Friendship pushing Fierro, Guillen to do their best

David Guillen of Los Fresnos and Armando Fierro of Port Isabel are friendly rivals.

Both seniors, they have battled each other throughout the cross country season and each is advancing to today’s Region IV meet at the National Shooting Complex in northwest San Antonio as a district champion. Last month, Guillen won the individual boys title at the District 32-5A meet, while Fierro did the same thing at the District 32-3A meet.

“I like running against David because we help each other,” Fierro said recently. “He pushes me and I push him.”

At the Brownsville ISD meet on Oct. 1, Guillen was first and Fierro second. That order of finish was reversed at the Meet of Champions in Donna on Oct. 8.

“They could run against each other 10 times and each of them would probably win five of those races,” Port Isabel coach Roy Wigen said at the Meet of Champions.

The two standout runners, along with a host of other Rio Grande Valley athletes, are preparing for the Region IV meet, where Guillen will compete in the Class 5A division and Fierro will run in the Class 3A division. The top three teams and top 10 individual finishers in each division at regionals qualify for the UIL state meet Nov. 12 at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.

“I feel that I can do really well at the regional meet,” said Guillen, who finished eighth one year ago at the Re-gion IV-5A meet and went on to place 34th at state. “I think I can finish in the top two. I’m going to give it my best and see what happens. I’m not going to hold myself back.”

Fierro finished third at the Region IV-3A meet as a junior and took sixth at state in 2010.

This year’s Region IV meet is being run for the first time at the National Shooting Complex. Scott Slade, UTSA coach and regional meet director, said the new course is slightly more hilly that the course used for the regional meet in previous years.

Perhaps the Valley runner with the best chance to do well in San Antonio is Emily Perez of La Joya Juarez-Lincoln. A senior, she’s advanced to state every year since she was a freshman and took first in the Region IV-4A meet in each of the past two seasons, setting a course record in 2010.

Perez finished fifth at state in Class 4A one year ago.

“My goal this year is to win state,” she said after triumphing at the Meet of Champions again last month.

Other girls who appear to have a chance to do well in San Antonio include Gabriela Ortegon of PSJA Memorial and Marissa Mata of Mercedes.

For the boys, runners with a chance for a strong showing include Luis Guerrero of PSJA Memorial, Jose Carlos Jaime of La Joya Palmview, Jose Delgado of Valley View and Jose Martinez of Weslaco East.

Valley teams that are headed to the regional meet with state rankings courtesy of the Cross Country Coaches Association of Texas include the Mercedes boys (fifth) and Santa Maria boys (seventh). Edinburg High’s girls, winners of their division at the Meet of Champions, also are expected to make a strong showing along with the La Feria girls. Sharyland’s girls, regional winners two years ago and led this season by Kelsey Setien, can’t be counted out, either. Zapata is sending some strong runners to the regional meet, too.

The Edinburg High girls, La Feria girls and Santa Maria boys competed as teams at state one year ago. The Mercedes boys are hoping to make it back to state for a third time in four years.

“All pistons are firing, and we’re ready to go,” Mercedes coach Pete Martinez said. “We’re feeling good about our chances. We think our girls (team) has a chance to sneak in there (and finish well), too.”

Roy Hess writes for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him via e-mail at rhess@brownsvilleherald.com.