Ramon Martinez will help lead the Lehman cross-country team to Hays Saturday morning where the boys and girls varsity and JV teams will square off in a dual match against the Rebels. (Photo by Anissa Robles)
by JASON GORDON
Football and volleyball aren’t the only sports that will pit Lobos against Rebels this weekend.
The Hays and Lehman cross country teams will face off in a dual match on Saturday.
The match will be held just behind the Hays High School campus near the baseball field and tennis courts.
The boys and girls varsity and junior varsity teams from each school will be competing on Saturday morning.
“It’s something we’ve talked about for a while and we’re excited it’s finally going to take place,” said Lehman boys coach Jay Sansom. “We’ve always had a good relationship with Hays so we wanted to do something that could be fun for the kids and the fans. We have pretty equal teams from a competitive standpoint, so it should be a good race.”
The course will be set up to allow plenty of room for fans to come out and watch the two teams.
“We will be running a very fan-friendly course,” said Hays head coach Cliff Buckley. “We want anyone that’s going to come watch us run to park in the Bales Gym lot or by the theater and then walk just behind the school where the race is taking place.”
Buckley said if you’ve never been to a cross-country race, this would be a great one to watch.
“I am very excited to be hosting this meet,” Buckley said. “I thought it would be a great opportunity to showcase the athletes from both schools. Every year we travel to all our meets, which means most of the student body doesn’t get to come out and see what these young men and women do and what their sport is all about. We’re really looking to stir up some excitement about cross-country and give our runners a chance to compete in front of the community.”
Buckley agrees with Sansom that the races should be hotly contested.
“All four of our teams are very similar in terms of numbers and ability,” Buckley said. “All of the races should be very competitive.”
The fact the Rebels and Lehman will also be facing off in football and volleyball Friday night on the Hays campus is also an exciting aspect of the cross-country race.
“We didn’t plan it like this,” Buckley said. “It should be a really fun experience. We’re going to start a tradition of the winner getting a trophy to keep until the next year when we face them again. We hope it becomes one of those things the kids want to work hard for year after year.”
The girls varsity race is scheduled to begin Saturday at 7:30 a.m., the boys varsity will start at 7:50 a.m., the girls junior varsity will begin at 8:20 a.m., and the boys JV will start at 8:50 a.m.
