Donna, Palmview win District 30-5A titles

PALMVIEW — Waiting was the hardest part for the Donna Redskins at Saturday morning’s District 30-5A cross country meet.

Coach Basilio Mendoza and his boys team thought they won the race despite not placing a runner in the top three. However, with four of the race’s top 10 finishers, the numbers seemed to add up to a Redskins district title. But a protest lodged by an undisclosed team kept the result from being immediately official.

Once it was finally relayed to Mendoza that his team had indeed captured the district crown, he and his runners proceeded in a jubilant celebration outside the track at La Joya Palmview. The victory was especially rewarding considering Donna finished sixth at last year’s district meet.

“Hard-working kids. We don’t have an all-star, but we have a hell of a good team,” Mendoza said. “You can beat one of us, but beating all of us is a little bit harder. That’s basically what we’ve been preaching.”

Donna edged second-place La Joya Palmview by nine points (47-56). Sharyland (58) finished third. The top three teams along with the top 10 individual finishers who are not members of one of the top three teams qualify for the Region IV-5A meet Nov. 5 in San Antonio.

Mariano Mora led Donna, finishing fourth overall on the 5k course (3.1 miles) in a time of 16 minutes, 9.01 seconds. Other Redskins in the top 10 included Jesus Garza (sixth place, 16:13); Jose Ramos (eighth place, 16:19); and Josue Ibarra (10th place, 16:24).

Palmview sophomore Jose Carlos Jaime cruised to the boys individual title in a time of 15:47, 14 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Michael Guerrero of La Joya High. Sharyland’s Alexis Guerrero finished third in 16:07.

“The first two miles was just my normal pace. The third mile is when I kicked it in,” said Jaime, who finished second at last year’s 30-5A race. “I felt like this was my day to win. I felt good this year. I was confident I was going to win.”

Similar to Donna having to wait for official word of its boys title, the La Joya Palmview girls also had to hold in their celebration. Instead of enduring a protest, the defending meet champion Lady Lobos were sweating out the tabulation of results. Palmview coach Claudia Bazan initially believed her team lost a tiebreaker to Sharyland before it was revealed the Lady Lobos edged the Lady Rattlers 37-39. Donna (94) finished third.

“It was a little tense not knowing whether we were in a position to defend our title or not,” Bazan said. “Obviously, we were ecstatic afterwards.”

Palmview sophomore Jackie Villanueva was the meet’s individual winner, completing the 2.0-mile course in 11:45.28, tenths of a second ahead of McAllen Rowe’s Gabriela Guerrero (11:45.69). Sharyland’s Kelsey Setien finished third in 11:55.

Guerrero held the lead until Villanueva sprinted past in the final 25 meters to beat her to the finish line.

“All I was thinking was it’s all mental,” Villanueva said. “Hard work pays off. I wanted to stay with the top two, and then the last 100 (meters), that’s my strongpoint and I just start kicking in.”