Lady Lions kick off Cross-Country season

Saturday Aug. 31, the Lady Lions kicked off the Cross-Country season at Lockhart City Park.

With more than 12 teams competing in the 4A-5A Varsity division, the Lady Lions finished with a sixth place team finish with well over 100 varsity girls entered.

Freshman Cristal Trejo was the first to cross the line for the Lady Lions, finishing the 3,000-meter course with a blazi

ng time of 12:17 for a seventh place overall finish.

Junior Gabby Escobedo, also earned Top-20 medal honors with a 17th place finish and a time of 12:54.

Sophomore Moria Salinas, outkicked a pack to runners and finished 28th with a time of 13:15. Seniors Nessa Rios (47th), and Lauren Schuelke (82nd), rounded out the varsity squad with times of 13:40 and 14:48.  In the Junior Varsity division, three Lady Lions competed against more than 190 other runners, with Kaitlyn Adams, a junior newcomer, finishing her first high school cross-country race with a 59th place finish.  Seniors Sierra Steele (107th) and Ana Espinosa (179th), also got in their first race of the new season.

“All the girls ran really smart today in my mind,” said head coach Reuben Ortiz. “We had a plan to run a nice controlled race for the first mile and get stronger the second mile and pick off as many runners as we could to the finish. Every one of them accomplished this.”

Next for the Lady Lions cross country team will be the Moulton invitational on Sept. 14.