Lytle Independent School District

JC Hernandez finished his athletic career at Lytle HS last night at the biggest stage, the UIL State Track Meet.  He finished 5th in the State in the 1600m run with a Personal Best of 4:31.47.  

After the race, when I went to go speak with him, he was disappointed like most athletes who don't get to get on the medal stand would feel.  So, I had to remind him of how PROUD I was of him and what he had accomplished while he was here.  Just in this race alone, he was going against runners who had beat him rather handily during XC as the #1, 2, 3, 6, & 10 State XC finishers were in the field while he had finished 15th.  Though I knew it would be difficult for him, he stayed with them, and for the first time he had negative splits on all his laps (1:11, 1:10, 1:07, 1:02).  They just had a little bit more of a gear on their last lap even though that was his fastest final lap ever in this race.  I was proud of his efforts and how he competed in his final race as a LYTLE PIRATE!  He started his running career at Lytle in 2017 as a little 7th grader who finished 21st out of 53 runners at the district XC meet on a 4th place team.  Every year after that, he got better and better and finished as an all-stater on a 4th place State team in XC and a 5th place State finish in the 1600m at Track. 

Below are some of the things I had to remind him of:

 CROSS COUNTRY

• Helped lead the Lytle XC Team to 3 straight District Championships('18-20), 2 straight Regional Championships('19 & '20), 3 State appearances (2018-3rd, 2019-6th, 2020-4th)
• 2-time Individual Regional qualifier (was injured most of '19)
• 3-time ALL REGION('18-'20)-finish in top 15
• ALL STATE('20)-finish in top 15

ALL REGION

ALL STATE

TRACK

• 2018 JV District Champion 1600m & 3200m
• 2019 District Runner-Up 3200m, Area Champion 3200m
• 2020 COVID
• 2021 District Runner-Up 3200m & 1600m, Area Runner-Up 3200m, Area 3rd 1600m, Regional 3rd 3200m, Regional Runner-up 1600m, State Qualifier 1600m(5th)