After what seemed like a rocky start, El Paso Americas really looks to have regained their dominance in the 6A division. With one of the most talented groups in the state of Texas, Americas is pressing to make another State Meet appearance. With their 6th place finish at the 2019 UIL Championship Meet, Americas is showing they belong in the discussion of some of the best teams right now in Texas. They've seen a small decline in the CCCAT rankings with a 6th place spot but they have been controlling the tempo at the past 3 meets that they have run at.
They've had 3 first place team finishes through 4 meets showing more of the consistency that we are used to seeing out of them. Their top two leaders have also made some waves in the state of Texas with some impressive rankings: Carmelo Corral ranks 5th in Texas in the 5k with a time of 15:15.03 and Jared Laverty also boasts a top 35 ranking sitting at 31st with a 5k time of 15:41.15.
This past weekend at the El Paso Franklin Invitational they had another first place team finish with a team score of 18. They had 4 in the top 5 with a 1:24 for their team 1-5 split. Led by Laverty, they made a statement with plenty of running left to do in the season. This Franklin course is known to be a brutal course riddled with huge rocks and massive hills but the team didn't seem to be phased at all.
Other teammates to keep an eye on are senior Michael Mier and junior Aaron Saenz who also seem to be peaking at the right moment to really help push this team into a productive path towards State.
Americas Head Coach Kenny Lucero has often talked about the resiliency of his team and their ability to overcome big time meets. Once quoted by the team of being the underdogs, there seems to be no doubt that by the time the season is done they will have left a huge mark on the running scene. This coming weekend they will be running the Socorro ISD Student Activity Center to put up what will presumably be another stellar performance.