Girls Region IV-3A Regional Champions - Boys Region IV-3A Runner-Ups
What a wonderful day yesterday! What an amazing race by Natalie Williams who set a PR (Personal Record) in hot and humid conditions. Again, someone else stepped up to fill the void when others were having a hard time. Natalie became only the third girl in the last 20+ years to finish in the top 10 and get a Regional medal (Natalie Cortez 3rd in '13 and Clarissa Cantu 9th in '18). All the girls finished in the top 35 (out of 179 runners) to help them claim our first Regional Championship and a trip to the State Meet on November 5th (Homecoming Day). This is an amazing group of girls that can handle being coached hard and never take things personally. The trust that they have in me and each other has helped them win 4 straight Meets and now they hope that they have enough left to get on that medal stand. This was the first time all year that these 7 girls ran together as a team due to injuries or other school activities.
No group that I have coached has had to go through more setbacks with injuries than this year's varsity boys. With 4 returning runners from last year's 4th Place State Finish and all having a great summer, we were optimistic of returning this year. But all 4 had to battle injuries just as the season was about to start with 3 of those sitting out all of September. Fortunately, they all started to run again in early October and have relied on their summer training, tradition, and their own grit to finally run as a full team again. Senior Jose Cortez led the team with his 7th place finish and will become the first runner to represent LYTLE at the State Meet all four years. Robert Wagner, in his first Meet since August 28th, put on a gritty performance as he finished 18th and helped pace Israel Andrade (20th). Sophomores Abel Sanchez (35th) and Brandon Obando (40th) finished the scoring and helped the Varsity Boys finish as Runner-Ups after going in as a 6-7 seed. This marks 4 straight years the boys represent LYTLE at the State Meet.
I want to thank the Lytle ISD community, the parents, and all the supporters that tolerated that weather to witness something special. It was the first time all our participants came home with a medal from a Regional Meet. They literally gave it their all for each other as we had 2 girls and 1 boy that had to be carried to the medical tent after the race for medical attention. What they did for each other was utterly amazing.
Now they will get the opportunity to compete for one more medal as they travel to Round Rock on November 5th. Girls will race at 10:00 am and Boys at 10:30 am.
GIRLS
- 6 Natalie Williams
- 15 Eisabel Guerrero
- 19 Moriah Gomez
- 21 Marissa Lopez
- 29 Samantha Mujica
- 33 Jadyn Bojorquez
- 35 Dezmarie Ortega
- (Out of 179 runners)
BOYS
- 7 Jose Cortez
- 18 Robert Wagner
- 20 Israel Andrade
- 35 Abel Sanchez
- 40 Brandon Obando
- 46 Jared Aguinaga
- 56 Johnny Rey Alvarez
- (Out of 169 runners)
See FULL RESULTS