Girls Cross-Country battle at Austin Invitational

LISD

The Lockhart Lady Lions traveled to Austin for their third meet of the season over the weekend to compete in the Austin Invitational held at Walter E. Long Lake. In the Girls Varsity competition, the Lady Lions placed 11th out of 20 teams entered, while in the JV division, the Lady Lions placed 9th out of 19 teams entered.
In Varsity competition, the Lions ran their first 5k of the season where sophomore Addison Harrod led the charge in the Varsity Girls division. Harrod placed 30th/23:08 out of over 125 entered varsity runners.

Freshman Alicia Sanchez came in ahead of the main group, finishing 60st/25:11 as Lockhart’s No.2 runner. Senior Beth Key, following hot on Sanchez’s heels, finished just a few seconds off at 66th/25:22.

Lockhart’s 4th and 5th runners consisted of freshman Aliya Parra 72nd/25:45 and sophomore Melanie Garcia 101st/28:13.

“This was our first 5k of the year and the first time fielding a true Varsity team.” said Head Girls Coach Reuben Ortiz. “We made some small mistakes out there today but they are young and learning.  To do this and still beat a lot of good teams is a very good accomplishment for these ladies.”
In the Junior Varsity division, the Lions were led by junior Clarissa Martinez-Olvera. In her best race of the season, Martinez-Olvera placed 51st with a time of 26:59 over the 3.1-mile course with over 200 runners reporting to the starting line.

Freshman Sofia Rodriguez 60th/27:18 was right on her heels as Lockhart’s No. 2 runner. The 3 and 4 punch from the Lions came roaring in when freshman Pyper Bornemann 69th/27:37 and sophomore Dayana Delgado 79th/27:57 came in strong followed by sophomore Zoie Ledesma 95th/28:37 as the key 5th runner. Sophomore Katherine Silva-Garcia was next at 96th/28:43 with freshman Allie Forester at 135th/31:05 finishing as the 6th and 7th runners/pushers for Lockhart. Also competing were sophomore Alani Herrera (181th/36:22), freshman Abigayle Stewart (187th/37:84), and freshman Hayden Niemann.

‘It’s scary how they ran out there today,” Ortiz said. “They ran extremely well in such a deep field and many of them ran their first 5k ever. Many of these 9th graders are used to the 1.5-mile race in junior high. It’s a big adjustment so early in the year.”
On Saturday, the Cross-Country team was planning to travel to Corpus Christ for the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islander Pre-Regional Splash, but it was cancelled unexpectedly by the meet director. Lockhart will now head east on Friday, Sept. the 13 to Texas A&M in College Station for the Aggie Invitational.