Ellison boys cross country team

Ellison boys cross country head coach Jesse San Miguel crunched the numbers and figured that his squad could –– if everything went according to plan –– produce a perfect score during the District 16-5A meet.

 

The team went ahead and proved those calculations to be correct. Without a doubt.

 

The Eagles toed the line Wednesday morning in Waco with Chaparral, Belton, Lake Belton, Waco and Waco University, and cruised around the Heart of Texas Soccer Complex’s 3-mile course, placing its top-five runners first through fifth for a pristine 15 points and a third consecutive district championship.

Eagles runners in the sun“It was awesome to see because you don’t know what to expect sometimes coming into a district meet. There are always nuances. There are always variables. Sometimes, you can’t overcome all of them with all of your team. But, today, they showed up,” San Miguel said.

 

“They’ve been training well all season long and have been pretty strong in most of our meets. When you looked at the analytics for this district race, this is what it showed. I was hoping that it would happen.”

 

Hope quickly turned into reality as Aiden Hill, Andy Harper, Kobe Ellis, Justin Rodriguez-Quintana and Jaylen Henry crossed the finish line.

 

One, two, three, four, five for 15 points.

 

“We are blessed with an amazing coach and we are blessed with a team that works together,” said Hill, the individual 16-5A champ said. “It was simply just an amazing race.”

CHS lead runnerHill’s duel with fellow junior Harper for first place lasted the entirety of the 3-mile race, which took runners on a looping trek that includes portions through wooded areas. They were shoulder to shoulder with about a half-mile remaining before Hill broke away down the stretch, clocking 16 minutes, 13.33 seconds to Harper’s 16:17.03.

 

Both, training partners since the offseason, hit the grass after crossing the line after pushing each other’s limits.

 

Ellis took third in 16:42.57, Rodriguez-Quintana fourth (17:02.48) and Henry fifth (17:10.73). Rounding out Ellison’s participants, Isaiah Holloway was eighth (17:21.10) and Quintin Durham was 11th (17:33.73).

 

“It’s tough because I’ve been beating Aiden all year, and he beat me today,” Harper said. But, I’m so proud of him. I wanted first but I’m glad it was him who beat me.”

 

Hill said all the credit belonged to Harper.

 

“What pushed me to getting first and district champion was my teammate, Andy. He was a beautiful pacer and I’m blessed to run with him every day,” Hill said. “He is the reason I started my running journey.”

CHS Bobcats cross countryEllison’s journey will continue in two weeks in the 5A Region II championships at UT Arlington’s Harold Patterson Sports Complex.

 

After placing in the top three team standings, the Chaparral boys and girls also will be there.

 

More photos: https://tinyurl.com/43ptb8ry

Anchored by top-10 showings from Jayden Brown (17:16.37, seventh) and Anthony Banda (17:24.05, ninth) and three more in the top 20, the Bobcats placed second behind the Eagles with 59 points. Lake Belton (71) was third.

 

“Every practice we always strive to do the best we can, and ever since the season started, we had the goal of finishing top three in district and move on to regionals as a team,” Brown said. “We push each other to do the best we can.”

 

Other runners counting toward Chaparral’s total were: Mikhail Roberts-Church (17:36.40, 12th), Fantino Weary (17:51.09, 15th) and Damari Patterson (17:56.07, 16th). Not far off were Carlos Robinson (21st) and Cristian Vasquez (22nd).

 

The Lady Bobcats placed third behind Lake Belton and Belton to land a second straight trip to the regional meet.

 

Yeylis Tello finished seventh in 21:00.25 –– a milestone time for the sophomore.

 

“My goal is always to get sub-21 (minutes) and this meet I basically got 21 on the dot, which is the best I’ve run so far,” Tello said. “I’m pretty proud of myself because I had to push past a lot of hurdles this season.”

EHS Lady Eagles cross countryAlso for the Lady Bobcats, Laila Brown was 13th, Autumn Scotting 14th, Hayden Mateski 16th, Avianna Borja 17th, Joana Barcenas 21st and Jasmin Garraway 23rd.

 

“Our team did really good and we want to keep moving,” Tello said.

The Lady Eagles were led by Hannah Stowers, who took 25th. Lillyan McDaniels (27th), Luciane Bermudez-Irizarry (30th), Isabella Theadore (34th) and Jayda Sugars (37th) rounded out the Lady Eagles team.

 

In the JV portion, Chaparral’s Blaze Hiapo claimed first while the Ellison boys secured the team title.

 

Full results: https://tinyurl.com/3x7s2sbe