The Lytle Pirate Cross Country team is heading back to State! The Pirates placed 2nd as a team, finishing as runner-up to champion Brownsville Frontier College Prep. Jose Cortez, Robert Wagner, Israel Andrade, Abel Sanchez, and Brandon Obando all placed in the top 40, while Jared Aguinaga and Johnny Rey Alvarez also ran for the state qualifying team.
“Congrats to the boys for overcoming all their injuries and finishing as runner-ups. It was the first time all year this group ran this 7 and to finish 2nd after going in as the 6th team,” was Head Coach Gilbert Ruiz’s first comments after leaving the award stand in Corpus Christi.
The first five Pirates to finish accumulated 96 points, 22-points behind Brownsville who had 74. Lytle had plenty of breathing room between themselves and San Antonio Cole who was the 3rd place team.
Senior Jose Cortez led all Pirates with a 7th place individual finish. Cortez ran a 17:46.4 5K time.
Junior Robert Wagner came in 18th. Wagner ran 18:11.6.
Senior Israel Andrade was the third Pirate to finish in the top 20 as he came in 20th. Andrade ran an 18:18 race.
Sophomore Abel Sanchez ran 19:01. He placed 35th.
Brandon Obando came in 40th, which was the fifth and final scoring spot for the Pirates. Obando ran 19:13.
Senior Jared Aguinaga was top 50 as he came in 46th. Aguinaga ran 19:20.
Freshman Johnny Rey Alvarez ran 19:33 as all seven Pirates ran a sub-20 minute race. Alvarez placed 56th.
Congratulations to the State advancing Lytle Pirate Cross Country team!
Top 13 teams
1 Brownsville Frontier College Prep 74, 2 Lytle 96, 3 San Antonio Cole 129, 4 Vanderbilt Industrial 145, 5 Great Hearts Northern Oaks 154, 6 Universal City Randolph 164, 7 IDEA Pharr 233, 8 Lago Vista 233, 9 Bishop 309, 10 Vanguard Rembrandt 315, 11 Mathis 329, 12 Dilley 335, 13 Natalia 372.
Top 20 individual
1 Wyatt Hoover-Poth 16:51, 2 Benjamin Alcott-Great Hearts Northern Oaks 17:14, 3 Josh Howard-Universal City Randolph 17:33, 4 Noah Gilkey-Natalia 17:36, 5 Kevin Macias-IDEA Quest 17:42, 6 Carlos Leyva-Bishop 17:45, 7 Jose Cortez-Lytle 17:46, 8 Carlos Zavala-Brownsville Frontier 17:47, 9 Jesus Antuan Cotero-IDEA Pharr 17:48, 10 Joshua Griffin-Hallettsville 17:52.36, 11 Juan Jimenez-Brownsville Frontier 17:52.56, 12 Miguel Silva-Hernandez-Luling 17:54, 13 Jonathan Garcia-Vanderbilt Industrial 17:56, 14 Anthony Meyer-San Antonio Cole 18:03, 15 Aaron Wilfert-Vanderbilt Industrial 18:07, 16 Taylor Warrick-Stockdale 18:08, 17 Jackson Turner-Llano 18:09, 18 Robet Wagner-Lytle 18:11, 19 Anthony Guerra-Dilley 18:16, 20 Israel Andrade-Lytle 18:18.
By Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer