Lytle XC hit the trail in New Braunfels; Pirates 5th overall

Lytle ran at the New Braunfels Unicorn Cross Country Invitational last Saturday morning on Comal County Fairgrounds. The Pirates placed 5th amongst the 12 teams competing. The Lady Pirates sent four runners, so they did not have a team ranking as it takes a minimum of five runners to accumulate a score.
Pirates
Robert Wagner paced the Pirates placing 14th of 84 runners with a time of 10:34 on the three thousand meter course. Jose Cortez was 18th only two seconds later at 10:36.
“Robert was our lone medalist but Jose was not too far behind,” stated Head Coach Gilbert Ruiz.
Brandon Obando (26th-10:55), Israel Andrade (48th-11:17), Johnny Rey Alvarez (49th-11:20), and Luke Estrada (66th-11:49) rounded out the rest of the places and times for the Pirates.
Lady Pirates
The four runners for the Lady Pirate squad were Marissa Lopez, Samantha Mujica, Moriah Gomez, and Dezmarie Ortega.
“We had only four runners but we ran better than we did a week ago,” said Ruiz about his foursome of runners.
Lopez led the charge placing 32nd of 70 competitors with a 13:12 time while Mujica was only eight spots back finishing 40th with a 13:34.
Gomez was 46th at 13:51 and Ortega was 52nd at 14:04.
JV Pirates
The JV Pirates placed 5th of 12 as a team with Daniel Mercado, Donovan Cortez, and Jared Aguinaga leading the way. Mercado placed 37th with a 12:05 time, while Cortez (38th-12:05) and Aguinaga (39th-12:08) finished directly after.
Faustino Ruiz ran a 13:01 to place 70th and Aaron Martinez posted a 13:23 to finish 80th.
JV Lady Pirates
JV Lady Pirates competing were Jadyn Bojarquez (37th-14:41), Fatima Montes (58th-15:22), and Rose Scotello (84th-16:22).
Varsity boy team rankings
1st New Braunfels 48, 2nd Northside Brandeis 53, 3rd Boerne Champion 94, 4th FEAST Home School 129, 5th Lytle 140, 6th Cibolo Steele 147, 7th Comal Pieper 154, 8th Northside O’Connor 186, 9th Seguin 213, 10th Bastrop Cedar Creek 228.
JV boy team rankings
1st Comal Canyon 25, 2nd New Braunfels 53, 3rd Boerne Champion 75, 4th Cibolo Creek, 5th Boerne Geneva 166, 6th Lytle 204, 7th FEAST Home School 208, 8th Northside Brandeis 211, 9th Navarro 258, 10th Seguin 270.
Up next
The team next travels to River City Community Church Athletic Fields on Saturday to compete in the FEAST Invitational.
By Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer