SPORTS BRIEFS: Boys Cross Country team qualifies for State

From staff reports

The Lockhart Boys Cross Country team has qualified for the State Championship for the 22nd time in the past 32 seasons, and this is the third time to qualify for the State Meet in the past four seasons.
The Lions finished as the Regional Runner-up on Monday October 25, 2021 at Kate Barr Park in Huntsville, Texas on the campus of Sam Houston State University. This is the fourth time Lockhart has been the Regional Runner-up. Lockhart previously finished second in 2005, 2009, and just two years ago in 2019.
Lockhart Cross Country is in Class 5A Region III. Region III has a total of 72 High Schools that are aligned into 8 Districts.
Including the 11 previous Regional Championships, Lockhart has now won or finished as the runner-up team at the Regional Cross Country meet a total of 15 times since they first won the team title in 1993.
The Lions were led once again by Senior Anthony Parra. Parra ran in the lead pack right from the gun, and finished in second place (team score) with a lifetime best for 5,000 meters (3.1 miles). Parra’s time was a blistering 16 minutes and 2 seconds. A total of 175 runners competed in the race. One hundred fifty runners were running for a team, and 25 runners were running as individuals.
Junior James Franco also had an outstanding race as he finished in 4th place with a time of 16:06.
“We have not had two front runners at the Regional run like that in almost ten years. I was so proud of how these guys competed,” head coach Scott Hippensteel said.
Franco set a personal record by almost 35 seconds.
“I have been waiting all season to see James run like he did today,” Hippensteel said. “He finally had a huge breakthrough race.”
Sophomore Zeke Sanchez and Senior Matt Flores finished with an identical time of 17:05 and were awarded the 24th and 25th places in the team standings. Flores ran exactly one minute better than he had run on the same course only a month earlier.
Sophomore Carlos Terrazas finished as the number five man for Lockhart as he placed 47th, with a time of 17:41. It was a great day for Terrazas as he set a personal record by over 30 seconds.
Sophomore Cole Frey finished as the number six man for the Lion harriers as he placed 100th in 19 minutes flat, and freshman Anthony Daniel placed 110th in 19 minutes and 10 seconds.
“We did everything we could to win today, there isn’t anything more I could have asked from our guys.”
“When we ran the same course on September 18th, our top five runners ran a combined time of one hour 26 minutes, and 30 seconds. Today, the same five runners ran a combined time of one hour 23 minutes and 59 seconds, an improvement of over 2 minutes and 30 seconds, or an average of 30 seconds better for each runner.”
Lockhart will run in the State Meet on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021 at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock.

Lady Lions
regional qualifier finishes strong

The Lady Lions Cross-Country team season ended Monday with senior Marissa Cervantes competing at the Class 5A Region III meet held in Huntsville, Texas.
Cervantes earned a regional bid last week with her 9th place finish at the District 17-5A meet. Going against the top 3 teams from each of the 8 Districts in Region III, plus the top 10 individual qualifiers from those 8 Districts, 172 of the top runners competed for a shot at state. Cervantes went into the race ranked 72nd overall, but ran with the lead group after the first mile mark.
The top 10 runners separated during mile two, with Cervantes, in the pack of runners in 11th through 38th hanging on just seconds behind.
Mile 3 turned into an all-out battle with another wave making a strong push into the main pack. Cervantes finished 45th overall with a season best time of 21 minutes and 3 seconds for the 3.1 mile course.
“Marissa gave it her all out there today,” said head coach Reuben Ortiz. “We had a game plan going into the race and she followed it perfectly. It was a very intense race today and it was less than a minute that separated her from going to state. I saw the fear get the best of some good teams out there but Marissa kept her cool and used it to her advantage to move in the overall placing.
“She beat quite a few individual district champs today but again that just shows how tough of a District the girls are in for Cross-Country. Lockhart should be proud of Marissa today for showing the fight of the Lion today. She went in there ranked as a runner who should not have been in the mix for those last individual state spots but that’s where she was till the very end. Watching Marissa today was a great teaching to our younger girls on what they need to do next season to keep the tradition alive of Lockhart Cross-Country.”

VOLLEYBALL
Lady Lions qualify for playoffs

Following a 3-0 loss to Anderson and a 3-0 win over Travis, the Lady Lions are in fourth place with a shot at third, pending Tuesday night’s game between Anderson and Ann Richards.
Results for that game were unavailable at press time, but should Ann Richards lose to Anderson, the Lady Lions would tie for third place, potentially setting the stage for a tiebreaker game for the third seed in the playoffs.
Stay tuned to post-register.com for updates.