San Antonio XC News and Notes Week #2

It was a great week for San Antonio area cross country teams with winning teams showing up everywhere. The Reagan girls won the Vista Ridge Gold Division and the Wimberley girls won the Vista Ridge Silver Division. The top-ranked Smithson Valley girls took the title at the Westlake Chaparral Invitational. The Cole boys won the Southside Invitational while the Clemens boys and Steele girls took top honors at the SAISD Invitational. The TMI boys and the Saint Mary's Hall girls won at Saint Mary's Hall and the Stockdale girls won their home meet. In addition, the South Texas Heat girls and the Johnson boys and girls each won titles at San Antonio's Friday Night Lights meet.

Making a Statement

The Clemens boys have been solid the past few years but have stepped it up this season. They have won their first two meets of the season with 39 points last year and an impressive 17 points this week at the SAISD Invitational in a meet that had 13 teams competing. Sean Gonzalez has been the top runner on the squad each of the first two weeks and won with a time of 15:29.67 last week to win by nearly 30 seconds over teammate Aric Pinguelo. Trevor Lawson and Jayce Love followed in third and fourth place, respectively for the team. Tim Lawson rounded out their scoring with a seventh place finish.

In the Rankings

The Cross Country Coaches Association of Texas puts out State rankings throughout the season. The following teams appeared in the preseason rankings:

3A Girls - Poth (#2), Cole (#8)

3A Boys - Lytle (#1), Great Hearts Northern Oaks (#6)

4A Girls - Davenport (#4), Fredericksburg (#7)

4A Boys - Floresville (#9)

5A Girls - Smithson Valley (#1), Boerne Champion (#6)

5A Boys - Boerne (#3)

6A Girls - Johnson (#8)

The majority of the ranked teams were in action this past week. The Poth girls took fourth in the 1A-4A 3200m at the SA Friday Night Lights meet where they finished behind the Fredericksburg girls who finished in third place. The Davenport girls took a step up in competition at the Westlake Chaparral Invite where they finished eighth behind larger schools including Smithson Valley and Boerne Champion who finished first and third, respectively. The Floresville boys ran in the 5A-6A Division at the SA Friday Night Lights and finished in 11^th place overall, but Kaden Cypert took home bronze medalist honors. The Boerne boys ran at the Westlake Chaparral Invite where they finished in fifth place but were not the top local 5A team as Boerne Champion took fourth place. The Johnson girls showed they want to move up in the rankings after winning the SA Friday Night Lights with just 26 points.

Familiar Names

There were some familiar names who took home individual titles over the weekend. Southside's Emarald Aguirre could likely cover her front door with the gold medals she has won in a little over a year. She took top prize at her own Southside Invitational running a time of 20:22.87 on the 5K course. The previously mentioned junior Sean Gonzalez has been winning races ever since his freshman year and easily won the SAISD Invitational. Steele's Kassia Kozarski is always competing for victories and she took down the SAISD Invitational by running 19:00.59 over the 5K course. Pieper's Sadie Larson has started the season running extremely well and she won the Vista Ridge Gold Division 5K in 19:17. Wimberley's Corina Joyce was a State finalist in the 3200m as a freshman last year and has picked up where she left off by winning the Vista Ridge Silver Division 2-Mile race in 12:21. Finally, Cooper Warrick of Stockdale may have won the most exciting race by taking his home meet with a time of 15:16.56 to nip Lockhart's Ethan Herrera by 5-hundredths of a second.

Last Woman Standing

The District 27-6A girls meet could be a blood bath this year with no less than four teams capable of winning the team title. Last year, Johnson won with 41 points with Reagan (59) and Brandeis (63) right behind them to all advance to the Regional meet. This year could be just as close, but Churchill should also be in the mix. Johnson is ranked #8 in the State and return their entire lineup from last year and junior Adriana Parra is new to the team this year and she ran 19:25.32 at the SA Friday Night Lights to finish in 15^th. Reagan returns six of their top seven and has added a pair of freshmen, Ellyson Spurlock and Siena Stark, who were in their top-5 at Vista Ridge.  Brandeis lost a pair of runners to graduation, but still returns a strong group of upperclassmen and freshman Zoy Risinger is already in the scoring mix. Churchill was well back of the top three teams last year when they only had one runner in the top-20. However, their whole team were freshmen and sophomores last year and now they have added new freshman Mia Kellogg who looks like she will challenge for the individual district title.

- Note: this section was updated with correct standings in the 2024 District 27-6A race.

Who Can Stop the Rangers?

The Smithson Valley girls, last season's 5A State champions, are ranked #1 in the State in 5A and appear to be the top team in the area for a second straight year. This past week they won the Westlake Chaparral XC Invitational in an almost ho-hum fashion with 71 points to win by 41 points over second place Austin Bowie. They took home the top prize despite their top runner, Brady Solansky, not running this week. Despite Solansky's absence, Aubrey Pozzi, Lilly Koenig and Skyler Fonseca finished 9^th, 10^th and 12^th overall. Addison Knibbe followed in 16^th place and Parker Julian rounded out their scoring runners in 24^th. They had a 1-5 split of 1:06 with Pozzi and Koenig each breaking 19-minutes. Koenig could potentially be there #1 runner this year after finishing the 2024-25 school year in blazing fashion as she took the silver medal in the 3200m and was 4^th in the 800m at the State meet. She also ran 18:37.40 at the State XC Meet where she finished 10^th a year ago.

Around the City

It was a busy week around the city and I was able to get out to the San Antonio Friday Night Lights meet which was a lot of fun and the competition was great. For more on the meet please check my story from Saturday.

The Vista Ridge Invitational was dominated by a pair of local girls' teams. Reagan took top honors in the 5K Gold Division winning with 59 points. Theone Glosser, Ellyson Spurlock, Ariana Stark and Reese Sweatman all finished in the top-11 and were separated by only 33 seconds. Sadie Larson (Pieper) was the individual champion crossing the line in 19:17 to lead the Warriors to a sixth place finish. Wimberley took the 2-Mile Silver Division with only 41 points. Corina Joyce won the race in 12:21. Abigail Wymore and Avery Wymore followed her in fourth and fifth place, respectively and Kate Sharp and Ava Arellano were each in the top-20. Comfort's Ellana Thiele grabbed ninth place while Blanco had a pair of top-20 finishers in Lily Zamora and Ashton Uballe.

In the Vista Ridge Boys Gold race, Reagan and Pieper came in sixth and seventh, respectively as teams. Logan Martinez (Reagan) was the top local individual taking ninth in 16:22 while Lee's Alvaro Zuniga added a top-20 finish. New Braunfels Long Creek finished sixth in the Silver Division and were led by Oscar Moreno and Joshua Perez who each finished in the top-20. Jackson Dear (Comfort) added a 15^th place finish.

I already talked about the Smithson Valley girls winning the Westlake Chaparral Invitational, but they were not the only team competing. Boerne Champion and New Braunfels tied for third place with 139 points, but BC was awarded third based on their sixth runner. Savanah Moya (New Braunfels) broke 18 minutes for the 5K race and finished in second place. Churchill's Mia Kellogg was fourth in 18:09.6 and her teammate Kallie Van Prooyen crossed in 13^th place. Rebecca Bezerra (Boerne Champion), Presley Merkens (Boerne), Ava Briley (New Braunfels) and Kaelyn Holland (Churchill) were other locals who grabbed top-20 spots. Churchill finished in fifth place just six points behind BC and NB. Davenport moved up to face bigger schools and finished a respectable eighth place with Kendall Fallon leading them with a 23^rd place finish.

Boerne Champion was the top local boys team at the Westlake Chaparral Invitational finishing in fourth place with 153, just ahead of state-ranked Boerne who finished in fifth place. Aaron Garcia and Brayden Scott each finished in the top-10 for Boerne while Shawn Edwards and Sebastian Carvallo led Champion with top-15 finishes. The Chargers had a 45-second 1-5 split which was the best among all 30 teams in the meet. Nicholas Maldonado (Madison) finished 10^th overall in 16:10.5 while Luke Smith (Smithson Valley) was two seconds behind him in 11^th place. Churchill's Caleb Esquivel added a 14^th place finish.

The Southside girls took runner-up honors at their own meet with Emarald Aguirre leading the way in first place. Bethany Iniguez Morales (7^th) and Serenity Williams (11^th) gave the team a strong top-3. East Central took third place behind Aubrey Pew and Jade Espitia who each finished in the top-10. Katherine Zinnante (Cole) and Hanah Dismukes (Marshall) finished third and fifth, respectively as the leaders of their teams.

The Cole boys took the team title in the Southside Cardinals Invitational with only 32 points. Sophomore Caden Kitson took the individual title in 16:57.6 and his freshman brother, Levi Kitson, was third in 17:27.4. Liam Foreman and Sergio Romero gave Cole four finishers in the top-10. Michael Ogle led Marshall with his 10^th place finish that helped them end up third as a team. Fabian Cerda (Southwest Legacy) raced home in fifth place in 17:30.25.

The Steele Knights won the SAISD varsity girls invitational with 44 points. Kassia Kozarski won the meet and teammate Peyton Jarzombek was a top-10 finisher. Gloria Escalera, Kaylin Polk and Sophia Zimmermann rounded out their scoring runners with each finishing in the top-21 runners. Adelyn Miller and Natalie Badillo led Taft to a second place finish as each crossed the line in the top-10. Judson did not have enough runners for a team score, but Ana Garza (2^nd, 19:13.4), Kara Fossler (5^th, 19:52.8) and Destinee Casey (9^th, 20:50.2) each finished in the top-10. Bella Adams (Holmes), Ava Garza (Brackenridge) and Mina Guerra-Suarez (Warren) rounded out the top-10.

The aforementioned Clemens boys were meet champions of the SAISD Invitational. Holmes was a solid second place thanks to Noah Gonzalez, Jeremiah Rodriguez and Armando Cantu all finishing in the first 11 runners. Peyton Sturm led Steele with a 15^th place finish and the Knights took third thanks to a 1-5 split of 1:07. Adrian Rangel (Seguin) nabbed fifth place with his time of 16:07.7 while Channon Davis (Wagner) and Reyes Arteaga (Brackenridge) slipped inside the top-10.

The Saint Mary's Hall girls won their own meet with 29 points. Ellie Scott and Micah Monteleone led the way by finishing in second and third, respectively behind race champion Dani Shelfo of TMI.

TMI took the boy's title at Saint Mary's Hall with 32 points. Rene Serratos, Elliott Stead and Jack Robinson all finished in the top-5 of the 2-mile race. Augie Cummings (Saint Mary's Hall) took the victory in a time of 10:31.82.

At the Karnes City Invitational there were some quality individual finishes for locals. Aurora Jones (Luling) finished in sixth place in 12:28.31 for the 2-mile race. Abby DeLeon (Falls City), Addison White (Stacey) and Lilly Dubbs (Stacey) all finished in the top-20. Josiah Benavides (Dilley) finished in second place in the boys race with a time of 17:06.24 and Zain Fischer (Luling) was close behind him in third place. Gabriel Liska and Brandon Banda each finished in the top-15 for Falls City while Jarred Dunn slipped inside the top-10 finishers for Stacey.

The Stockdale girls took home their own Stockdale Brahma Invitational title behind Jersey Brantly who won in 13:21.50. Riyah Rodriguez and Peyton Keller added top-10 finishes for the team while Marion's McKenna Jaquez-Calama crossed in fifth place. Stockdale's Cooper Warrick took the boys individual title with a time of 15:16.56 as he out-leaned Lockhart's Ethan Herrera at the tape. Lockhart finished in third place overall as Paul Munoz gave them a pair of top-10 finishers.

What's Happening This Week

Locally, Long Creek High School, the San Antonio Patriots and Central Catholic are all hosting meets on Saturday. Lockhart is hosting the 38^th Annual Hippensteel Open on Friday. I would also like to keep track of any seniors signing with colleges so please email me at shanemeling@gmail.com.