Bloodhounds ready to run their best at TAPPS state meet

The most important cross country race of the season for the St. Joseph Academy Bloodhounds is Sat-urday at the TAPPS state meet in San Antonio.

“I feel we are ready for a great meet,” St. Joseph coach Meme Garza said. “If the boys and girls are prepared mentally, the sky’s the limit.

“The kids take a lot of pride in competing and representing our school, especially for the big meets,” he added. “I am sure they will not let each other down.”

The TAPPS state meet will take place at Brooks City Base in the Alamo City. The Class 6A girls open the event at 10 a.m. Saturday with their 3,200-meter race. The 6A boys run 5,000 meters at 10:30 a.m.

“It has been a very low-key season,” said Garza, whose squad competes on the TAPPS 6A level. “We really haven’t run our best runners all at the same time until this week. Individually, we have done very well. Louie (Tijerina) and Andres (Delgado) have been our big guns, and Katrina Lambert has been very consistent on the girls side.”

Other boys running for the Bloodhounds will be Nick Wilde, Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Garcia, Alec Her-nandez and Lucas Hernandez. The SJA girls squad includes Bethany Dawson, Alisha Hernandez, Shelbi Long, Marissa Shinsky, Andre Owen and Andrea Ordonez.

According to Garza, the 6A team favorites at state are the San Antonio Central Catholic boys and the Dallas Ursuline girls.

“The competition at the 6A level is very strong, especially for the top four spots,” he said. “I feel we can place in the upper half, if we run to our potential.”

“The weather should be perfect, so I expect some fast times and great competition,” he added.

There’s another important factor that should motivate the Bloodhounds to run their best times, the St. Joseph coach said.

“The kids have the homecoming dance that (Saturday) night,” Garza said. “The sooner they finish the race, the sooner they can be home to change for the dance, so that should be motivation enough to run fast.”