WESLACO — The Weslaco East Wildcats’ start to the season wasn’t picture perfect. The reigning District 32-5A champions finished seventh overall out of eight qualifying teams during the Weslaco ISD Invitational on Aug. 13, with only one runner finishing in the top 30.
Slowly but surely, the Wildcats have begun to make strides through the year, improving their overall finishes during each meet. On Saturday, Weslaco East hit a new high for the season, capturing its first overall team victory during the 12th annual Edinburg North Doug Erickson RGV Classic at Monte Cristo Golf Course in Edinburg.
“The good thing for this past week, obviously they’re making strides every week, but they’ve been making steady improvements each week,” Weslaco East head coach Joshua Davis said. “On that day, everybody in my program ran a season-best time. They all ran well when it counted, that was the important part of it.”
Five of the Wildcats’ six runners finished in the top 25 last Saturday, each setting a personal best. Senior Raven Ozuna led the way with a seventh-place finish, clocking in at 21 minutes, 25.4 seconds.
Ozuna has been a consistent contributor for Weslaco East this season, finishing in the top 25 during each race.
“Raven is a true inspiration in that she came into our program as a freshman, she knows this and her mom knows this, but she was one of the slower girls in the entire program as a freshman,” Davis said. “Her work ethic is second to none. She does whatever is asked, whenever it is asked. Even during that time in the pandemic where a lot of these kids were left to figure it out on their own, she would put in every run that was asked of her. She’s shown steady growth throughout the years to the point where she’s consistent.”
Weslaco East has turned to new faces to help in the team’s quest to earn another district title, with freshman Andrea Quintero seeing varsity action during her debut campaign and senior Melody Herrera, a silver medalist in the 400-meter run during last year’s District 32-5A track and field championships, making the jump from track to cross country.
Quintero posted the best finish of her young career Saturday, coming in 16th with a personal-best time of 22:10.3. Herrera continued her improvement from her first meet, finishing 15th with a PR of 22:08.2.
“We’re filling some spaces now with some new faces,” Davis said. “It’s not so many adjustments in training as it is finding those girls willing to take on the role. The expectations are the same and the training is the same. It’s just finding girls who are willing to step up. Right now, we’ve been fortunate to have girls come into the program or switch up from our track program to help us at this point.”
The Wildcats ran Friday during the McAllen Memorial Tony Trejo Mustang Stampede at Springfest Park in McAllen, finishing third behind Edinburg Economedes and Laredo United.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
A veteran group of seniors have dominated on the course this season, with the top four times in the boys 5,000-meter run this season belonging to upperclassmen.
Still, several young guns have shown glimpses into the future, with three freshman holding spots in the top 10 fastest times through four weeks.
McAllen High’s Jacksen Ahlman, Sharyland High’s Nathan Salinas and Weslaco East’s Aaron Nava rank fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, through the four weeks, each setting personal bests last Saturday.
Ahlman clocked in at 16:02.7 during Friday’s FEAST Patriot 20th annual Cross Country Invitational, with Sharyland High’s Nathan Salinas coming in right behind him in 16:02.8. Meanwhile, Nava picked up his second individual win of the year, finishing in 16:08.2 during the 12th annual Edinburg North Doug Erickson RGV Classic.
BREAKING IN
The RGVCCCA welcomed two new teams into its top 10 girls poll, with Brownsville Veterans and Weslaco East joining the ranks.
The Chargers debuted at No. 6 after not being ranked last week, cracking the top 10 after a second-place finish during Saturday’s Mercedes “Captain Pete Martinez” Cross Country Invitational.
Brownsville Veterans fields two of the Valley’s fastest runners this season in junior Naia Gracia and freshman Itzel Rodriguez. Gracia holds the second-fastest time in RGV in the girls 5,000-meter run (18:44.1), and Rodriguez broke into the top 10 with a personal-best time of 19:32.4 during last Saturday’s meet, ranking ninth in the Valley this year.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats nabbed their first team win of the year last week, moving them to No. 9 in this week’s poll.
For full team rankings and top times visit RGVSports.com.
