Back-to-back champs

Lady Apaches clinch second straight district title

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SEGUIN — May 29, the Gonzales Lady Apaches’ cross-country team set out goals for the season. Head Coach Cully Doyle believed the talent on the team outmatched last year’s district-championship squad. So winning another district title was just one step toward success in 2017.

Sure enough, the Lady Apaches did just that as they raced at the District 27-4A meet on Tuesday and defended their district championship, besting Wimberley, La Vernia and Navarro that morning. The junior varsity also won their race, ending their season undefeated.

“Haley Garza rocked it,” Doyle said of their front runner, “followed by Veronica Moreno, Romy Cantu, [then] Stephanie Reyna. Then we had Shelby Davis come in our fifth runner, she ran really well. That was big time for us. We had to have a number five runner stepped up. She ran a 1:02 faster than she’s ever had all year. Just really stepped up. And of course Krystalynn Buesing, a big part of our program, and Maura Garcia was our sixth, Krystalynn was our seventh.”

Garza took second place with a time of 12:18, losing out to Wimberley’s Ashlyn Royal who finished as the lone sub-12-minute racer at 11:57. Right behind Garza was Moreno at 12:23, good for third. Romy Cantu placed sixth at 12:39, Stephanie Reyna was seventh at 12:41, Shelby Davis took 11th at 13:06, Maura Garcia took 14th at 13:14 and Krystalynn Buesing was 15th at 13:16.

“Our fifth, sixth and seventh runners are really important because we had a goal going into the meet of obviously winning district but we talked about it being a chess game, it’s all about numbers,” Doyle explained. “Our district being five teams, there are some pretty solid teams in our district between La Vernia, Wimberley and Navarro, we knew that going in, but we knew we can win if the numbers fell right. Our goal was to get four of our seven in front of Wimberley’s number two girl. That’s exactly what we did. Then we wanted all seven of our girls to beat their five girls and we did that.”

Another important note that Doyle brought up was the distance between their number one runner, Garza, and their number seven runner Buesing.

“We had a 58-second gap between our first runner and our seventh runner,” Doyle noted. “That’s huge. We always talk about trying to stay 60 seconds apart from each other and that’s hard when you got a front runner like Haley Garza and Veronica Moreno leading the way, and Romy Cantu. We’ve got these girls that have been there, done it, know what they expect and they’re daring their teammates to come with them. It’s been a fun ride.”

On the junior varsity side, Emily Moore took gold as she beat out Wimberley’s Maddie Martinez by a mere one second.

“She was in second place the whole race until the last second and it was a photo-finish race, she wanted it, she knew her purpose, it was fun, it was good to see her knowing she’s a freshman coming up through the ranks,” Doyle said. “You can just see those young girls come up through the ranks. From Haley Garza, all the way down to our JV girls, big day for us.”

Jordan Williams placed third, Madison Blundell placed fifth, Cassie Walker took seventh, Caity Blundell placed eighth, Maraia Mathis placed 10th and Emily Moreno took 14th.

On the boys’ side, the Apaches weren’t able to qualify to the regional meet as a team, but Antonio Hernandez had a big day, placing third with a time of 16:43. Beating him were Wimberley’s Craig Huey at 16:29 and Navarro’s Frank Barrientez at 16:33.

“I can’t speak enough of that kid,” Doyle said. “I thought he was going to win the race. He and [Barrientez] were running well. [Huey], we knew was good, he ended up sneaking up on everybody. But I can tell you right now, third place in our district for Antonio Hernandez is not bad at all. Last year he finished 10th, this year he finished third. Ran a lot faster, he’s more confident.”

Freshman Avery Almaguer came up just short of the regional cutoff mark, placing 12th overall with his time of 18:03. In order to advance as an individual, racers must finish in the top 10.

“He tried really hard, he ran faster than he’s ever ran, can’t knock him for that. We wanted him to squeeze in,” Doyle said. “The kids up front deserve it. Avery deserved to be 12th place instead of way back in the back because he’s been working hard and he’s committed. Hard work pays off.”

The Lady Apaches as well as Hernandez head off to the Region IV-4A meet in Corpus Christi on Oct. 23. Although they had some success in the pre-regional meet, Doyle understands that it’s going to take more than that to get to the state race.

“We’re not done. We want to be at the state meet,” Doyle said. “But [district is] the first big check mark. Obviously we want to be at the state meet. But that was a huge step for them.”

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