Lytle Jr. High Lady Pirates and Pirates hopped on the yellow bus for the hour or so ride to Bandera Saturday for the Bulldog Invitational. The 8th grade Pirates placed 2nd as a team while the 8th grade Lady Pirates came in 8th. Each of Lytle’s 7th grade squads had competitors but neither had the five runners in order to qualify for team rankings.
8th Pirates
The 8th grade Pirates placed second as a team with 56 points. Their runner-up status was only 26 spots behind team champion San Antonio Pieper Ranch who tallied 30 points.
Chase Guavara led the way for the 8th grade Pirates with a silver medal winning 9:28 time. Bryan Montes-Rodriguez was also top 10 finishing 6th at 9:47. Noah Merrel was just out of the top 10 placing 11th with a 10:01.
Diego Reyna (18th-10:16), Antonio Castro (19th-10:19), and Lucas Salazar (27th-11:01) rounded out the second place squad.
8th Lady Pirates
The 8th grade Lady Pirates scored 135 points in route to their 8th place team ranking. The Lady Pirates were sandwiched between Del Rio who had 128 points and Boerne Geneva who had 146.
Klayre Cook paced her 8th grade teammates once again as she took 6th place overall out of the 116 competitors. Her 11:03 was just ahead of Frankie Scotello who was 8th with a 11:08.
Kimora Sancez (31st-12:42), Svetlana Lopez (34th-12:52), Isabella Sewell (56th-14:16), and Annika Robles (64th-14:53) were other Lady Pirate runners.
7th Pirates
The 7th grade Pirates had two lone runners toeing the line to begin the race.
Weston Jackson grabbed a top 15 spot and a medal with his 13th place, 11:00 time. Jacob Zimmerle was 42nd with a 12:29.
7th Lady Pirates
The 7th grade Lady Pirates took three runners to Bandera.
Vanessa Ayala finished top 10 as she earned 8th place individually with a 12:09. Lalaeni Riviera barely finished out of the top 15 as she got 16th with a time of 12:31.
Addison Wagner was 42nd at 13:57.
Team rankings
8th boys
1st San Antonio Pieper Ranch 30, 2nd Lytle 56, 3rd Devine 92, 4th Boerne 102, 5th Great Hearts Northern Oaks Griffins 129, 6th Del Rio 142, 7th Loma Alta 179, 9th Eagle Pass 201, 10th Medina Valley 233.
8th girls
1st San Antonio Pieper Ranch 51, 2nd Pleasanton 74, 3rd Boerne 96, 4th La Vernia 127, 5th Del Rio 128, 6th Lytle 135, 7th Boerne Geneva 146, 8th Bandera 201, 9th Loma Alta 243, 10th Eagle Pass 257.
7th boys
1st Medina Valley 52, 2nd Pleasanton 81, 3rd San Antonio Pieper Ranch 85, 4th Great Hearts Northern Oaks 133, 5th Del Rio 138, 6th Loma Alta 141, 7th Boerne Geneva 144, 8th Bandera 192, 9th Devine 208, 10th Eagle Pass 256.
7th girls
1st Boerne 68, 2nd Bandera 89, 3rd San Antonio Pieper Ranch 106, 4th Pleasanton 127, 5th La Vernia 133, 6th Boerne Geneva 144, 7th Loma Alta 151, 8th Medina Valley 159, 9th Ingram 174, 10th Pearsall 235.
By Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer