Cross Country: District 4-2A makes run to Round Rock

LUBBOCK Perhaps the best way to illustrate how well District 4-2A runners performed Saturday in the Region I-2A Cross Country Championships is to start with a little disappointment.

Kermit’s boys, who finished second at the UIL State Championships last year with virtually the same lineup of runners, had to settle for a third-place regional team finish at Mae Simmons Park while earning a third consecutive trip to the state meet.

While it wasn’t a surprise that defending 2A state champion Wall won the team title, the runner-up caught Kermit by surprise — Sonora, the team that finished second to Kermit earlier this season in the District 4-2A meet.

Both teams will represent 4-2A at the Class 2A boys state meet along with Crane’s Zach Daniel and Nick Escalante, who qualified with top-10 individual finishes.

They all joined Alpine freshman Rashae Skillern and junior Alyssa Fields, who started the day by qualifying for the Class 2A girls state meet by finishing sixth and seventh individually in the opening race of the Region I Championships.

Yes, the region will be well-represented Nov. 14 at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, thanks in large part to 4-2A’s presence.

There are plenty of storylines, with Kermit senior Trey Bale leading the way after winning his first Region I-2A individual boys title in his final chance with a time of 16 minutes, 27.39 seconds.

“It scared me because I’ve been sick, so coming into the race I was just worried if I was going to be physically ready,” Bale said. “I guess I was.”

Wall won the team crown with 65 points and Sonora scored 83 to nudge out Kermit (86) for the second-place spot. Kermit was well ahead of fourth-place Shallowater’s 139 points.

Hector Diaz followed Bale for Kermit in 14th place, Benny Vasquez was 27th, Michael Orona took 32nd and Leeroy Garcia finished 33rd to close out Kermit’s team scoring. Trent Gainey and Matt Hernandez also ran, finishing 72nd and 97th.

Orona, Vasquez and Hernandez all played football throughout the season, as well, though they’ll be free to run only cross country at the state meet next week since Kermit’s football team fell just short of making the playoffs.

“The football guys will finally have the first meet ever in their life without a football game, so I’m looking forward to seeing how they run,” Bale said. “I think the whole team’s ready. Third place really was kind of disappointing and everyone’s really looking forward to improving and hopefully we’ll win state.”

Crane didn’t have a shot at getting a return team trip to the state meet since it finished fourth at the District 4-2A Championships behind Kermit, Sonora and Alpine — which finished a solid ninth out of 24 teams.

But that didn’t keep Daniel, a sophomore, from getting back to Round Rock with a time of 16:36.90 that earned him fifth place individually. Escalante, a junior, was eighth in 16:48.06.

Of course, Escalante didn’t get to join Daniel and the Golden Cranes last year as they finished fourth at the state meet. He was diagnosed with a heart condition after collapsing at the district meet in 2008 and thought he wouldn’t get to run again.

The diagnosis was changed earlier this year, though, and he will get his belated chance in Round Rock.

“I could’ve run better and I think I should’ve run better, but I’ve got to be happy that I’m here at least,” Escalante said. “It’s a blessing that I get to run. After not running, just for me to be able to run this year I’ve got to be happy. I think we gave it everything we had with no regrets.”

In the girls meet, Alpine’s Skillern and Fields both earned their first trips to the UIL State Championships. That’s partially because Skillern is a freshman and Fields, a junior, has never run cross country until this year.

Together, they helped lead the Lady Bucks to the regional meet as a team and have a legitimate shot at strong finishes next weekend in Round Rock.

Skillern’s sixth-place finish came with a time of 12 minutes, 21.70 seconds, while Fields followed in 12:24.64.

“I’m glad that we’re both going because we’re really good friends,” Skillern said. “We push each other during practice and we don’t think we could do as good as we do if we didn’t have each other to push each other.”

Fields, who played for Alpine’s volleyball team later in the day as it won a Class 2A area-round playoff match in Seminole, plays sports throughout the year and has been a hurdler during track season.

But she felt like cross country could be a natural fit.

“I just decided to give it a shot,” Fields said. “I play volleyball and basketball and track and everything else, but I really enjoy running. It’s probably my favorite thing to do. My main reason (for joining the team) was I just love to run and once I started racing, it started getting a little more competitive. And going to state is crazy.”

Perhaps, but she won’t have to look far in Round Rock to find a familiar face — from her team and beyond.

STATE QUALIFIERS

Class 2A Boys

>> Team: Kermit (Trey Bale, Hector Diaz, Benny Vasquez, Michael Orona, Leeroy Garcia, Trent Gainey, Matt Hernandez).

>> Individuals: Zach Daniel, Crane; Nick Escalante, Crane.

Class 2A Girls

>> Individuals: Rashae Skillern, Alpine; Alyssa Fields, Alpine.

Class 1A Boys

>> Team: Sanderson (Travis Roberts, Taylor Roberts, Shawn Stegall, Chris Marquez, Joseph Hopkins, Darren Seidel)