The Lytle Lady Pirate Cross Country team had an outstanding performance at their first shot as a team at the State Meet last Friday morning. The Lady Pirates placed fourth out of 16 teams, missing the medal stand by only nineteen points.
With six of the seven runners never to have competed at State previously, Lytle’s future looks bright as all seven return next year to make another run at that three-team championship podium.
This season marked the first time in Lady Pirate Cross Country history that they advanced to State as a team. Four individual runners represented the program in previous years.
“The ladies knew that they would need to run their best against the best to make the medal stand,” said assistant coach Hadley Foster. “Holiday was the favorite to win the meet and they did as expected and won gold. The ladies just missed out on a third place medal by placing fourth behind district foe Poth. The ladies fought hard and ran fast but on this day it wasn’t enough to stand on the medal stand.”
Eisable Guerrero, the now three-time state qualifier, led Lytle with her 32nd place finish. Guerrero ran 12:37.1 to beat out 33rd place by a little over one-second. In 2020, Guerrero placed 49th.
Marissa Lopez placed 55th. Lopez ran 12:57.8 to beat 56th place by .1 seconds.
Samantha Mujica was 62nd. Mujica ran 13:00.6 to edge out 63rd place by almost a full second.
Moriah Gomez placed 68th. Gomez ran a 13:02.8 to beat 69th place by a half-second.
Jadyn Bojorquez was 84th place. Bojorquez also edged out her next competitor by almost a half-second as Jadyn ran 13:18.8.
Natalie Williams placed 116th. Williams ran 13:47.6 to comfortably beat 117th place by two-and-a-half seconds.
Dezmarie Ortega was the last of the Lady Pirates to cross the finish line as she came in 118th overall. Ortega ran 13:50.7 while 119th place ran 13:51.3.
“The girls ran fast but as you can see many ladies ran fast due to the number of runners who finished between our runners.,” Foster said about the multitude of runners crossing the line in what seemed like one right after another in rapid succession. “In sixteen seconds, sixteen girls finished between Mariah and Jadyn.”
Welcome back, eventually
2022 brings back all seven of these State Qualifiers as none are graduating in the spring. Eisabell Guerrero, Marissa Lopez, Moriah Gomez, Jadyn Boroquez, Natalie Williams, and Dezmarie Ortega are all juniors who will be hungry to make the podium as seniors while sophomore Samantha Mujica looks to help propel those ladies and herself to new heights.
Team rank
1 Holiday 39, 2 Lorena 87, 3 Poth 135, 4 Lytle 154, 5 Whitesboro 190, 6th Canadian 191, 7 Crane 212, 8 McGregor 229, 9 Yoakum 231, 10 East Bernard 248, 11 Tornillo 258, 12 Vanderbilt Industrial 267, 13 Paradise 281, 14 Callisburg 330, 15 Rogers 356, 16 Mineola 388.
Top 10 individual
1 Hannah Spears-Holiday 11:34, 2 Esmeralda Garcia-Walls Brazos 11:48, 3 Addison Sykora-Lorena 11:50, 4 Faith Cruz-Vanguard Rembrandt 11:53, 5 Alyssa Wray-Lago Vista 11:55, 6 Yvonne Legaretta-Friona 11:58.00, 7 Konnar McClendon-Canadian 11:58.02, 8 Addison Hite-Pilot Point 12:01, 9 Jaycee Lyons-Holliday 12:05, 10 Addison Martin-Ballinger 12:06.
Lady Pirates
32 Eisabel Guerrero 12:37.1, 55 Marissa Lopez 12:57.8, 62 Samantha Mujica 13:00.5, 68 Moriah Gomez 13:02.8, 84 Jadyn Bojorquez 13:18.8, 116 Natalie Williams 13:47.6, 118 Dezmarie Ortega 13:50.7.
By Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer