by JASON GORDON
After finishing in 10th place during their opening race of the season in Wimberley, the Hays boys and girls cross country teams were looking for improvement.
They got it, as the Rebel boys finished in third place and the girls took fourth at the Lockhart Invitational on Saturday.
Johnathan Gabriel paced the Rebel boys with a second place overall individual finish.
“It was a very exciting race on both sides,” Hays head coach Cliff Buckley said. “We are definitely making improvements that are positive.”
Unlike most weeks, both the boys and girls teams ran on a short course (1.86 miles) at Lockhart.
“The course gave the runners a chance to focus more on working fast,” Buckley said. “I thought both teams did a great job.”
Lena New and Miriana Sigala, who finished 1-2 at the district meet last year, finished in 7th and 8th place in Lockhart.
New’s time of 12 minutes, 33 seconds was just ahead of Sigala’s 12:34.
Other Lady Rebel varsity finishers were Emily Cromwell (13:15, 21st), Grace Ortiz (13:41, 38th), Marissa Roman (14:04, 42nd) and Sarah Alexander (14:22, 47th).
“Lena and Mariana both had very strong outings,” Buckley said. “When we are able to close the gap between our top two and the rest of our runners, we are going to have a chance to be a very strong team on the girls side.”
Gabriel got out front and never looked back, finishing second in the 78-runner field in a time of 10:16.
“Johnathan ran a nice smooth race out front,” Buckley said. “He looked very in control and relaxed for a majority of the race.”
Other rebel boys finishers were Bobby Limon (11:04, 20th), Tom Ayers (11:12, 25th), Michael Normand (11:16, 28th), Scott Cheshier (11:32, 33rd), Scott Cheshier, (11:38, 37th) and Jacob Rodriguez (11:48, 41st). Buckley also singled out Ayers’ solid performance.
“Ayers had a very nice race for us,” Buckley said. “He has been working his way through the JV ranks and has been stepping into a new role for us this year. My hope is that he will keep pushing himself to get better.”
Buckley said his teams are in a good spot after their first two races of the season.
“We have been very competitive up to this point and my hope is that our runners will continue to come in with a good strong work ethic,” he said. “If they do that, we will be in the thick of things come the end of the season. It’s a long year and we need to keep hitting small goals along the way to be where we want to be at the end of October.”
