Cross country: ECISD entries shoot for the top in I-5A Championships

There has been an ECISD entry of some kind at the UIL State Cross Country Championships every year since 2003.

Whether that streak continues or not will be decided in the early afternoon hours today during the Region I-5A Championships at Mae Simmons Park in Lubbock.

Permian’s girls and Odessa High’s boys will both compete as teams after runner-up finishes on the same course last week in the District 2-5A Championships.

Also running in the boys race is Permian junior David Hernandez, who qualified via a seventh-place individual district finish. Hernandez also qualified last season as an individual and will shoot for a top-10 finish that will earn a ticket to Round Rock.

In the girls portion of the meet, which is scheduled to start at noon, Permian will try to earn a second consecutive trip to the state meet.

The Lady Panthers were third last season at regionals to earn the first team trip to the state meet in program history. Back from that team are Bianka Cortez, Jamia Graham, Monick Garcia and Desiree Bustamante.

“Our goal is to get out of regionals and make it to state,” Permian girls head coach Carl Chancellor said. “We’ve had a real good week of practice and I think they realize the task at hand. We’re going to have to run very well and it’s going to take every one of them to do what has to be done.”

Also running for the Lady Panthers will be Eliana Leyba, Marisha Dominguez and Taylor Lieck.

Their task will be to earn a top-three team finish while battling against some of the state’s best teams. Permian also will try to finish ahead of Lubbock Coronado, which was the District 2-5A team champion last week.

“I know our girls know they’re our district’s best and we just didn’t show it,” Chancellor said. “I think this week will prove that and hopefully we’re also going to prove to be one of the best in our region.”

Odessa High’s boys were a solid second-place finisher last week at the district meet, though far behind team champion Amarillo Tascosa — which had all seven of its runners finish in the top 13.

The Bronchos followed with their top five all in the top 24, led by junior Kaleb Neptune in 14th and senior Cody Valenzuela in 15th.

Rounding out Odessa High’s lineup today will be Manny Cruz, A.J. Martinez, Raymon Paredes, Maurilio Pando and Adam Fuentes.

Bronchos head coach Randy Thompson is hopeful each of his runners can improve by 20 seconds. With such a performance, Thompson thinks OHS can compete with the region’s elite teams.