The theme of the UIL Region IV
Cross Country championships was repeat champions for the San Antonio area. On
Monday and Tuesday, five local teams repeated as champions on a hot and humid
Corpus Christi course.
The
meet opened on Monday morning with the 3A division races. The girl's race was a
near sweep for San Antonio teams with Poth repeating as the champion with 66
points followed by Lytle (78) and Cole (112). Great Hearts Northern Oaks just
missed out on the fourth spot by 17 points to San Diego. Poth received a great
performance from their top three runners as Brooklyn Albert took second,
Katelyn Poth was third and Chelsea Gorzell followed in fifth place. Albert was
one of two runners to break 12-minutes on the 2-mile course with her time of
11:53.89. Lytle's first runner finished behind Gorzell when Frances Scotello
crossed the line in sixth place, but they made the meet close because Annalise
Quintanilla, Elyse Cortinas and Svetlana Lopez all finished in the top-20,
before Poth's #4 runner.
Individually,
the San Antonio area boasted the top eight runners in the Region. In addition
to the Poth and Lytle runners, Juliet Alcott of Great Hearts Northern Oaks took
home individual medalist honors with a time of 11:31.69 to win by over 20
seconds. Alcott's teammate, Madison Teague, finished in seventh place while
Katherine Zinnante (Cole) took fourth and Caroline Finley (Randolph) finished
in eighth. Alexys Cheney (Cole), Aurora Jones (Luling) and Jersey Brantley
(Stockdale) qualified individually for the State meet giving area runners
7-of-10 individual spots.
The
3A boys featured defending State champion Lytle and they secured their spot
back at the State meet with another Regional title with 54 points. Cole was
runner-up with 80 points while Great Hearts Northern Oaks grabbed fourth with
151 points. Freshman Jacob Cantu led Lytle with his individual title covering
the 5K course in 16:21.87. He had three of his teammates follow him in close
succession with Diego Reyna (6th), Adrian Reyna (11th)
and Bryan Montes-Rodriguez (15th) all finishing among the first 15
runners. Cole powered to a runner-up finish behind the brother duo of Caden
Kitson and Levi Kitson. Caden finished in third place in 16:44.19 while Levi, a
freshman, took fourth place in 16:52.20. Brayden Salzwedel and Carter Hasler
gave Northern Oaks a pair of top-20 finishers. Cooper Warrick (Stockdale),
Josiah Benavides (Dilley) and Cole Durbin (Great Hearts Monte Vista) gave the
San Antonio area three more individual State qualifiers.
The
5A boys had a repeat team champion, Weslaco East, but they do not hail from the
San Antonio area. Boerne Champion was the top local team finishing in third
place with 127 points. Noah Moreno was their top finisher with his 26th
place performance in 17:06.77 and he was quickly followed by four teammates who
gave them a 1-5 split of 25.24s. Lockhart's Ethan Herrera led the local
contingent of runners with his fifth place finish in 16:22.12. Boerne's Brayden
Scott finished 10th and Luke Smith of Smithson Valley finished in 15th
place to grab the last individual qualifier spot. Wagner's Channon Davis and
Brackenridge's Reyes Arteaga each finished in the top-20 but missed out on an
individual State qualifier spot.
The
5A girls race was dominated by District 26-5A. Defending State champion
Smithson Valley repeated as the Region champ with 49 points while New Braunfels
was second with 89 points and Boerne Champion finished in third with 115
points. Smithson Valley also boasted the individual Regional champion for a
second straight year, although it was a different runner this year. Aubrey
Pozzi ran away from the lead group over the final half of the race and cross
the tape in 18:26.79 for the victory. Savanah Moya (New Braunfels) settled for
second place with a time of 18:34.25.
SV
had four runners finish in the top-20. After Pozzi, Lilly Koenig used a late
sprint to go from eighth place to sixth place. Skyler Fonseca (14th),
Addison Knibbe (20th) and Parker Julian (23rd) followed
in short order. Ava Briley gave the Unicorns a pair of top-20 finishers with
her 10th place performance. Boerne Champion was led by Rebecca
Bezerra (7th) and Emma Radtke (18th). Pieper's Sadie
Larson (8th) and Southside's Emarald Aguirre (13th) each qualified
for the State meet as individuals.
The
1A races closed out Monday. There are not any true San Antonio area schools in
the division, but Tilden McMullen County and Utopia are reasonably close.
McMullen County swept the boys and girls team titles. Utopia is sending three
individuals to the State meet; Brayden Long, Macee Rhodes and Leighton
Leavelle.
The
4A boys race was won by La Feria while San Antonio area schools Floresville and
Devine finished in third and fourth place, respectively. Floresville finished
10 points behind runner-up Tuloso-Midway. Kaden Cypert led the team with a third-place
individual finish in 16:19.27. His teammate, Jack Zarosky, finished in 17th
place. Devine was led by Urijah Velasquez and his 18th place finish.
Caleb Bliss of Davenport and Jose Ruiz of Fredericksburg were each individual
State qualifiers finishing in the top-15.
The
4A girls race was dominated by local teams with all four State qualifying
squads and five of the top six teams overall calling the San Antonio area home.
Davenport ran their best race of the season to win a second straight Regional title.
They finished with 95 to hold off Fredericksburg by 17 points. Floresville
followed in third place and Wimberley finished it off with a fourth-place
finish.
Davenport
received top-10 performances from Kendall Fallon and Macie Fallon while Olivia
Bounds chipped in with a 17th-place performance. Fredericksburg was
led by the repeat Regional champion Rilyn Grona who won in 11:42.14. Abbi Brown
gave the Billies a second runner in the top-15, but Davenport's #3 and #5
runners were a combined 18 spots in front of Fredericksburg's same runners to
supply the difference in the meet. Nora Felan led Floresville with a top-10
finish while Wimberley's Corina Joyce competed with Grona for the individual
title before settling for second place.
The
4A girls also had many individual State qualifiers from the San Antonio area.
Navarro's Lilia Flo led the way with her bronze medal performance. Eva
Zabarcencu of Canyon Lake and Arianna Rivera of Carrizo Springs added top-10
finishes while Shalyn Gutierrez (Pleasanton) and Angelyna Montes (Pearsall)
each finished in the top-20.
The
local 6A boys were led by Clemens and their fourth-place finish with 131 points
to edge out Lake Travis by five points for the final State qualifier spot. It
is the first time the Buffalos have qualified as a team for the State meet.
Sean Gonzalez led the way with a runner-up finish in 15:33.95. Jayce Love gave
the team a second runner in the top-10.
Individually,
five other San Antonio 6A boys qualified for the State meet. Clark's Aiden
Adams continued his fantastic season with a fourth-place finish in 15:50.47.
Reagan's Logan Martinez and Johnson's Nicolas Repper-Molina each qualified
while Churchill qualified a pair of runners in Caleb Esquivel and Zach Hudson
for the State meet.
In
6A girls, Johnson won their second straight Regional title despite not having
their best day. For the first time this season, neither Isabella Porter nor
Emily Krot was the team's #1 runner. Ariana Pinheiro Barrei led the way in 14th
place with a time of 19:27.32 and she was followed quickly by teammates Kira Albino,
Krot and Porter who all finished inside the top-20 and crossed the line within
10 seconds of Pinheiro. Reagan took runner-up honors in the meet with a strong
performance. They were led by Theone Glosser's top-5 finish and time of
19:03.76. She was their only top-20 finisher, but their other four scoring
runners all finished within 40 seconds of each other.
The
San Antonio area girls nabbed six of the 10 individual qualifier spots. Canyon's
Madi Molinar and Churchill's Mia Kellogg finished nearly side-by-side in seventh
and eighth place, respectively while Anastacia Garza (Judson), Kassia Kozarski
(Steele), Adelyn Miller (Taft) and Kailyn Brunson (Brennan) all finished consecutively
from 10th to 13th place.
At
the 2A level, the Stacey boys took fifth place to finish just outside the team
qualifiers. Jarred Dunn qualified in 18th place for Stacey as an
individual and Gabriel Liska of Falls City finished right in front of Dunn to
punch his ticket as well.