The Lytle Pirates won the Class 3A Region IV Cross Country Championship at Corpus Christi Monday morning, while Lady Pirate runner Eisabel Guerrero advances as an individual qualifier. The boys’ championship marked a back-to-back title while Eisabel makes a return trip to State as well.
The XC State Championship is ran at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock on Monday, November 23rd for the 1A, 3A, and 5A classifications while the 2A, 4A, and 6A races are held on Tuesday, November 24.
JoseCarlos Hernandez, Gregorio Alcorta, and Robert Wagner all finished in the top ten overall while Jose Cortez, Abel Sanchez, and Brandon Obando came in 21st, 33rd, and 37th respectively.
Kyle Mueller, one of the Pirate top runners all season, was “tripped up” 150 meters into the race according to Head Coach Gilbert Ruiz. Kyle broke his arm in the fall was not able to finish the race in an unfortunate set of circumstances.
“First, our thoughts and prayers go out to senior Kyle Mueller who will had surgery early Tuesday morning for a fractured arm that occurred 150 meters from the starting line,” stated Ruiz.“He had a great start but was tripped up from behind and tried to support his fall with his left arm and fractured it just below his elbow. We are hoping for a quick recovery.”
Looking ahead to State, Ruiz said, “Now the team must balance its lingering injuries with its training to get back some of what we lost during our quarantine. We currently sit 7th or 8th but know that if we can get back what we lost; we can challenge for a medal. We have two weeks to find that out in Round Rock on November 23rd.”
As for the Lady Pirates, Ruiz commented, “Even though the girls finished the best they ever have, they had to do it one runner short. Senior Jazmine Ortega twisted her ankle going into the first mile and could not finish the race.”
More to come in next week’s The Devine News.
Top 8 teams boys
1st Lytle 42, 2nd San Antonio Great Hearts Northern Oaks 65, 3rd Randolph 94, 4th Bishop 103, 5th IDEA Pharr 144, 6th Brownsville Frontier College Prep 187, 7th Natalia 188, 8th Palacios 197.
Top 10 boys & Pirates
1st Wyatt Hoover-Poth 17:10 2nd Aaron Wilfert-Vanderbilt Industrial 17:24, 3rd JoseCarlos Hernandez-Lytle 17:35, 4th Gregorio Alcorta-Lytle 17:50, 5th Jonathan Garcia-Vanderbilt Industrial 17:53, 7th Robert Wagner-Lytle 17:54, 8th Bradley Schmedthorst-Randolph 17:59, 9th Mac Baker-Great Hearts-Downtown Campus 18:05, 10th Benjamin Alcott-San Antonio Great Hearts Northern Oaks-18:06, 21st Jose Cortez-Lytle 18:30, 33rd Abel Sanchez-19:09, 37th Brandon Obando-Lytle 19:12, DNF-Injury Kyle Mueller-Lytle.
Top 8 teams girls
1st San Antonio Cole 46, 2nd Lago Vista 56, 3rd Yoakum 77, 4th Comfort 114, 5th Skidmore-Tynan 125, 6th San Antonio Great Hearts Northern Oaks 128, 7th Poth 174, 8th Lytle 191.
Top 10 girls
1st Finley Hunting-San Antonio Cole 12:08, 2nd Audrey Velesky-San Antonio Cole 12:10, 3rd Aly Wray-Lago Vista 12:36, 4th Alexandria Alcott-San Antonio Great Hearts Northern Oaks 12:39, 5th Caitlyn Keeney-Lago Vista 12:40 6th Maddison Kitson-San Antonio Cole 12:44, 7th Esther Long-Lago Vista 12:47, 8th India Warren-San Antonio Great Hearts Northern Oaks 12:51, 9th Olivia Etzler-Hallettsville 12:58, 10th Nikko Monita-Stockdale 12:58.
Lady Pirates
22nd Eisabel Guerrero 13:17, 23rd Marissa Lopez 13:18, 53rd Mariana Verdeja 14:29, 71st Naomy Montes-Rodriguez 14:59, 78th Yadhira Mendez Felix 15:15, 83rd Natalie Williams 15:32.
By Jerel Beaty
Staff Writer