San Antonio XC News and Notes #6

The final weekend of September had local teams competing all over the area. The Seguin Matadore Invitational was the largest local meet and many smaller schools also played host this past week. It was also a good weekend for San Antonio teams in the Cross Country Coaches Association of Texas rankings with three new teams appearing this week. Keep reading to find out what happened around the area.

Who Showed Out?

            There were many teams that had strong performances this past week, but the ones that stood out to me were the Kerrville Tivy girls, Reagan girls, Churchill boys and girls, Clemens boys and the San Antonio Patriots boys.

            Dropping down to 4A has gone well for Tivy and they won the Pete Belman Classic with 34 points last week. Ivery Evans was the individual champion in 12:07.69 while Hattie Gilbreath (12:59.83), Victoria Hernandez (13:04.52) and Cora Cowart (13:31.98) gave them four finishers in the top 10. They are in an extremely difficult district that includes Canyon Lake, Davenport, Fredericksburg and Wimberley.

            Reagan traveled to the Camp Tejas meet in Giddings and won the team title with 29 points. Their top five runners all finished in the top 10 and posted a 1-5 split of 1:05. Paige Opaska led the team with a runner-up performance in 18:57.

            Both of Churchill's teams won the Seguin Matadore 5A-6A meet. Their girls are ranked in the CCCAT 6A rankings for the first time this week and responded with an impressive victory. Mia Kellogg won the individual title in 18:07.1 while Kallie Van Prooyen and Kaelyn Holland each finished in the top 10. The Charger boys won the top prize among 26 teams. Caleb Esquivel was their top finisher in 15:57.7 (fifth) while Mateo Rosales, Jacob Davidson and Cody Campos all finished in the top 20.

            Clemens was back in the winner's circle again this week taking the Alamo Heights Invitational title with 24 points. Sean Gonzalez (15:36.32), Aric Pinguelo (16:01.55) and Trevor Lawson (16:03.02) took the top three spots in the race.

            The San Antonio Patriots won the 1A-4A Seguin Matadore Invitational behind Christian Helwig's winning performance. He crossed the line in 16:10.1 while Aiden Stout (10^th), David Jensen (13^th) and Keegan Bahr (17^th) gave them four top 20 finishers.

In the Rankings

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

6A Girls: Canyon (#9), Churchill (#10)

5A Girls: New Braunfels (#2), Smithson Valley (#4), Boerne Champion (#6)

5A Boys: Boerne Champion (#2)

4A Girls: Davenport (#8)

4A Boys: Davenport (#7)

3A Boys: Lytle (#1), Cole (#10)

            Three different teams made their first appearance in the CCCAT rankings this week: Canyon girls, Churchill girls and Davenport boys. Canyon won the Del Valle Invitational without their top three runners competing. Freshman Paige Hoskins stepped up and finished third with a time of 20:09.1 while Natalie Rosas (fifth), Sloan Kubenka (ninth) and Maddyn Werth (11^th) all finished well. Churchill took home the Seguin 5A-6A title. Davenport finished in sixth place in the Seguin Matadore 1A-4A Invitational. Caleb Bliss led the team by finishing in fourth place in a time of 16:41.5.

            The New Braunfels girls took runner-up honors at the Seguin Matadore Invitational despite #3 runner Tessa Shamblin not competing. Savanah Moya finished second in 18:17.2 while Halle Bryant was fifth in 18:39.4. The Boerne Champion boys and girls each ran at the same meet but did not run their top runners. Smithson Valley did not race this week.

            The Davenport girls took home the title in the Seguin Matadore 1A-4A meet. They posted a brilliant 1-5 split of 28 seconds. Audrey Orgill, Raelin Cortinas and Sophia Osborne all finished with five seconds of each other and earned top 10 honors.

            The Lytle boys finished third in the Seguin Matadore 5A-6A meet despite running without two of their top five runners. Jacob Cantu was the individual champion in 15:33.5 while Adrian Reyna finished in 15^th place. Cole ran in the 1A-4A portion of the meet and finished in second place. Caden Kitson was the runner-up in 16:30.2 while his brother, Levi Kitson, finished eighth in 16:56.6.

Finishing Strong

            Brennan senior Kailyn Brunson did not run cross country as a freshman for the Bears, but as a sophomore she won four meets, finished third in the Region and was 37^th overall at the UIL 6A State meet. She kept that pace going through her sophomore track season where she just missed getting to the State meet after finishing third in the 3200m and fourth in the 1600m at the Regional meet. As a junior in cross country, she struggled a little bit winning only one meet and finishing in 100^th place at the State meet after running nearly 45 seconds slower than the year before. In track, she once again finished in fourth place in the 1600m at the Regional meet. This year it appears she is in great form after winning the Alamo Heights Invitational this past weekend while posting significantly faster times at both the Hoka McNeil Invitational and the Texas A&M Invitational. She could be in line for a great finish to her final cross country season.

Around the City

            There were a few local teams at the Steve Golemon Memorial Invitational in Llano. Sean O'Fiel (Fredericksburg Heritage) was the individual boys champion with a time of 16:49.99 and Comfort finished in fifth place. Kinley Boyd (Blanco) was the top local girl taking third place in 13:21.73 while her team finished in fifth place.

            Uvalde hosted the Pete Belman Classic and they had large school and small school divisions. The Sotomayor boys swept the large school division as Ilias Braxton (15:45.99), Matthew Gomez (16:13.32), Jordan Bailey (16:19.25), Arthur Acosta (16:20.66) and Christian De Dios (16:22.48) took the top five spots. Their girls' team finished in second place and was led by Laura Wallace who was third in 20:24.58. Jay's Annabelle Chavarria finished in eighth place.

            Tivy took both team titles in the Belman Classic small school division. Their boys were led by Pedro Hernandez (16:13.91) and Uriah Aguilera (16:46.50) who took the top two spots. Enzio DeLeon of Carrizo Springs was the bronze medal winner while Pearsall had two runners in the top 10; Alexander Peralta and Serapio Vasquez. The Bandera girls finished a close second to Tivy. Kaylee Fried, Milesia Casas and Cassi Williams gave them three runners in the top 10. Kennedy's Haydee Vail-Lopez finished runner-up to Ivery Evans with her time of 12:41.29.

            The Reagan boys and girls each won the Camp Tejas Invitational. Aiden Gendron led the boys' team with a first-place result in 15:57. Their top five runners all finished in the top 12. The top five girls for Reagan all finished in the top 10.

            A few of the local small schools went to the 4^th Annual Robert Salazar Invitational. Cotulla's Emmanuel Lopez was the individual boys' champion covering the 5K course in 16:24.27. Dilley's Josiah Benavides (17:16.79) and Gabriel Liska (17:27.74) of Falls City each finished in the top five. Dilley finished second out of six teams. In the girls' race, Cotulla had three of the top five runners in Jazlyn Olivas (first, 12:30.61), Dayanna Conchas (second, 12:58.58) and Destiny Garcia (fifth, 13:11.79) and they finished in second place overall.

            The Clemens boys dominated the Alamo Heights Invitational with four of the top six finishers. Brennan finished in second place and were led by PJ Irby (fourth, 16:35.48) and Levi Tavitas (ninth, 16:56.81). Alamo Heights finished in third place behind a pair of top 10 runners, Ross Baker and Aiden Cerna-Fox.

In the girls' race, Brennan narrowly won the Alamo Heights Invite by seven points over the hosts. Kailyn Brunson was the individual champion and Mikayla Irby was the Bears' #2 runner finishing in seventh place in 20:45.19. Kate Rogers (19:51.88) and Evie Fitch (20:55.90) each finished in the top 10 for Alamo Heights. Taft's Adelyn Miller (19:05.68) and Ashtyn Mandacina (19:44.68) of Clark were the other two runners who broke 20 minutes.

The Southside Invitational featured 14 teams although not all of them featured full sides. Steele won the boys' meet with 48 points while Warren and Holmes were second and third with 67 points each. Aiden Rodriguez (16:32.8), Christian Gardner (17:21.6) and Anthony Ezell (17:27.8) each finished in the top 10. Warren had a pair of top 10 runners with Lian Ramos and Seth Miller while Holmes had three in the top six with Jeremiah Rodriguez (second, 16:28.4), Armando Cantu (fourth, 16:43.9) and Elias Delgado (sixth, 17:12.9). Lee's Alvaro Zuniga was the individual champion crossing the finish line in 16:16.2.

The Steele girls easily won the Southside Invitational with a scant 16 points. Alaina Pirkle (19:56.2), Kaylin Polk (20:19.5), Peyton Jarzombek (20:50.6) and Kylee Adams (20:51.4) all finished in the top 10. Lee's Natalie Bowland was the individual champion in 19:46.6 and Bella Adams (Holmes) was runner-up in 19:51.7.

The San Antonio Spartans won the Luling/Sandia City Invitational with 16 points. Spencer Cox (16:38.75), Andrew Sumners, Isaiah Najera and Jack Flanigan finished in the first four spots of the boys' race. Floresville topped Poth by 10 points in the girls' race. Alexis Doege (Floresville) was the individual champion in 12:22.22 and teammate, Julissa Rodriguez, finished in fourth. Katelyn Poth led Poth with a runner-up finished in 12:39.07.

Canyon ran at the Del Valle Invitational. Their boys' team finished in second place as Cooper Anderson (17:34.6), Lucius Marquart (17:35.2), Connor Valdez (17:51.5) and Enrique Tijerina-Sanchez (17:55.8) all finished in the top 20. Their girls' team won the team title with 49 points and had six runners finish in the top 25.

What's Coming Up

            This week, Comfort hosts the Billy Nabours 8^th Annual Oktoberfest on Wednesday. Northside and Southwest Legacy each host meets on Saturday barring bad weather. There are a few teams scheduled to run at the Jesuit Class in Dallas on Saturday as well.

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