LHS boys runners-up at Hippensteel Invitatonal

Special to the LPR

The 35th annual Lockhart Hippensteel Invitational was held last Friday and 

Saturday, Sept. 2-3, at Lockhart City Park.

This year’s meet attracted over 1,000 runners from as far away as Brownsville, Texas.

The meet also saw the return of the “Roaring” Lockhart Lion Band, the Lockhart High School Cheerleaders, and Lionettes, all of whom were absent from the meet during the pandemic.

“I was so pleased to see those groups out supporting our dedicated runners at the meet on Saturday,” LHS Boys Cross Country Coach Scott Hippensteel said. “They make such a difference in the meet.”

After winning both the Yoakum, and LaVernia Invitationals the past two weeks, the Lockhart Lions Boys Varsity finished second on Saturday behind a very strong, and talented group of runners from Liberty Hill. The Varsity Boys race featured seven “full” teams of runners. With the second-place finish, Lockhart currently has a record of 21 wins, and 1 loss after three meets this fall.

Lockhart Junior Carlos Terrazas was the overall winner of the Varsity Boys “Big School” race. Terrazas, who had never won a Varsity Boys race before, completed the 3,405-meter (2.14 miles) course in 11:07. Terrazas won the race by less than one second, as he used a fantastic finishing kick to win.

Lockhart junior Zeke Sanchez also ran an outstanding race, as he finished a solid third place overall in 11:28.

Senior James Franco, who has been the number one man for the Lions the first two weeks of the season, finished fifth overall in 11:36. Franco has been battling a foot injury the past week.

“I was very proud of James, he is a fighter, and even though he was hurting, he turned in a strong performance on Saturday,” Hippensteel said.

A trio of Lockhart runners finished within 8 seconds to round out the fourth, fifth, and sixth runners for the Lions.

Junior Cole Frey finished 20th overall in 12:29, followed by senior Santiago Ayala in 22nd with a time of 12:35, and freshman David Ruiz-Gonzales who finished in 12:37. Junior Griffin Mason completed the top seven for the Lions as he placed 34th in 13:11.

In the team standings, Liberty Hill won with 33 points, Lockhart finished second with 51 points, Cedar Creek third with 82, San Marcos fourth with 107, Brownsville Hanna placed fifth 115, San Antonio MacArthur sixth with 130, and Hutto completed the top seven with 174 points.

The Lions entered five runners in the “small school” race that featured eight 1A through 4A High Schools. Lockhart finished second overall behind Yoakum. A total of 43 runners ran in the race.

The Lions were led by sophomore Anthony Daniel who placed third in 12:45, junior Mason Nino 5th in 13:02, senior Noe Figueroa 6th in 13:06, freshman Connor Zea 22nd in 14:22, and senior Isael Guerrero 24th in 14:40.

The Lockhart Junior Varsity finished 7th of 10 schools. Lockhart freshmen made up the entire Junior Varsity team.

Hayden Brast led the JV as he placed 24th out of 74 runners with a time 14:15. Paul Munoz placed 39th in 15:07, and was followed by Ben Perales in 40th with a time of 15:13, Jackie Woodworth 47th in 15:30, Rodolfo Ibarra-Amador 52nd in 15:38, Jace Ramsey 54th in 15:39, Nathan Peralez 55th in 15:47, and Kai Boydston 67th in 16:49.

The Lions will take next Saturday off. The Junior Varsity will resume action at Sequin on Thursday, Sept. 15, while the Varsity Lion harriers will travel to Corpus Christi to run the Regional Preview race on Saturday Sept. 17.