What: UIL State Cross Country Championship.
When: Friday, Nov. 3 – (All times MST) 5A Girls, 7:30 a.m.; 5A Boys, 8:10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 4 – 6A Girls, 7:30 a.m.; 6A Boys, 8:10 a.m.; 4A Girls, 10:40 a.m.; 4A Boys, 11:10 a.m. at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock.
Where: Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock.
Who’s running?
The following boy’s teams and runners have advanced:
Class 6A: Eastwood and Franklin. Also running are Americas’ junior Diego Romeo, Pebble Hills senior Mark Barajas and Coronado senior Edgar Valles.
Class 5A: El Paso High.
Class 4A: San Elizario and Austin’s Pedro Jimenez.
The following girl’s teams and runners have advanced:
Class 6A: Franklin and Eastwood’s Adelynn Rodriguez.
Class 5A: Chapin.
Class 4A: Fabens’ Alexia Martinez and Angel Quinonez, also San Elizario’s Kylee Pardo.
Holding to form, with two notable additions, El Paso will be well represented at the UIL State Cross Country Championship Friday and Saturday in Round Rock.
The Franklin, Eastwood and San Elizario boys and the Franklin girls are back on familiar ground, earning spots to the state championship. However, Class 5A upstarts, the Chapin girls and the El Paso High boys, will be joining them as the state’s best teams and individuals race for state glory.
Also running as individuals out of Class 6A will be Americas junior Diego Romeo, Pebble Hills senior Mark Barajas, Coronado’s senior Edgar Valles and Eastwood junior Adelynn Rodriguez.
Austin junior Pedro Jimenez will race in the Class 4A division along with a pair of freshmen from Fabens, Alexia Martinez and Angel Quinonez, and San Elizario senior Kylee Pardo on the girl’s side.
Boys
Class 6A
Franklin finished third at regionals behind with 11 points and Eastwood was fourth with 129. Southlake Carroll took top honors for the sixth consecutive time with 50 points and McKinney Boyd was second with 86.
Coronado was eighth with 212 points.
Franklin is going back to state for the second straight year after its top five runners all finished the regional course in the top 50 including two in the top 15 – seniors Matthew Engle (seventh, 15:22.30) and Juan Leal (12th, 15:31.9, a personal best).
Engle earned All-Region honors. He is the top 6A runner returning to state. Last year, he was 59th in 16:38.8.
Senior Gabriel Uranga was 27th in 16:09.5, sophomore Sebastian Mendez was 42nd in 16:20.2 (a personal best) and senior Adan Castillo was 46th in 16:23.2.
The team is looking to improve on its seventh-place finish.
Eastwood returns to state after missing out last year for the first time in eight years. This will be schools tenth trip in 12 years to state.
Junior Aidan Torres had an impressive regional was second with a time of 15 minutes, 16.10 seconds.
The Troopers earned a spot back to state, finishing fourth in the Region 1-6A.
Along with Torres’ silver medal, senior Sulliman Rodriguez was 20th in 15:58.0, senior Leo Espino was 30th in 16:12.5 and junior Luke Cruz was 45th in 16:21.7.
Also competing are Americas’ junior Diego Romeo, Pebble Hills senior Mark Barajas and Coronado senior Edgar Valles.
Romero earned All Region 1-6A honors, finishing eighth at regionals in 15:26.20, Barajas was 14th in 15:42.0 and Valles was 15th in 15:42.8.
Class 5A
El Paso High won the Region 1-5A team championship.
It was the first time since 1997 that the team had won a regional championship.
Junior Miles Westbrook earned All-Region honors with a fourth-place finish in 15:44.10. Senior Leo Valenzuela was 21st in 16:34.80 followed by junior Ulysses O’Rourke (27th, 16:50.60), senior Aydan Lugo (35th, 17:02.00) and junior Lorenzo Shields (50th, 17:11.5).
Westbrook was 53rd at last year’s championship, finishing in 16:41.0 and Valenzuela was 80th in 17:05.7.
Class 4A
San Elizario is headed back to state for the tenth year in a row after finishing second at regionals with 63 points. Canyon won the title with 20 points.
San Elizario has finished in the top three in nine straight years at the state meet, six of which have been state championships.
The Eagles had four runners earn all-region honors – senior Jullian Guerra, who finished fourth in 16:18.79 and senior Angel Maese (fifth at 16:40.20), sophomore Antonio Arreola (seventh, 16:58.50) and senior Bryan Hernandez (tenth, 17:04.20).
In the past nine years, San Elizario has won six state championships and finished third three times, including last year behind Canyon and La Feria.
Guerra finished last year’s state meet in 16:59.4 and Maese finished in 17:20.6.
Austin sophomore Pedro Jimenez will be racing in his first state championship after placing 18th at regionals with a time of 17:26.80.
Girls
Class 6A
For the second consecutive year, Franklin will represent Region 1 at the State Championship. It is their fourth state appearance in five years.
The Cougars qualified as the fourth team from the Region of Doom, scoring 143 points. Southlake Carroll won the regional title, followed by Flower Found and Northwest Nelson.
Sophomore Emily Orr earned All Region honors, placing fifth with a time of 18:25.70.
Also at regionals, senior Brooke McCune was 36th in 19:26.4, sophomore Abigail Pinon was 39th in 19:29.8, junior Sophia Keiser was 46th in 19:37.2 and senior Victoria Hoyt was 50th in 19:41.5.
Franklin was seventh at state last year. Pinon had the best time at state last year, completing the race in 63rd place in 19:52.5.
Eastwood junior Adelynn Rodriguez is headed back to state for her third time after placing eighth with a time of 18:34.20 to earn All Region honors.
Rodriguez was the top El Paso runner at state last year, finishing 43rd in 19:25.8.
Class 5A
The Chapin Huskies finished fourth at the Region 1-5A Championship and advanced to state.
Two runners, juniors Rebecca Duran and Ava Dennis, had top 50 performances. Duran ran a personal best 19:18.50 and placed 13th while Dennis was 34th in 20:22.60. Freshman Jocelynne Diaz Torres also had a strong showing, finishing 51st in 20:45.5.
It’s the first time an El Paso 5A team has advanced to state since 2018 when Eastwood finished 11th and the first time Chapin has been represented since 2017 when Skyler Goodman finished 31st in 18:58.39.
Class 4A
Fabens’ freshman Alexia Martinez earned a trip to state with a fourth-place regional finish in 12:26.50.
Martinez’ teammate and fellow freshman Angel Quinonez is also headed to state after a 22nd-place finish in 13:09.90.
San Elizario senior Kylee Pardo will join them after finishing 20th in 13:06.50.
El Paso Running 