The Lytle Pirate Cross Country Team traveled to Corpus over the weekend to participate in the 2023 Region IV-3A XC Championships.
It wasn't pretty, but it was productive. Productive enough to get both teams to the State meet for the 3rd year in a row. Both groups have had their difficulties and setbacks this year but somehow have managed to put them aside enough to get them to the State Meet on November 3, 2023 at 11:40am & 12:10pm respectfully, on homecoming day.
The girls came in ranked #4 in the State but are young and have been shaky at times. We had a great practice week leading up to the meet and felt good about where we were at. But sometimes things don't go as planned. At the start we had some girls start off too fast, some too slow and one became tripped up. Fortunately for the girls, they still have one upper classman, Samantha Mujica, who has been through and seen a lot and she came through when the others could not. Samantha had a great race, along with Frances Scotello. They became only the 6th and 7th girls' cross-country runners I have coached to place in the top 10 at regionals.
This girl's program has come A VERY, VERY LONG way in the last 4 to 5 years. This is my 21st year coaching XC in Lytle. For the first 16 years, I could only get one girls' team to break the top 10 at regionals (in 2013 a 9th place finish). Then we had a stretch from 2019 to 2022 with major improvements – 2019 ninth place, 2020 eighth place, 2021 first place, and 2022 second place. I thought that maybe we would have to rebuild for a couple of years. But that is not the case. For the most part we have a new group, and with Samantha's help, they have started carving their own path and will hopefully be an inspiration to other young girls.
The boys came in ranked #2 and were without one of our best runners (Johnny Rey Alvarez). Fortunately, we have been in this position for the last 6 years and have had enough reserves to get by.
We didn't run very smart and made it closer than it needed to be, but they got the job done and now we have a little over a week to fix our mistakes if we have any aspirations of getting back on top of the medal stand.
We will hopefully get Johnny back for State and try to make it Back-to-Back State Championships, which is amazing that we have that opportunity. Hopefully, we don't let it slip away.
HIGHLIGHTS
GIRLS:
Second straight year and only the second time since I have been coaching Cross Country ('03) that we had two girls finish in the top 10 at Regionals.
It is also only the 6th and 7th girl to get on that Regional individual medal stand since I have been here:
'13-Natalie Cortez in 2nd
'18-Clarissa Cantu in 9th
'21-Natalie Williams in 6th
'22-Marissa Lopez in 4th & Moriah Gomez in 5th
'23 Frances Scotello in 8th & Samantha Mujica in 10th
Third straight year to have all runners finish in the top 40.
Second straight year finishing Regional Runner-Up ('22 & '23)
Third year to finish top 2 ('21-Regional Champions)
Third straight STATE APPEARANCE ('21, '22, '23) and 3rd overall
BOYS:
Fourth REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP in last 5 years ('19, '20, '22, '23) and 5th overall ('12)
Sixth straight STATE APPEARANCE ('18-'23) and 9th overall ('09, '12, '13)
See photos in these photo albums:
Regional XC 2023 10-23-2023 photos by Deborah Wagner
Regional Cross Country Meet 10-23-2023 photos by Tina Reyna
Click the link to see the full results:
https://tx.milesplit.com/meets/564385-uil-2a-6a-region-4-championship-2023/results
TEAM RESULTS
Varsity Girls - #2 Lytle out of 24 Teams
8 Frances Scotello - 12:45.82
10 Samantha Mujica - 12:53.33
30 Klayre Cook - 13:49.00
34 Svetlana López - 13:54.33
37 Laleina Reveira - 14:01.52
39 Vanessa Ayala - 14:12.25
40 Addison Wagner - 14:12.83
OUT OF 184 RUNNERS
Varsity Boys - #1 Lytle out of 23 Teams
6 Abel Sanchez - 17:04.65
9 Tristan Lopez - 17:08.00
11 Yandel Esquivez - 17:11.85
12 Bryan Montes - 17:15.83
17 Brandon Obando - 17:33.34
27 Lucas Salazar - 17:53.60
58 Diego Reyna - 19:10.35
OUT OF 160 RUNNERS