Lady Lions compete against district competition
LISD
The Lady Lions Cross-Country team traveled to Cedar Park to get a first-hand look at the District Meet course. All teams, district and non-district, were invited to what is sometimes called the pre-district meet for 25-5A. In the Girls Division II Varsity, Lockhart placed 7th out of 16 teams entered. In the JV division, the Lady Lions placed 10th out of 13 teams entered.
In Varsity competition, junior Adriana Rodriguez and sophomore Reina Del Castillo led the Lions with their strongest performance of the season. Both ladies ran a controlled race to move up the 5k course to finish 3rd (Rodriguez) and 4th (Del Castillo) overall out of 125-plus runners entered. Only 5 seconds separated the tandem, with Rodriguez finishing with a time of 21:42 and Del Castillo at 21:47.
The freshman duo of Addison Harrod (24:12/42nd) and Natalie Gonzales (24:39/55th) ran as a pair for the majority of the race, with Harrod using a late push to break away from a pack. Junior Beth Key (25:36/82st) held on with the second main pack and was Lockhart’s fourth runner. The Lockhart wave then came when seniors Emma Forester (25:47/85th), Ashley Ramirez (25:54/89th), Ryleigh Lindsey (26:00/91st), Mayra Varillas (26:10/92nd), and Hannah Wheeler (26:11/94th) used a late fight to catch one of the main packs. Freshman Katherine Silva Garcia (30:31/110th) rounded out the varsity squad.
“This race had some importance with us getting a taste of how we stack against our district, but training-wise for the 5k was our main importance today,” said Lockhart Head Girls Coach Reuben Ortiz. “On the girls’ side, there were some state-ranked teams, not to mention individual state champs, so it’s always a battle for us.”
In the JV division, freshman Dayana Delgado (17:37/45th) led the JV team once again with sophomore Clarissa Martinez-Olvera(18:37/62nd), Junior Jayla Goodwin(19:46/66th), Sophomore Janae Torres (19:59/69th) right behind in the main pack. Junior Hadley Moorhead (21:22/86th) and freshman Alanhi Herrera (23:18/92nd) finished as Lockhart’s 5th and 6th runners.
“I was glad to see them go out there and compete today,” Ortiz said. “We are starting to move out of our base phase and start to increase our workload. Minus some rehabbing, some are still going through, they are ready.”
Next up, Lockhart will take its top runners to compete at Corpus Christi A&M pre-regional meet scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 16, while the JV team will travel to the Seguin Matador Invite on Thursday, Sept. 14.
