Trejo advances to Regional Cross Country

After another leading season with the Lady Lions Cross Country team, junior Cristal Trejo will once again be advancing to the Regional Cross Country meet.

Trejo, making her third career appearance at Regionals, placed fourth in the District Meet at Starcke Park in Seguin on Thursday, finishing the race in a swift 19:46.

As a team, the Varsity Lady Lions finished sixth in

the nine-team District 27-5A, while the JV Lady Lions took third, and the Freshman Lady Lions won the District.

In the Varsity race, senior Moira Salinas came in as Lockhart’s second runner and finished 21st in 21:15 overall, with All-District third team honors.  Junior Laurel Eeds came in as Lockhart’s third runner, finishing 31st in 21:58, just missing out on All-District third team honors but setting a new personal best time.

The freshman duo of Charisma Magallanez (39th/23:19) and Angelina Toomey (41st/23:33) came in as Lockhart’s fourth and fifth runners. Rounding out the Lockhart team was senior Gloria Horton (47th/24:13) who came in as the team’s sixth runner.

“As a team we knew going into the meet that we could finish anywhere from third to seventh, and we got sixth,” said Head Girls Coach Reuben Ortiz.  “But our finish wasn’t from lack of effort from our ladies.  A few girls set season best times out there and any team knows on the girls side, our District is the toughest in all of 5A.  If we were in any other district we would be regional bound as a team, but regardless our girls went out fighting until the very end of the race and we can’t ask anymore than that.”

“Cristal is advancing as an individual again and that’s a great testament to the hard work she puts in and also to our team who help her every step of the way,” he said.

In JV competition, the team was led by junior Sara Burrier, who placed fifth overall, with a time of 22:57.  With her finish, Burrier was awarded JV All-District honors and helped lead her team to an even more impressive Third Place team finish.  Junior Flora Kohlmeyer came in as Lockhart’s number two runner with a 15th/24:13 place finish.  Junior Michaela Mojica (22nd/24:49) and sophomore Mikayla Hernandez (25th/25:11) battled the main pack and picked up some key points for the Lady Lions to finish as Lockhart’s third and fourth runners. Sophomore Sophia Santamaria (36th/26:24) came in as the key fifth runner for the Lady Lions.  Senior Marissa Tanguma (53rd/30:58) and sophomore Paige Swanton (55th/33:07) came as Lockhart’s sixth and seventh point-pusher runners and rounded out the team.

“This had to be the race of the meet for our team,” said Ortiz.  “They knew going into the race we could have finished anywhere from third to fifth as a team and not only did they get third as a team, they just missed out getting second as a team by eight points.”

“I can’t remember how many years back you have to go that our JV team was a top-three team,” he said. “I’m doing the research and I still haven’t found it.  This was a huge step in building our program to the next level in JV as well as Varsity.  Each lady was awarded a third place team medal at the award ceremony and nobody can take that away from them and each lady on the JV team deserves to show it and wear it with pride.”

In the Freshman division, Brooklyn Miller claimed top honors finishing the two-mile course in 14:57, placing first overall and outpacing her teammate Jollean Vasquez (15:38).  Vasquez’s efforts gave her the silver medal and fought off a strong push by an Alamo Heights runner.

Mariana Mendez (4th/16:09) and Aracely Varillas (5th/17:00) came in as Lockhart’s third and fourth runners.  In sixth place was another Alamo Heights runner but once again the second wave of Lockhart runners came in to clinch the team title for Lockhart with Dary Fernandez (7th/17:58), Nicole Bittner (8th/18:13), Keiah Young (9th/18:49), and Annsley Burfield (10th/18:51) fighting off the second wave of Alamo Heights and San Marcos runners.

More impressively for the Lady Lions was that each of the eight Lockhart runners placed in the top 10 for the all-coveted medal honors and gaining Freshman All-District honors.

“This was a nice victory for our Freshman team,” Ortiz said.  “They not other fought against the competition but they fought against each other to keep that wave of Lockhart runners in the top 10.  A lot of these girls are multi-sport athletes so this shows the toughness we have here in Lockhart and how bright our future is here for all sports.”