medina Valley.
Both Del Rio varsity teams made a jump in the standings from their season opener. The Rams finished 11th among 26 teams at Friday Night Lights before taking sixth Saturday, while the Queens improved from 12th among 17 teams to sixth at Medina Valley.
Del Rio’s JV boys competed in a 5K and finished eighth among 11 teams. Tristan Sandoval led the Rams with a 32nd-place finish in 19:47, followed by Tyler Lopez in 36th at 19:56 and Eric Morales in 45th at 20:35. Izaiah Cedillo finished 63rd in 21:48, Axel Alvarez was 58th in 21:23 and Max Constancio finished 82nd in 24:21.
The JV girls ran two miles and finished seventh among 11 teams. Kaighley White led Del Rio, finishing 35th in 15:08, followed by Bella Montemayor in 37th at 15:15. Abigail Leonor was 48th in 15:31, Valentina Contreras finished 51st in 15:42 and Isabella Flores was 55th in 15:54.
The Medina Valley meet was Del Rio’s second competition of the season.
A big thanks to Amistad Bank for making this sports section possible.
