Sharyland Pioneer’s Ryan Servantes has established himself as one of the Valley’s top distance runners during his four-year career with the Diamondbacks.
The senior has one state cross country and three regional track appearances under his belt. He also holds school records in the 5,000-meter run in cross country and the 800- and 1,600-meter run in track.
In the classroom, Servantes has maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout his four years.
His work in the classroom and on the track garnered him academic and athletic opportunities to Lamar University, earning the school’s presidential scholarship and a spot on the cross country and track and field teams.
Servantes is taking both opportunities, officially joining the school after signing his national letter of intent during a ceremony May 2 at the Sharyland Pioneer Gym.
Lamar University is an NCAA Division I program in Beaumont which competes in the Southland Conference.
“I am excited and grateful I have this opportunity to do what I want and what I love at the same time,” Servantes said. “Everything aligned perfectly for me. I know all my hard work on the track and in the classroom has paid off.”
Servantes was one of 15 incoming freshman out of 137 applicants to earn the school’s presidential scholarship, a full-ride academic based award. To qualify for the award, he had to maintain at least a 3.9 GPA, be ranked in the top 10% at his school and score between 1330-1600 or 29-36 in the SAT or ACT, respectively.
The Diamondbacks senior was already being actively recruited by Lamar University before learning he would be receiving the academic scholarship.
While he has a spot secured on the team, Servantes won’t be awarded any money from the athletics department after receiving the presidential award, with the money originally set aside for him to be used for other student athletes.
“Going into high school I really didn’t care about academics,” Servantes said. “I just wanted to come in and compete and run and be an athlete. I didn’t think I could be that smart kid. I thought those AP classes were for smart kids, so I was just here to be an athlete. It took my parents and my brother pushing me to challenge myself a little bit. My competitive nature in athletics transitioned well into academics. That competitive spirit shone through, and I tried hard in every single class I took.”
Servantes joins the Cardinals fresh off the best season of his four-year career. In cross country, he finished third during the District 31-5A with a program best time of 15 minutes, 31.3 seconds.
He continued his stellar senior season all the way to the Class 5A state meet, coming in 19th out of 151 competitors. His finish was the second highest among RGV athletes during the race.
Track season brought more success for Servantes, earning nine top three finishes in the 800-meter run out of 11 possible races. His best performance came during the Area 31/32-5A meet, taking the gold with a personal best time of 1:55.41 to advance to regionals for a third straight year.
“I think my entire journey was a rollercoaster, full of highs and lows,” Servantes said. “I dealt with injuries but also had a lot of accomplishments. That all made me mentally tough and kept me going. The COVID year, I would be out there running by myself, not knowing when the season was going to start. I didn’t have a coach talking to me telling me what workouts to do. That is when I knew I had the dedication and mindset to continue this for another four years after high school.”
