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Lady Raiders run away with first regional title
Comments 0 | Recommend 0SAN ANTONIO — PSJA North captured its first Region IV championship Saturday, finishing 27 points ahead of San Antonio Reagan at the regional meet at the University of Texas-San Antonio.
Starla Garcia, with a time of 11 minutes, 56 seconds, led the way for the Lady Raiders with a fifth-place finish.
PSJA North (91) advances to the state meet next week in Round Rock. It will be the fifth consecutive appearance by the Lady Raiders at state, but the previous four times they finished 12th.
The top three teams and top 10 individuals from each class qualified for state.
“It feels great,” Lady Raiders coach Yesenia Cuellar said. “We are all very excited. We were not overconfident going into the race. We believed that if we were up to run our race, it was going to be our day.”
The Lady Raiders that followed Garcia were Annie Mora (12:23), Ashley Mutchler (12:41), Elvia Vega (12:43) and Brittney Garza (12:49).
Sharyland (135) clinched a state berth by taking third.
Individual girls to qualify were McAllen Memorial’s Tricia Terry (11:37.4), who finished second and failed to repeat as the regional champ. PSJA Memorial’s Gabriela Salazar (11:56) placed fifth, McAllen High’s Delanae Arredondo (11:58.1) came in sixth and Rio Grande City’s Beatriz Garza (12:09.4) squeaked in at No. 9.
The only sub-5A girls qualifier was Progreso’s Jessica Ramon, ninth in Class 3A.
The only boys team to qualify was Progreso, which finished third in Class 3A.
La Joya’s Oscar Garza (16:09) and Brownsville Hanna’s Brandon Broden (16:10) finished ninth and 10th, respectively, to advance in Class 5A.
Mercedes’ Alex De la Garza (15:38.1) finished second in Class 4A. He had hoped to win at the same course he won at earlier this year.
“I took the lead 300 meters too soon,” he said. “The last 500 meters were tough because I took the lead too soon.”
He will be joined by teammate Rene De la Rosa (16:34.8), who came in 10th. Mission’s Jesse Rodriguez (16:23, seventh) and Edcouch-Elsa’s Edgar Diaz (16:25.9, eighth) each had top 10 finishes to qualify.
The only individual qualifier in boys Class 3A was Rio Hondo’s Hugo Flores (17:14.6), who was ninth.
Santa Rosa’s Eric Garza (16.52) was fourth in Class 2A.
Peter Rasmussen covers high school sports for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4448.
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