By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Del Rio’s return to the State cross-country meet took its most important steps Friday morning.
The Queens cross-country team and Rams runner Ely Losoya qualified for the Class 6A, Region IV Cross-Country Championships in Corpus Christi after their performances at the District 30-6A meet Friday at Del Rio High School.
The Queens finished third as a team, earning one of the team sports at the regional meet. Losoya finished seventh overall to take one of the top 10 individual spots.
Del Rio did claim a district championship as sophomore Emily Torres won the varsity girls race in a time of 19:04.6, nearly 20 seconds faster than the next closest runner.
Torres was one of two Del Rio runners to finish in the top 10. Her teammate Kimberly Gloria took fifth overall in a time of 19:38.3.
The top 10 runners in the varsity girls division were Torres, Genesis Serratos (United, 19:23.5), Victoria Bartlett (Eagle Pass, 19:23.8), Kailey Salazar (United South, 19:28.7), Gloria, Giselle Aguilar (United South, 19:38.5), Destiny Villarreal (United, 20:01.5), Reyes Joceylnn (Nixon, 20:02.5), Sofia Peña (Alexander, 20:05.7) and Isabella Santini (Alexander, 20:06.3).
Joining Del Rio’s top five duo were fellow Queens Sydney Ballard, who was 16th in 20:49.5; Cassandra Martinez, who was 28th in 21:42.3; Nayeli Cordova, who was 34th in 22:26.5; and Mackenzie Pulliam was 41st in 22:59.
Del Rio’s runners racked up 84 points for the team to finish third. They just missed out on second place by two points. Laredo Alexander took that spot with 82 points.
Laredo United claimed the team championship with 74 points. The Lady Longhorns had three runners finish in the top 15 and four in the top 25 runners overall.
In the varsity boys division, Laredo LBJ took first place as a team by the slimmest of margins over Laredo Nixon. LBJ’s runners had 56 points while Nixon’s runners had 57 points. Eagle Pass was third with 62 points.
Del Rio’s boys finished fourth with 102 points.
Losoya was the Rams’ top finisher, taking seventh in 16:30.0 He wasn’t the only Del Rio runner to finish in the top 20. Mikael Perez was 11th in 16:43.7.
Joining them were Jonathan Mendoza, who was 26th in 17:36; Joe Chavez, who was 28th in 17:46.6; Andres Rivera, who was 30th in 18:00.3; Joseph Fuentes, who was 32nd in 18:17.6; and Juan Lopez, who was 33rd in 18:20.6.
The top runners in the varsity boys race were Margarito Benavides (Nixon, 15:24.2), Oscar Ruiz (Eagle Pass, 15:26.6.), Marquel Garza (Nixon, 15:56.2), Dylan Navarrete (LBJ, 16:05.2), Jorge Aguilar (Eagle Pass, 16:15.2), Josue Huitron (LBJ, 16:25.1), Losoya, Diego Ramirez (United, 16:32), Michael Casso (Alexander, 16:34.7) and Manuel Castañon (LBJ, 16:38.8).
In the junior varsity girls division, Laredo United was first, Del Rio was second and Laredo Nixon was third.
Del Rio’s team included Karen Palacios, who was 11th in 23:25.5; Grace Rodriguez, who was 13th in 23:41.2; Natalie Cordova, who was 16th in 23:58.9; Luz Guerra, who was 21st in 24:25.4; Desstiny Beltran, who was 22nd in 24:27.9; Payton Becker, who was 26th in 24:39.5; and Kaylie Morales, who was 34th in 26:23.1.
In the junior varsity boys division, Laredo LBJ took first with 36 points. Laredo Nixon was second with 52 points, and Del Rio was third with 71 points.
Jose Ramirez was the top runner for Del Rio, taking fourth in 18:25.4. Roy Dominguez was 12th in 19:12.2, Aiden Dueñez was 13th in 19:13.8, Joshua Reyes was 18th in 19:46.2, Eric Flores was 24th in 20:21.6, Armando Garcia was 29th in 20:38.4, Owen Southam was 37th in 21:33.7, Jerrell Williams was 48th in 23:36.2, and Alonzo Narvaez was 53rd in 24:43.4.
Full results from the meet can be found at http://www.zapataroadrunners.org/2021_results
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
