Lions end regular season with second place finish at Bandera

The Lions” 2009 regular cross country season came to a close on Oct. 21at the Bandera Invitational, where the Lions made their first appearance in nearly 20 years. A total of 19 boys” varsity teams, including the Lions, ran in the meet, which was plagued by numerous problems from the start.

The race started at a wide point, and later funneled a field of more than 250

runners into a narrow road only about 10 feet wide. The course was a simple “out and back” course, which gave runners few chances of passing during the race.

The Lions finished in second place behind the Smithson Valley Rangers, who earned a score of 78 points. The Lions trailed by 15 points, earning 93. Fredericksburg placed third, with 110 points and San Antonio Stevens was fourth with 112. San Angelo Central rounded out the top five teams with a score of 119 points.

Sophomore Lion Nate Moore led the way for the Lions once again this week, covering the 5,000-meter (3.1 mile) course in 17:01 and earning a third place overall finish. Freshman Robert Uhr covered the course in 17:33, earning him a 15th place overall finish.

Junior Mack O”Neill placed 22nd with a time of 18:01. Lockhart”s fourth man was sophomore Joseph Anchondo, who had his best race of the season to date, touring the course in 18:06 and placed 25th. Rounding out the top five and completing scoring for the Lions was senior Noah Tunningley, who placed 28th in a time of 18:10.

Other varsity runners appearing for the Lions were Bobby Dihn, who placed 31st in 18:18, and senior Roy Garcia, who placed 84th overall, finishing in 19:40.

The Lions” Junior Varsity team also had a great day, as they beat out 32 other teams to finish third in the field of 35 teams. Individual places were unavailable at press time. However, the JV Lions who raced were:
Eli Spring – 19:45; Xavier Espinosa -19:51; Sam Post – 19:55; Colton Russell – 19:57; Nicholas Avey – 19:57; Carlos Anchondo – 20:16; Derrick Hendricks – 20:34; Andrew Peters – 20:39; Sebastian Llamas – 20:43; Travis Smith – 21:53; Mario Maciel – 22:01; Francisco Mendez – 24:00; and Daniel Cruz 28:11.

The Lions and Lady Lions will host the district championships at Lockhart City Park this week. Championship races at the varsity level will begin at 9 a.m.
(Courtesy of Scott Hippensteel)