Another week, another large, local meet with the 23rd Annual San Antonio Patriots Invitational this past Saturday at Retama Park. While many teams competed in Selma, Medina Valley High School also hosted a big meet with nearly 30 schools. As the calendar turns to September it is always fun to see how teams come together as they get ready for their District meets in the first few weeks of October.
Who's Top Dog?
Thus far in the early season there have been three boys who have stood above the rest; Aiden Adams (Clark), Titus Gill (SA Spartans) and Sean Gonzalez (Clemens). All three picked up victories this week and each could likely lay claim to having the best start to the season. Adams and Gill went head-to-head last week at the SA Friday Night Lights and finished in a virtual tie while Gonzalez has won a pair of invitationals and was second in a third. Will one of these three be the best in the City this year or will it be someone else? Only time will tell, but I like the way they are running.
In the Rankings
The Cross Country Coaches Association of Texas puts out State rankings throughout the season. The following teams appeared in the Regular Season Poll #1:
3A Girls - Poth (#2), Lytle (#7), Cole (#9)
3A Boys - Lytle (#1), Great Hearts Northern Oaks (#6)
4A Girls - Davenport (#4), Fredericksburg (#6)
4A Boys - Floresville (#7)
5A Girls - Smithson Valley (#1), Boerne Champion (#10)
5A Boys - Boerne (#6)
6A Girls - Johnson (#7)
There was not a lot of change in the first regular season CCCAT poll of the year. Locally, the Lytle girls moved into the 3A rankings at #7 after some strong early season results. They finished third in the Medina Valley Panthers 1A-4A Invitational and fourth in the 5A-6A competition. In the small school division it was Annalise Quintanilla leading the way with a fourth place finish. In the big school race, Frances Scotello ran 20:52.5 in the 5K race to finish in 21st place and their top-5 were all in the top-35 in a field of 117. The Lytle boys were rock solid with a great third-place finish in the 5A-6A race at Medina Valley were Diego Reyna, Jacob Cantu and Adrian Reyna all finished in the top-15. The Great Hearts boys started their season with an easy win at the Long Creek Invitational. Brayden Salzwedel, Carter Hasler and Sam Davis finished second, third and fourth, respectively to lead them. The Davenport girls rolled again by winning the small school race at the SA Patriots Invitational. Kendall Fallon, Kendall Johnston and Macie Fallon each finished in the top-10. The Boerne Champion girls went to Long Creek and took the team title with 29 points behind Rebecca Bezerra and Emma Radtke who each finished in the top-3. Finally, the Johnson girls ticked up one spot in the 6A rankings after easily winning the Central Catholic Invitational with only 17 points.
Winning Ways in Wimberley
The Wimberley girls have been putting together some great results the last few weeks. Last week, they won the Vista Ridge Invitational and then they backed it up with a winning performance at the 38th Annual Hippensteel Invitational 1A-4A Division this week. Their top four of Corina Joyce, Abigail Wymore, Avery Wymore and Kate Sharp have led the way and they all finished in the top-10 this week. Joyce has won both races and posted a time of 12:26.3 to take the 2-mile race. They Wymore's finished fourth and sixth while Sharp crossed in ninth place in a time of 13:34.5
Time to Take Notice
The top 6A boys teams in the area all appear to hail from different districts this year. The three that have stood out the most have been Clemens, Johnson and Medina Valley who are only in their second year at the 6A level. Clemens was outstanding at the SA Patriots Invitational winning by 44 points over second place Boerne. Sean Gonzalez won the individual title in 15:19.99 and Jayce Love followed in fourth place in 16:05.09. Aric Pinguelo (12th) and Trevor Lawson (18th) each finished in the top-20.
The Jaguars were equally as impressive at the Central Catholic Invitational. Kyle Wunderli took the top prize in 16:35.4 while Angel Olmos (2nd) and Brett Packard (4th) were each top-5 finishers. New to the team is Max Jacob who took seventh place in his first meet for the team crossing the line in 17:11.9.
Medina Valley edged out another top squad, Brandeis, at their home meet winning by eight points. Their top four runners were separated by only 25 seconds and were led by Nicholas Castro who finished as the runner-up in 16:12.9. He was followed closely by Kyle Carpenter (4th), Brayden Riley (10th) and Ezra Gonzalez (11th).
The Heat is On
The South Texas Heat Homeschool squad took home the top prize at the SA Patriots Invitational. The most impressive thing is that all five members of the team are sisters. Elin Latta, a sophomore, is the best of the quintet with at least one national age division record and she won the title by running 17:30.58. Iris Latta finished second in 18:01.52 and Remy Latta was third in 18:37.47. Only Churchill's Mia Kellogg was able to break up their top four as Reese Latta nabbed fourth place in 18:45.82. Addyson Latta, the oldest of the bunch, crossed the line in 22:00.45 and finished 48th place overall. The sister act has won both invitationals the have competed in this year.
Around the City
On Friday night, Lockhart hosted the 38th Annual Hippensteel Invitational. New Braunfels won the 5A-6A girls race with 19 points and their top six runners all finished in the top-10. Savanah Moya took the gold medal by crossing the line in 12:06.3 for the 2-mile course while Ava Briley and Mara Fulmer were the next two across the finish line for the Unicorns. The New Braunfels boys finished as runner-ups and their top five runners all finished in the top-16. Christian Lopez-Lopez led the way in fifth place. Lockhart took fourth place and Seguin finished in fifth place. Lockhart's Ethan Herrera and Seguin's Adrian Rangel were the top locals finishing second and third, respectively.
Wimberley won the 1A-4A girls meet with 37 points while Saint Mary's Hall took home second place. Corina Joyce (Wimberley) won the individual title in 12:26.3 for the 2-mile race and she had three teammates join her in the top-10. Micah Monteleone and Ellie Scott took home top-10 honors for SMH. Cornerstone finished runner-up in the 1A-4A boys division thanks to Jesiah Becho and Mateo Maxville grabbing top-10 honors. Patrick Cummings was the individual champion running 10:48.0 for Saint Mary's Hall who finished in fourth place as a team.
The SA Patriots Invitational had many great performances. In the boys varsity division Clemens continued to impress with another victory tallying only 64 points. Boerne, Reagan and San Antonio Christian grabbed the next three spots in the standings in a race that had 24 teams. Sean Gonzalez won the race for Clemens who had four runners in the top-20. TMI did not finish in the top-10 as a team, but Wells Peterson and Ethan Garza took second and third place, respectively. Boerne was led by Aaron Garcia and Braydon Scott who each finished in the top-15. Logan Martinez and Aiden Gendron were Reagan's top finishers with each cracking the top-20 while Adrian Rule took home seventh place for San Antonio Christian.
The big school varsity girls division was won by the South Texas Heat who were previously mentioned. Reagan was the runner-up, just 20 points behind the Heat thanks to four runners in the top-20, including Ellyson Spurlock and Theone Glosser. Churchill was third with an excellent top three runners of Mia Kellogg, Kallie Van Prooyen and Kaelyn Holland. Canyon finished in fourth place thanks to a pair of runners who broke 20 minutes in the 5K race, Madi Molinar and Scarlett Dusek. Davenport won the small school girls title at the SA Patriots Invitational. Kendall Fallon, Kendall Johnston and Macie Fallon were all top-7 finishers in the 2-mile race. D'Vani Hernandez of San Antonio Christian was the individual champion in 12:27.00.
Medina Valley hosted both 5A-6A and 1A-4A divisions at their meet. Brandeis won the 5A-6A girls with 39 points while Medina Valley close behind them with 45 points. Ella Rodriguez (Medina Valley) was the individual champion covering the 5K course in 19:01.6 as she held off Judson's Ana Garza who was second in 19:06.6. Brandeis won thanks to an impressive 1-5 split of only 46 seconds as Danelly Carrion, Anabella Palumbo, Delilah Huntley, Violet Ostrowski and Zoy Risinger all finished between eighth and 15th place. Lee's Penny Pim finished as the bronze medalist.
Bandera topped Pleasanton by 11 points to win the 1A-4A girls division. Taytum Moeller, Lori King and Riley Lalanne were all top-10 finishers for Bandera. Shalyn Gutierrez and Jewely Oltivero were the top two overall finishers and both run for Pleasanton. Lytle split their team between both races finishing fourth in the 5A-6A Division and third in the 1A-4A Division.
The Medina Valley boys won the 5A-6A Division of their home meet with 56 points to hold off Brandeis (64 points) and Lytle (70 points) in a meet that included 22 teams. Nicholas Castro (2nd, 16:12.9), Kyle Carpenter (4th, 16:20.7), Braden Riley (10th, 16:36.5) and Ezra Gonzalez (11th, 16:38.3) led MV to the team title. Devin Malesich and Kian Pinilla-Jimenez gave Brandeis a pair of top-5 finishers while Lytle was led by Diego Reyna and Jacob Cantu who crossed the line in sixth and seventh place, respectively.
Devine dominated the 1A-4A Medina Valley boys race with only 25 points. Zach Guerra won the individual title for the team in 17:46.4 while Shawn Love, Brody Lane and Ryan Botello all grabbed top-10 honors. Pleasanton finished in third place as a team behind Micah Klein and Joaquin Zuniga who each finished in the top-10. Dilley's Josiah Benavides was the runner-up and Thomas Nava of San Antonio Memorial was fourth in 18:01.3.
Boerne Champion took home a pair of team titles at the 5A-6A Long Creek Invitational. Rebecca Bezerra and Emma Radtke finished second and third place overall for their girls team while Shawn Edwards, Sebastian Carvallo, Noah Moreno, Mason Nelson and Brandon Martinez all finished in the top-7 for the boys team. Individually, Kassia Kozarski (Steele) was the girls champion running 18:46.98 while Titus Gill of the SA Spartans won the boys race in 15:45.33. Steele finished in second place as a team in both races.
In the 1A-4A Long Creek Invitational girls race Juliet Alcott of Great Hearts Northern Oaks was the individual champion while Eva Zabarcencu (Canyon Lake) finished in second place and Lilia Flo (Navarro) grabbed third place. Canyon Lake was runner-up as a team while La Vernia nabbed third place.
Tristan Schenk (Canyon Lake) was the individual champion in the Long Creek 1A-4A boys division by finishing in 17:09.79. Greats Hearts won the team title with 35 points thanks to Brayden Salzwedel, Carter Hasler and Sam Davis taking the next three spots after Schenk. Canyon Lake was the second place squad.
The Central Catholic Invitational was dominated by the Johnson Jaguars who won both the boys and girls divisions. In the girls race Isabella Porter, Ariana Pinheiro and Kira Albino were the top three overall finishers while Isabella Arias and Adriana Parra finished sixth and seventh, respectively for Johnson. Dani Shelfo (TMI) and Bella Adams (Holmes) rounded out the top five individual finishers. Zoe Maricle (Wagner), Katherine Zinnante (Cole) and Katherine Jackson (Reagan) all finished in the top-10.
In the boys race, the Jaguars had five runners in the top seven. Channon Davis (Wagner) was the bronze medalist while Caden Kitson (Cole) and Nicholas Maldonado (Madison) finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Levi Kitson (Cole), Marcus Cecconi (Central Catholic) and Erick Leandro (Health Careers) each finished in the top-10.
What's Happening This Week
This week, Canyon is hosting the Canyon Cougar Invitational on Friday at Starcke Park in Seguin. Southwest and San Marcos are each hosting their own invitationals while the Great Hearts San Antonio District Meet will take place on Saturday at the Pearsall Prak Disc Golf Course.
Another week, another large, local meet with the 23rd Annual San Antonio Patriots Invitational this past Saturday at Retama Park. While many teams competed in Selma, Medina Valley High School also hosted a big meet with nearly 30 schools. As the calendar turns to September it is always fun to see how teams come together as they get ready for their District meets in the first few weeks of October.
Who's Top Dog?