Region 1 Previews

Friday: Class 4A and Class 3A.

Saturday: Class 5A.

Sunday: Class 6A.

Make Plans

What: Region 1 Cross Country Championship.

When:  Monday, Oct. 22. Times (CST): 6A Girls, 9 a.m.; 6A Boys, 9:30 a.m.; 3A Boys, noon; 4A Girls, 1 p.m.; 4A Boys, 1:30 p.m.; 5A Girls, 2 p.m.; 5A Boys, 2:30 p.m.

Where: Mae Simmons Park, MLK Blvd. and 24th Street in Lubbock.

At Stake: Top four teams and top 10 individuals not on a qualifying team advance to the UIL Cross Country State Championship, Nov. 3 at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.

Americas cross country coach Kenny Lucero is in a situation many coaches would love to be in.

The Trailblzers, who will compete in the Region 1-6A Championship on Monday, do not have a number one runner.

Instead, they have four runners capable of taking over a race.

“They are interchangeable parts,” Lucero said. “And that’s going to be a huge advantage at regionals. We see it every meet. Tyler (Rodriquez) was our No. 1, Jared Laverty, only a freshman, was our No.2 guy and Jacob (Ye) was our No. 3 guy so you saw those interchangeable parts work again at district.”

Americas has been steady all season, competing in Albuquerque, Lubbock and Round Rock.

“As we move on to regionals and state, if they all feel good on the same day, we could be very dangerous,” Lucero said of the boy’s chances of advancing to state.

The Americas girls, the Coronado boys and girls and the Franklin boys and girls teams will also compete for a spot to the state meet as well as Jazmin Chacon and Mario Luna from Socorro and Matthew Lindesy from Montwood.

Last year, Franklin sophomore Eva Jess and Coronado seniors Liam Walsh and Jenelle Jaeger-Daraksy qualified out of Class 6A.

“Liam did great last year at regionals and made it to state; I was so proud of him,” said Nick Gonzalez, the District 1-6A champion from Coronado. “Being able to train with our teammates is great. It’s always been important to be able to train with Liam and Alan. We push each other at every workout and during the race. I am very thankful that I have them with me.”

Jess ran a 17:17.03 regional last year, good for fifth place.

“We are doing so great this year,” she said of her team. “We’ve been ranked No. 1 in the city five weeks in a row and ranked second one week so we’re doing really well. We’re all so happy to win district and to be able to go to regionals, that was our goal this year.”