Marble Falls meet prepares runners for district

CAPTION: Marble Falls freshman Reese Massey’s drive for success pushes her to the podium.  Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography

The final week of the high school cross country regular season is here. Therefore, Marble Falls and Burnet are preparing for the District 24-4A meet that will be conducted Tuesday, Oct.8, at Marble Falls High School.

The girls varsity race starts the meet at 8:45 a.m. followed by the boys varsity at 9:15 a.m., girls junior varsity at 9:45 a.m., and boys junior varsity at 10:45 a.m.

This year’s meet will be more challenging in one way. When the University Interscholastic League announced realignment in February, it added more district teams. While the district still features Burnet, Georgetown Gateway, Jarrell, Lampasas and Marble Falls, it welcomes Liberty Hill Legacy Ranch, Salado and Taylor.

What didn’t change were the number of teams from each district that can advance to regional meets. The top three teams and top 10 individuals advance to the Class 4A Region III, which will be conducted Monday, Oct. 21, at Kate Barr Ross Memorial Park in Huntsville.

To give district teams a chance to get a feel for the course, Marble Falls hosted its annual Leonel Manzano and Rick Edwards Memorial Invitational Sept. 28. Including the middle school divisions, the meet featured 10 races.

“It was exhausting,” Marble Falls head coach Brenda Gonzalez said. “It went well. Everyone was impressed in general.”

Marble Falls senior Tyler Hamblin won the 5A-6A 5K race, clocking 15:59.6. Burnet senior Isaias Zarate was the Bulldogs’ top finisher thanks to crossing the finish line 11th overall in 16:54.1.

Marble Falls was sixth overall in the team standings. Salado took first place in the standings.

Other Mustangs running were freshman Graham Goggans, who was 25th in 17:41.2, sophomore Owen Martin, who finished 26th in 17:43.6, sophomore Brazos White, who came in 58th in 18:52.6, and freshman Logan Hargraves, who was 71st in 19:31.5.

“Everyone had a personal best or close to a personal best,” Gonzalez said.

The Lady Mustangs competed in the Classes 1A-4A division where freshman Reese Massey took silver in 11:36.1 on the two-mile course. The gold medalist was Salado freshman McCall Boyd, who was done in 11:34.3. Other Marble Falls runners were Chloe Ellis, Abigail Henderson and Hadalye Hernandez

“(Massey) was on (Boyd’s) heels. She was a second or two off of first place. She ran well,” the coach said. “The ones who ran, ran great. We improved.”

Burnet won the Class 1A-4A boys varsity division and both junior varsity divisions and finished second in the 1A-4A girls varsity division.

Burnet freshman Isaac Vega finished the 5K course in 18:13.8 to finish third in the 1A-4A boys varsity race, while Burnet sophomore Abby Bennight paced the Lady Dawgs in the girls varsity race placing 19th in 13:04.9 on the two-mile course.

To show his support for the meet, Manzano, a 2004 Marble Falls graduate and 2012 Olympic silver medalist in the men’s 1,500 meters, attended where he took photos with the runners and fans, told stories and made himself available for conversations.

“It did pretty good for the kiddos,” Gonzalez said. “I think it was a nice environment. It was cool for the kids to have an Olympian there.”

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RESULTS

BOYS

Class 5A-6A

1, Tyler Hamblin (Marble Falls), 15:59.6; 11, Isaias Zarate (Burnet), 16:54.1; 21, Gustavo Vega (Burnet), 17:27.1; 28, Graham Goggans (Marble Falls), 17:41.2; 30, Owen Martin (Marble Falls), 17:43.6; 52, Victor Aviles (Burnet), 18:29; 68, Brazos White (Marble Falls), 18:52.6; 84, Logan Hargraves (Marble Falls), 19:31.5; 86, Matthew Ozuna (Marble Falls), 19:32.7; 91, Colton Rutland (Marble Falls), 19:47.7; 100, Connor Yaklin (Marble Falls), 21:08.6

Class 1A-4A

3, Isaac Vega (Burnet), 18:13.8; 7, Miguel Valdez (Burnet), 18:24.6; 9, Hector Vega (Burnet), 18:27.3; 10, Austin Moore (Burnet), 18:27.8; 11, Clark Yanez (Burnet), 18:31; 15, Adan Carreon (Burnet), 18:41.2; 17, Hays Bennett (Burnet), 19:17.8; Josvanny Ramirez (Burnet), 22:36

Junior varsity

1, Justin Calhoun (Burnet), 20:14.2; 4, Christopher Hernandez (Burnet), 20:43.7; 4, Matthew Resendez (Burnet), 20:43.8; 5, Blake Feldt (Burnet), 20:56.7; 6, Andrew Resendez (Burnet), 20:57.3; 10, Benito Bocanegra (Burnet), 21:40.2; 12, Jose Rios (Burnet), 22:08.1; Angelo Ramirez (Burnet), 25:43.5; Julian Ramirez (Burnet), 27:03

GIRLS

Class 1A-4A

2, Reese Massey (Marble Falls), 11:36.1; 21, Abby Bennight (Burnet), 13:04.9; 22, Marissa Aviles (Burnet), 13:13.4; 26, Chloe Ellis (Marble Falls), 13:28.7; 27, Brooke Bowman (Burnet), 13:31.6; 28, Maya Calderon (Burnet), 13:34.2; 43, Erica Flores (Burnet), 14:19.2; 48, Hannah Webster (Burnet), 14:22.4; 63, Abigail Henderson (Marble Falls), 15:02.3; 64, Hadalye Hernandez (Marble Falls), 15:04.6; 65, Josie McDavid (Burnet), 15:06.9; 67, Savannah Griffin (Burnet), 15:09.5

Junior varsity

Class 1A-4A

10, Myricle Calhoun (Burnet), 14:38; 20, Maringá Griffin (Burnet), 15:32.7; 21, Naveah Perez (Burnet), 15:36.9; 23, Gabriella Allbritton (Burnet), 15:59.5; 25, Jaylee Messer (Burnet), 16:15.3; 27, Alexis Whitley (Burnet), 16:20.1; 29, Ella Schooler (Burnet), 16:30.9; 35, Ava Saldiver (Burnet), 16:56.7.

CAPTION: Marble Falls senior Tyler Hamblin is looking to advance to another regional meet in his final season wearing purple. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography