Mercedes, Juarez-Lincoln stars dominate 32-4A cross country meet

LA JOYA — Runners knew they would have to perform at their absolute best to knock off La Joya Juarez-Lincoln’s Angel Banda and Emily Perez. The Huskies’ standouts have been two of the Valley’s best runners all season and showed it again Saturday morning when they each won the individual title during the District 32-4A meet at La Joya Juarez-Lincoln High School.

Banda finished the 3-mile course in 14:58.93, while Perez came up less than a second short of being the first girl to break the 11-minute mark this season (11:00.20).

But Banda’s and Perez’s wins were only one side to Saturday’s historic day for Mercedes. The Mercedes boys and girls teams won the overall district meet together for the first time in school history to advance to regionals next week.

What makes the Tigers’ feat even more remarkable is doing it without Alex De La Garza, arguably the Valley’s best runner last season.

“We have all sophomores and one freshman,” Tigers coach Pedro Martinez said. “They felt that they had a lot of pressure and felt they have to prove also because I don’t think they expected much from them. Without him, the guys really stepped in there.”

The Tigers outlasted Weslaco East for the district championship by nine points (53-62) in a race that separated first to fourth place by 33 points. Juarez-Lincoln will join Mercedes and the Wildcats at regionals.

The Lady Tigers won their first district championship in school history after edging Mission Veterans by three points (45-48). The Lady Huskies took third, making Juarez-Lincoln the only 32-4A program to take both of its teams to regionals.

Ramiro Paez covers high school cross country for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4470 or via e-mail at rpaez@themonitor.com

District 32-4A meet
Saturday
At La Joya
BOYS
Team Results
1, Mercedes, 53; 2, Weslaco East, 62; 3, Juarez-Lincoln; 4, Valley View, 86;5, Mission, 107; 6, Edcouch-Elsa 121; 7, Roma, 148; 8, Mission Veterans, 231.
Individual Results
1, Angel Banda, Juarez-Lincoln, 14:58.93; 2, Pedro Izaguirre, Mercdes, 15:11.40; 3, Jose Martinez, Weslaco East, 15:18.64; 4, Joel Garcia, Juarez-Lincoln, 15:22.46; 5, Kenny Valenzuela, Weslaco East, 15:24.44; 6, Javier Daniel Alfaro, Mission, 15:25.79; 7, Juan Torres, Mercedes, 15:29.23; 8, Heriberto Rodriguez, Edcouch-Elsa, 15:30.03; 9, Ricardo Reynoso, Valley View, 15:33.13; 10, Ricardo Cortez, Valley View, 15:33.83; 11, Francisco Turrubiartes, Mercedes, 15:35.27; 12, Joel Morales, Weslaco East, 15:36.23 ; 13, Jose F. Delgado, Valley View, 15:37.09; 14, Leo Hernandez, Mercedes, 15:40.24; 15, Martin Rodriguez, Mission, 15:40.99;; 16, Camilo Padilla, Edcouch-Elsa, 15:41.42; 17, Jesse Martinez, Mission, 15:52.16; 18, Elihu Lopez, Weslaco East, 15:53.93; 19, Rene Alaniz, Mercedes, 16:04.90 ; 20, Jesus Aguilar, Roma, 16:07.90.
GIRLS
Team Results
1, Mercedes, 45; 2, Mission Veterans, 48; 3, Juarez-Lincoln, 98; 4, Weslaco East, 105; 5, Valley View, 119; 6, Edcouch-Elsa, 135; 7, Mission, 149.
Individual Results
1, Emily Perez, Juarez-Lincoln, 11:00.20; 2, Taylor De La Rosa, Mission, 11:18.38; 3, Marissa Mata, Mercedes, 11:58.63; 4, Kristian Cantu, Mission Veterans, 12:03.08; 5, Deandra Barroso, Mercedes, 12:22.26; 6, Gracie Jimenez, Mission Veterans, 12:26.10; 7, Michelle Cuellar, Weslaco East, 12:33.18; 8, Kassandra Espinoza, Mission Veterans, 12:3347; 9, Ana Vasquez, Roma, 12:35.90; 10, Alejandra Gonzalez, Weslaco East, 12:36.57; 11, Alma Turrubiartes, Mercedes, 12:40.38; 12, Darlene Leija, Mercedes, 12:43.62; 13, Abigail Cuellar, Juarez-Lincoln, 12:48.02; 14, Amanda Bermea, Mission Veterans, 12:58.24; 15, Valerie Gutierrez, Valley View, 12:59.77; 16, April Benavidez, Edcouch-Elsa, 13:01.89; 17, Jazmin Arrellano, Mercedes, 13:04.54; 18, Jennifer Cano, Mercedes, 13:09.13; 19, Amanda Califa, Mission Veterans, 13:10.20; 20, Briana Cardenas, Weslaco East, 13:10.93.