EDCOUCH — Its been fewer three weeks since legendary coach Tony Trejo died after a battle with cancer.
Though physically gone, Trejo’s presence was felt during the Valley’s first cross country meet of the year, with coaches, athletes and officials paying tribute to the man synonymous with RGV track and field.
A moment of silence in honor of Trejo prior to the girls race kicked off Friday’s meet. Later, McAllen Memorial head coach Jesse Trejo paid tribute to his father by firing the starting pistol during the boys race just like his dad did many times.
In fitting fashion, McAllen Memorial’s Ayden Granados crossed the finish line in first during 34th Annual Yellow Jacket Invitational on Friday at David Ybarra Middle School, looking to the sky and making the letter T with his hands to honor the man he credits for his involvement in the sport.
“After he passed away, it hurt my heart. That’s why I do the ‘T’ for him,” Granados said. “It means so much. When we would go see him, he’d tell us we were like his family. It really hit me hard because I’m a senior and he raised me since around third or fourth grade. He helped me through so much and never gave up on me. This is what he saw fit for me. He told me I was going to be something great.”
Granados, coming off an eighth-place finish during last year’s state cross country meet, was a man on a mission Friday, finishing in 15 minutes, 51.72 seconds, more than 15 seconds faster than the next competitor.
His teammate, Diego De Leon, finished second in 16:07.85. La Feria’s Julian Dominguez finished in 16:50.63 for third.
“I feel good and real confident now with two of our guys coming in first and second,” Granados said. “The goal was to go sub-16 and just win. We wanted to show what McAllen has to offer. This is really going to set us up for some good momentum. Seeing how fast we went, it’s even better. If we can get the other guys closer, it’ll be beautiful.”
Despite the Mustangs having three runners in the top 10, with sophomore Roehl Rodriguez coming in seventh (17:19.46), it was La Feria taking home the team trophy.
Juniors Christopher Velazquez, Nathan Salinas and Benjamin Lara helped secure the Lions win, finishing eighth (17:20.77), 15th (17:43.02) and 24th (18:32.06), respectively, giving La Feria four finishers in the top 25.
The Lions finished with 76 points for first, with Eagle Pass Winn and McAllen Memorial tied for second with 78 points. In cross country the team with the lowest point total wins.
La Feria made it a clean sweep in the team results, with the girls running away with the win with 36 points, 17 points less than second place Edinburg Economedes.
All seven of the Lionette’s runners finished in the top 20, including top 10 finishes by Liana Navarro, Mia Trevino, Cierra Garcia and Leandra Fernandez.
Navarro paced the way for La Feria, finishing in 19:02.98 for first, nearly 16 seconds faster than Edinburg Economedes Maddison Zurita, who finished in 19:18.74 for second. Zurita led for more than half the race before Navarro made her move and took control.
“The first mile I saw she (Maddison Zurita) had a big gap. I knew if I stayed there, I’d be all right,” Navarro said. “The second mile I saw it closing and knew it was my chance to catch her. The last mile I knew I had to catch her, create a gap and hold it the rest of the way. That’s what I did. The last mile was difficult to keep in front of her but I made sure I did. I’m just proud of that finish.”
Like Granados, Navarro enters the year fresh off a state meet appearance, coming in seventh during the Class 4A state meet last year.
“Just the fact that I finished and could do 3 miles, cause normally I do 2, I’m really proud of myself especially cause it’s the first race of the season” Navarro said. “I just did what I could and I’m impressed with it. It’s really big for me. Just knowing I can do it competing against 6A and 5A schools. I hope I can maintain this for the rest of the season. This is my marker and I just have to keep going above and beyond.”
The Yellow Jacket Invitational was one of two meets taking place Friday, with Rio Grande City hosting the Rattler Invitational at Ringgold Middle School.
Sharyland High’s Valdemar Meza and McAllen Rowe’s Karen Llanas were the meets top performers, each finishing first in their respective class.
Meza took home the gold in the boys division, finishing the 5,000-meter run in 16:45.6. Rowe’s Julius Contreras (16:49.8) and Laredo Nixon’s Israel Esparza (17:14.8) finished second and third, respectively.
Llanas finished in 20:58.7 for first in the girls division, followed by McAllen IDEA’s Julia Trevino (21:04.3) and Laredo Nixon’s Jocelynn Reyes (21:06.3).
For full team results and top 10 finishers from each event click here.
