Tenaha Boys Take First at Mineola Yellowjacket Invitational

Tenaha's Evan Plata, a three-time state qualifier, finished fourth overall with a time of 17 minutes, 33 seconds and led the Tigers to a first-place team finish at the Yellowjacket Invitational at Mineola on September 2.

The rest of the team was hot on Plata's heels with teammate Misael Hernandez who finished fifth (17:40) followed by Adrian Ramirez in sixth (18:01) and Daniel Loredo in seventh (18:11). Eustorgio Flores rounded out the team score with a 15th place finish (19:19). Marco Gonzales and Alex Rojas also ran for Tenaha.

Jario Hernandez, also a multi-year state qualifier, who has been a consistent top three finisher for the team was out with injury but is due back in the near term.

"Every year we have had seniors that lead the team. Evan has been the rabbit everyone chases. We try to stay with him," said coach Lauri Sisk.

"If you can stay with him, you'll have a good run time. He is definitely our leader."

Evan Plata leads the race at the Mineola Yellowjacket Inv.

Photo Credit: Shiela Haynes/MileSplit TX

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Plata, however, was not satisfied with Friday's run. He and Misael Hernandez were members of the 2020 team that finished third at the Class 2A state meet. That pair plus Jario Hernandez, Loredo, and Rojas were on last year's state qualifier that finished 10th.

"We are trying to be on the podium at state, to get back," said Plata.

"It's an amazing accomplishment to get there. Last year, we didn't do as well as we hoped to do, trying to get better this year."

Sisk said the program has come a long way in a short time. It started in 2010 with a group of seven soccer girls. (Tenaha plays league soccer.)

"We did it to get in shape for soccer. The next year, the boys wanted to go. It has grown from there. For the last three years, we have gone to the state meet. We have had a lot of individuals go to state. We won the regional meet the last two years. This is the group at school you want to be with," said Sisk.