By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Every cross-country season, Del Rio’s runners take to training knowing there’s one goal above all others – make it to State.
For the past 16 years, at least one runner from Del Rio High’s cross-country program has made the trip to Round Rock’s Old Settler’s Park to carry on the tradition and take their shot at bringing a state championship back to the Queen City.
This year, Del Rio High sophomore Emily Torres will carry the torch to the state meet as she finished among the top 10 individual runners that didn’t already qualify with a team.
Torres finished Monday’s Class 6A, Region IV Meet in Corpus Christi 12th overall, but when the runners from the four qualifying teams were removed, Torres moved into the top 10 and earned a trip to state. Without the runners from the four state qualifying teams, Torres finished ninth overall.
This will be Torres’ first trip to the state meet. She came into the region championships as the District 30-6A Varsity Girls individual champion.
The state meet is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 5 and Saturday, Nov. 6. Torres will run Nov. 6 at 11:30 a.m.
The top four qualifying teams in the Class 6A Girls division were Austin Vandegrift, which won the region title with 88 points; runner-up Round Rock, third place New Braunfels and fourth place Edinburg Economedes.
Del Rio’s girls finished 17th as a team with 430 points.
Torres was the top Queens runner as she finished the course in 19:10.89. She was one of seven Del Rio girls to run at the region championships.
Junior Kimberly Gloria finished 33rd overall in 19:58.39. Senior Sydney Ballard was 144th in 22:56.63. Junior Cassandra Martinez was 153rd in 23:10.59. Junior Nayeli Cordova was 158th in 23:12.83. Senior Karen Palacios was 179th in 24:39.39. Senior Grace Rodriguez was 180th in 24:53.10.
There were 187 runners in the Class 6A Girls race, representing 44 schools from around the region. There were only 24 schools that fielded full teams.
New Braunfels’ senior Kennaday Fontenot won the girls’ individual region championship in a time of 18:17.65.
In the Class 6A Boys race, Del Rio sophomore Ely Losoya finished 56th in a time of 17:16.93.
Austin Vandegrift junior Kevin Sanchez won the Class 6A, Region IV Boys individual championship in a time of 15:14.84. He also helped his school qualify for the state meet as a team as they finished second to Round Rock. Round Rock had 112 points as a team while Vandegrift was second with 117 points.
San Antonio Brandeis was third with 119 points followed by New Braunfels with 207 points.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
