By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
EDCOUCH, TX —The Rio Hondo cross country teams delivered solid performances, as a team and as individuals, following their appearances at the 38th annual Yellow Jacket Invitational on Aug. 6 at David Ybarra Middle School.
Rio Hondo’s Sofia Torris is the head coach for the boys’ and girls’ cross country teams and opted to enter her runners not only in Edcouch-Elsa but also in McAllen a week later.
“We had several runners medal in each category, and others who performed well enough to place as a team,” Coach Torris said of the two-mile races. “We did this against runners from bigger schools.”
The Bobcats finished third in the junior varsity division, 65 points behind champion Edinburg Economedes (18) and Sharyland Pioneer (65).
Lorenzo Padron was RHHS’s top runner, crossing the finish line at 12:59.08, which put him in 16th place.
The Bobcats’ Gotti Garcia followed in 19th place, with a time of 13:11.91.
Others to cross the finish line for RHHS were Angel Rodriguez (14:33.84, 26th place), Rylee Rodriguez (15:54.09, 31st), and Jerry Abbott Cavazos (15:59.78, 32nd).
When the Bobcats had five runners cross the finish line, they qualified as a team.
In the boys’ category, RHHS had one freshman, Leonard Cavazos, finish in the top 20 and medal. His time was recorded at 14:56.57.
In the girls’ JV category, Rio Hondo’s Emily Castaneda finished fifth with a time of 14:35.67. She finished four seconds behind fourth place, which went to a Sharyland Pioneer runner.
E-E’s Brianna Padilla was first, with a time of 11:38.04.
The girls’ JV race had 54 competitors.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
Rio Hondo entered its JV team at the McAllen Friday Night Lights Invitational on Aug. 14.
RHHS runners who finished in order of placement and their times are as follows: Padron (21:11.50, 102nd), Garcia (21:38.60, 123rd), Rylee Rodriguez (23:12.00, 173rd), Angel Rodriguez (23:48.0, 188th), and Cavazos (26:18.80, 238th).
Among the other JV Lady ’Cats to finish were Selena Martinez (16:08.80, 23rd) and Mayeli Hernandez (17:33.20, 31st).
“This Saturday we run at the La Feria Meet,” Coach Torris said. “We should have several individuals run in the varsity and freshman divisions, but will once again have teams in the JV boys’ and JV girls’ races.”
RHHS is set to compete at the 38th annual La Feria Invitational, to be held at Llano Grande Golf Course in Mercedes, Aug. 22.