Lions Cross Country win at Karnes City Badger Invite
Lions win big invitational
By Scott Hippensteel
LHS Boys Cross Country Coach
For the first time ever, Lockhart High School participated in an event in Karnes City. The Lockhart Lion Boys Cross Country teams won both the Varsity and Junior Varsity races this past weekend in Karnes City. The Varsity Boys team won the 12-team race with just 21 points, while St. Joseph finished second with 85 points and Orange Grove placed third with 91 points.
For the second consecutive week, Lockhart was led by senior Ethan Herrera, who was the overall individual champion. Herrera ran a solid race as he completed the three-mile course in 16 minutes and 49 seconds.
Sophomore Daniel Martinez, in only his second varsity race, continues to impress. Martinez placed third in 17:18. “For Daniel to run just 29 seconds slower than Ethan is really amazing. I think Daniel is on his way to doing some really great things this year.”
Senior Ivan Gonzales ran a very good race as he placed fourth overall in a time of 18:13. “Ivan is looking really good in practice, and I think he will run a great race this Friday here in Lockhart.” Freshman Eli Estrada was Lockhart’s fourth man as he finished fifth overall with a time of 18:43. “Eli is amazing. He has only run two high school races but is already looking like a seasoned competitor. He does a great job of staying focused during the race.”
Junior Irving Ferretiz rounded out the top five finishers for Lockhart. Ferretiz placed ninth with a time of 19:15. “Irving is one of our best leaders. He trains very hard and is such a role model for our other guys.” Junior Eladio Figueroa and senior Keaton Archer completed Lockhart’s varsity team. Figueroa placed 20th with a time of 20:13, while Archer finished 40th out of the 70 runners competing with a time of 21:32. “I was happy for Keaton. I think he had a better day today, and we want to see him have a good senior year.”
The Lockhart Junior Varsity was even more dominant than the Varsity team, scoring only 18 points. Freshman Ryan Ford came very close to winning the JV race but finished second overall out of 50 runners. Ford completed the two-mile course in 11 minutes and 19 seconds. “We have found another great young runner in Ryan, and he is already on the verge of being a varsity runner.” Sophomore Chris Cano placed third overall in 11:29 and was followed by teammates Gerardo Gonzales in sixth place (12:02), Keiran Bussa in 12th (12:46), Kingston Metzler in 14th (12:51), Derek Morgan in 15th (12:59), Johan Azmitia-Torres in 18th (13:00), Callen Fletcher in 21st (13:35), Koen Cox in 22nd (13:36), Leonel Perez in 27th (13:48), and Josiah Lopez in 33rd (14:18)
The Lockhart Lions will host the 39th annual Hippensteel Invitational this Friday at Lockhart City Park. The High School divisions will begin at 8:30 a.m., while the Junior High races will begin at 6:00 p.m.
Lady Lions bring home bronze
By Reuben Ortiz
LHS Girls Cross Country Coach
The Lady Lions traveled down south this past weekend to compete at the Karnes City Invite. Lockhart has traveled to many different meets throughout the years to face all levels of competition, but this made the first trip in program history to Karnes City. In the Girls Varsity competition, the Lady Lions took home 3rd as a team. While in the JV division, the Lady Lions also took home bronze.
In Varsity competition, Senior Addison Harrod once again led the charge with a 13:29 time over the 2- mile course to give her a 7th place overall finish. Harrod finished just ahead of 7th place finisher Harvest Viesca of Dilley. Next, was Junior Alicia Sanchez and Senior Dayana Delgado who placed 13th and 14th overall with identical times of 14 minutes and 06 seconds. Photo finish placed Sanchez ahead of Delgado by .1 of a second. Another tight finish was Freshman Daneli Cedillo who placed 26th overall but .2 tenths behind Taryn Franke of Goliad who finished 25th. Next was Junior Sofia Rodriguez(27th/14:45), who has now had two impressive races to kick the season off. Junior Aliya Parra finished as Lockhart’s pusher to round out the varsity squad. Parra finished 37th with a time of 15:53. “If we compare times to last year at the same point of the season, these girls have maintained or improved, says Girls Head Coach Reuben Ortiz. We are continuing our base training to improve our endurance till we make the jump to 3.1 miles in a few weeks.”
In the Junior Varsity division, Junior Alicia Rodriguez took home medal honors in a fight to the finish with Isabella Hair of Poth. Rodriguez eventually broke away and finished the two-mile race 12th overall with a time of 15 minutes and 27 seconds. Next was Freshman Sariah Barron who slipped into medal honors, finishing 15th overall with a time of 15:58. Barron finished just ahead of Selah Shofner of San Antonio Home Schools. Junior Pyper Bornemann, not too far behind, also ran an impressive time of 16:04 to finish 17th overall. Sophomore Maci Lockhart(21st/16:20) and Junior Brianna Chavez Vasquez(22nd/16:20) had another photo finish, with M. Lockhart coming out ahead by .2 tenths of a second. The Lockhart wave came roaring in with Senior’s Kendra Mendoza(28th/16:54) and Katherine Silva Garcia(30th/16:58) breaking ahead of the pack. With Sophomore newcomer Soleil Ledesma(31st/16:59) and Senior Zoie Ledesma(32nd/17:33) breaking early to get ahead of Laurie Herring of Three Rivers. Lockhart rounded out the squad with Senior Alanhi Herrera(35th/18:09), Freshman Sophia Morgan(36th/18:30) and Senior newcomer Alondra Hernandez Medrano(40th/19:49). “Every lady out there made some improvement today,” says Ortiz. It was nice to get Alicia Rodrigez back to lead the Jv team, but Sariah Barron was our biggest surprise today. She didn’t come to our summer runs early on but started to get consistent at the end. Now with the consistent training, she is coming along quickly.”
Lockhart Cross-Country will stay at home this coming Friday Aug 28th to host the annual Lockhart Hippensteel Open. 1500+ runners are anticipated in what will more than likely be the toughest race all season. Schools from as far south as Brownsville are scheduled to attend.
