Miriana Sigala made her way through an ultra-tough Class 4A Region IV cross-country meet field last weekend. Her 7th place finish earned her a spot in Saturday’s UIL Cross Country Championships at Round Rock’s Old Settler’s Park. (Photo by Emily Cromwell)
by JASON GORDON
Lady Rebel Miriana Sigala made her way through an ultra-tough Class 4A Region IV cross-country meet field at the NSC Complex in San Antonio last weekend.
Sigala finished seventh overall in a meet of nearly 200 of the best runners in the area to qualify for the UIL State Cross Country Competition Saturday at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock.
She finished the two-mile regional race in a time of 11 minutes, 34 seconds.
“It was the fourth straight year Sigala had advanced to the regional level, which is a great feat, but we had high hopes for her going in,” said Hays head coach Cliff Buckley. “Qualifying for state is a testament to her hard work and sacrifice.”
Sigala was in a dogfight to qualify for state.
“I told her she would have to get out to a quick start and try to establish herself in the top 20 by the first half mile or so,” Buckley said. “She needed to not get caught up in the giant swarm that would be racing in the middle pack or she would get stuck. She was in 10th about halfway through the race and looked very strong but there were a lot of girls right behind her.”
With 400 meters to go Sigala was in 9th, and with 100 meters left she passed a couple of tiring runners to ensure her spot at state.
“I didn’t see the finish because the fans were about 3 deep the last 100 meters or so, but her family was at the finish and they were all celebrating,” Buckley said. “It was awesome. I am so happy to see her hard work pay off. A lot of times kids work extremely hard but it isn’t always enough to move on to the next level, so I was happy that wasn’t the case for her. I think it’s fitting that she came in as a freshman and went to state and she will be leaving her senior year going to state.”
It will be the first time a Hays cross-country runner heads to the state competition since the Lady Rebels made it as a team in 2008.
Lehman also had an individual runner at regionals. Ramon Martinez ran one of his best races of the year, but came up 19th. Only the top 10 make it to state.
“It was just an incredible field,” said Lehman coach Jay Sansom. “I told Ramon if he would have been in the Class 1A, 2A or 3A race he would have finished in the top three. He just happened to be in one of the most difficult regions in any class in the state. It was a great way for him to end his cross-country career, though. He’s been an awesome competitor.”
Both the Lehman girls and Hays boys teams finished in the middle of the back.
The Lehman girls: Bianca Meza, Sabrina Lawlor, Ofelia Negrete, Ashley Morgan, Pressley Bailey, Amara Smith and Ashley Martinez, were 13th out of 24 teams.
The Hays boys: Ryan McSpadden, Michael Normand, Heath Agnew, Tom Ayers, Logan Lindsey, Jason Peed and Anthony Lewis, were 16th out of 24 teams.
“The boys ran a great race,” Buckley said. “We took a group that had never been to regionals before, so it was all very new. I think a few of them got caught up in the fast start, but I’m very proud of each and every one of them.”
