Lady Lions Cross-Country wraps up season at District

LISD

The Lady Lions concluded the 25-5A District Cross-Country meet last Thursday at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.

In the Varsity competition, the Lady Lions placed 7th as a team. In the JV team competition, the Lady Lions placed 6th, and in the Freshman Team division the Lady Lions took 3rd.

In Varsity competition, the team was led by sophomore Addison Harrod who finished 21th/20:31 overall over the 5k+ course, while also garnering All-District Honorable Mention.

The next three Lockhart runners were the freshmen duo of Alicia Sanchez (43rd/23:31) and Aliya Parra (44th/23:35) along with senior Beth Key (45th/23:37), sophomore Melanie Garcia (48th/24:46) coming in as Lockhart’s 5th runner. Lockhart’s 6th and 7th runners were sophomore Dayana Delgado (49th/25:26) and freshman Sofia Rodriguez (50th/25:27).

“On the ladies side our district has one of the toughest districts in our Region, but this didn’t deter our ladies,” said LHS Head Girls Coach Reuben Ortiz. “This was a true growing experience for our young team, and they should be proud of themselves going against some of the strongest teams in the region. Four teams in our district were coming in regionally ranked but only the top 3 teams are automatic qualifiers to the regional meet. That alone shows you the strength of our district for our ladies. They could have easily given up but instead each lady finished the race with Personal Bests. Let me say that again, they all ran their best times ever. That’s outstanding.

“Harrod has led us all year and continues to grow, if she puts in the work this offseason she is going to be a force come track.”
In JV competition, Lockhart was led by freshman Pyper Bornemann, who ran her best race of the season placing 24th overall with a time of 25:27 over the 5k course and led her team to a very tight 6th place team finish.

Junior Clarissa Martinez-Olvera (27th/25:42) ran a smart race as she steadily moved up the main pack and picked up some key points for the Lady Lions to finish as Lockhart’s 2nd runner.

Lockhart’s 3rd and 4th runners came in with the main wave as junior Janae Torres (36th/26:46) and sophomore Katherine Silva-Garcia (37th/26:56) fought to the finish. Sophomore Zoie Ledesma (40th/27:41) finished as the key 5th runner and sophomore newcomer Tania Garcia-Vega (44th/29:44) finished as the 6th runner/pusher.

“This was a great team race for Lockhart,” Ortiz said. “We knew going into district the JV race was going to be a tight race and that morning when we had to declare runners and I needed to move someone up to Varsity. Melanie Garcia jumped at the chance, and it paid off. She ended up as our 5th runner for varsity, giving us big points in Varsity. Although it hurt us in this JV race and we slipped to 6th it was a good move to make. Bornemann stepped up huge and hit a personal best with Martinez-Olvera hitting a season best. Every girl was important today.”
In the Freshman division, Allie Forester (18th/16:19) came in as Lockhart’s top runner over the two-mile course while leading the team to a 3rd place overall team finish. Forester used a good push in the middle of the race and held on to the finish ahead in one of the tightest battles of the day. Teammate Marlie Stephens (19th/16:20) used a monster kick to pass several runners the last half, almost catching Forester in the process. Cornia Ramos (21st/16:49) finished as Lockhart’s 3rd runner, passing several Hays and Leander runners midway through the race. Hayden Niemann (25th/19:24) broke away from a pack of Lockhart runners and never looked back. Niemann finished as Lockhart’s 4th runner. Jayla Madrid-Hernandez (26th/20:06) and Abigayle Stewart (27th/20:32) finished as the 5th and 6th runners.

“I was really proud of our ladies out there,” said Ortiz. “They fought hard. Individually, Lockhart didn’t earn any of the Top 10 individual medal honors but with our depth, more importantly, they brought home 3rd place for Lockhart as a team. They can each wear their bronze team medal with pride.”
With the season concluded the Lady Lions will continue to train during the off-season and prepare for Track in the Spring.