Lady Falcons Cross Country

[lilbirdie]

The women's Cross Country team is going to be very good this year and should compete for the district title. They placed second this weekend in the San Benito meet against a very good Tuloso Midway team and beat out Harlingen South and Hanna to name a few. The team is young, but is solid. Also, a freshman is one of the standouts. Stay tuned for more good news.

[lilbirdie]

The Cross Country District meet is in Weslaco this Friday October 20. Although they don't get the level of press compared to football or volleyball, as a runner myself, I know they work just as hard. The Brownsville Herald reported that the girls' team is favored to win the district. Best of luck Lady Falcons at the District meet! Your hard work and determination will pay off!

[TEAM FALCON]

Thanks for the information.

Feel free to post any articles, etc to keep us all posted.

Good Job Ladies!

[lilbirdie]

Here is the article on the 32-5A Cross Country meet held Friday. The Lady Falcons took first place and the boys varsity took second so both teams are off to regionals. Congratulations to both teams and to Coach Gantt and Coach Falcon.

[lilbirdie]

Gomez, Fish capture first places at 32-5A cross country meet

BY ROY HESS
The Brownsville Herald

WESLACO — The downpour that appeared imminent held off just long enough for Juan Gomez of Lopez and Samantha Fish of Los Fresnos to emerge as district champions on Friday morning in the District 32-5A cross country meet at Weslaco City Park.

In a mild surprise, Gomez prevailed over Hanna’s Brandon Broden to take first place in the boys’ three-mile race. Gomez covered the course in 15 minutes, 26.85 seconds, while Broden finished second in 15:41.10.

It took three laps around the park to complete the varsity boys’ course. Gomez was the leader with Broden only a few feet behind him when the two finished the second lap. Gomez then improved upon his lead the rest of the way to finish first by a comfortable margin.

After the race ended, Broden was one of the first to congratulate the Lopez senior.

“I started out just staying up there with the top three runners, then I stayed up there with the top runner (Broden), and then I gave it all I had the last lap,” Gomez said.
“I just want to give thanks to all the people who have supported me and thank God for the strength He gave me in the race,” he added. “I appreciate all the prayers and people who have supported me. It was pretty good (to win).”

Pace’s Alejandro Mendez finished third in 16:07.20.

Fish, meanwhile, has been a consistent top finisher as a freshman for the Lady Falcons. She punctuated her successful season with Friday morning’s win, saying that it felt more comfortable to run her two-mile race with the temperature 64 degrees instead of in the 80s.

“With the weather not being so hot, it helps your endurance so you can conserve energy (for the finish),” Fish said. “I think things went pretty well. It felt good.”

It took two laps to cover the varsity girls’ two-mile course. Fish held a comfortable lead as she completed the first lap, and from there, she didn’t let up in becoming a district champion in her first year of competition on the high-school level.

Fish won in 12:02.37. Vanessa Garcia of Lopez was second in 12:32.35 and Karla Lozano of Pace was third in 12:38.01.

“Things went the way I wanted them to go, although I was wanting to get my time a little bit better by finishing in the 11-minute range,” Fish said. “It did get better even though it was a 12:02. That’s OK. At least I’m getting closer, and as long as I keep on working hard and keep my endurance up, I think I can do a lot better.”

Garcia said she tried to stay close to Fish.

“I’m proud of myself and our team,” Garcia said. “Again, I thank God because He helped me a lot.”

Los Fresnos won the 32-5A girls team title with 52 points. Hanna was second with 74 and Lopez third with 84.

After Fish, other top finishers for the Lady Falcons were Carolyn Urbis (seventh), Cora Gonzalez (11th), Alice Ross (13th), Nancy Hernandez (20th), Elia Santamaria (22nd) and Benisse Gomez (23rd). The top five finishers accounted for the Lady Falcons’ 52 points.

“I’m just very proud of this group and I hope to stay competitive,” Los Fresnos coach Jennifer Gantt said.

The Hanna boys became 32-5A champions with 37 points. Los Fresnos was second with 65 and Pace was third with 67.

Finishing behind second-place Broden were teammates Arturo Ibarra (fifth), Luis Reyes (eighth), Christopher Perez (10th), Kevin Vasquez (12th) and Christian Rodriguez (18th)

“We did OK,” Hanna coach Jaime Vasquez said. “I’m pleased with the outcome, although we didn’t do everything that we wanted to do. We have a couple of weeks now before regionals, so we’ll make an adjustment here or there so that we can be better prepared for the next meet.
“The goal was to win an individual title (in the varsity boys’ race) today, and it didn’t happen,” he added. “We congratulate Juan Gomez and the staff at Lopez. They did a good job this week of preparing for this meet. The season’s not over yet, and I know that we’ll come through.”

The top three teams and the top five runners at Friday’s district meet qualified for the Region IV-5A meet in San Antonio on Nov. 4.

[lilbirdie]

The Girls and Boys teams are off to regionals in San Antonio this Saturday morning. An article about the team will follow. Congratulations to the team and coaches for a great job this year!

[lilbirdie]

Los Fresnos aims to continue success at regional meet

By ROY HESS
The Brownsville Herald

The Los Fresnos cross-country program literally has made great strides in the last three years with Jennifer Gantt as head coach.

The Lady Falcons, led by freshman standout Samantha Fish, won the varsity girls title at the District 32-5A meet in Weslaco on Oct. 20. The Los Fresnos boys’ squad placed second behind Hanna at district. Both Los Fresnos squads qualified for Saturday morning’s Region IV-5A meet at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

At UTSA, the top three teams and top 10 individual finishers advance to the state meet in Round Rock on Nov. 11.

"My first year (2004-05), we had only two varsity runners," said Gantt, who is assisted by Frank Falcon. "We’ve built the team up. We have four full teams now.

"I’m very proud of this group — I really am," she added. "We have 30 runners in the program now — 15 boys and 15 girls."

The top finishers for the Lady Falcons in their two-mile race at district were Samantha Fish (first), Carolyn Urbis (seventh), Cora Gonzalez (11th), Alice Ross (13th), Nancy Hernandez (20th), Elia Santamaria (22nd) and Benisse Gomez (23rd).

"My teammates have been doing very well and I’m happy for them," said Fish, who has won every race but two during the cross-country regular season. "They’ve been cheering me on and I’ve been cheering them on.
"I do every workout with my teammates," she added. "I just try to get everybody running together and try to work harder. Sometimes, I try to stay with the guys so they can push me."

Members of the Falcon boys’ squad who came in among the top finishers in the three-mile varsity race at district were Juan Zapata (seventh), Jesus Rojas (11th), Oziel Estrada (13th), Agapito Longoria (15th), Octavio Martinez (19th) and Miguel Gutierrez (25th).

Gantt said she appreciates all the hard work that has been put in by her team in preparing for district, regional and possibly state competition.

"I’m so proud of my team," she said. "They trained all summer and all year long so they could have a good showing at district.
"I have great kids on this team," she added. "These are the type of kids who thank me after a workout. They love the workouts, they love working with each other, so it’s a team effort — it truly is. They’re an unbelievable group.
"It’s a great feeling to see how the program has grown — there are just no words to describe it. Just to see them compete the way they compete — I can’t ask for anything more than what they’ve put forth. We’re only losing one senior and we’ve got some depth, too. I’m hoping to keep the program strong."

Gantt said any coach would feel fortunate to have an athlete like Fish, who has performed at a high level in her freshman year.

"Samantha is just an awesome runner — she’s a competitor," Gantt said. "She’s pretty much set the pace for the year. She’s motivated the team and the team has responded, obviously, with the same competitive edge.
"The best thing is that she is a freshman, so the sky’s the limit," Gantt added.

Fish said she was a little uncertain about how she would do at the beginning of the cross-country season.

"It feels pretty good (to do so well as a freshman)," she said. "When I first came to cross country in high school, I was nervous because they told me I was going to be running on the varsity. I was nervous that I wasn’t going to do well.
"I was scared because there were older people to run against, but that shouldn’t bother you," Fish added. "You shouldn’t worry about who is older or their age or things like that. You should just run your race."

The Los Fresnos girls and boys hope to run their race at regionals on Saturday and make their next stop the state meet in Round Rock on Nov. 11

[lilbirdie]

We have a cross country runner going to State in Austin this Saturday. Samantha Fish will be representing Los Fresnos at the State Meet in Austin. The Women's team placed 12th out of 24 teams at regionals held in San Antonio this past weekend! Way to go Falcons!

[TEAM FALCON]

That's great news. I read that this past weekend.

I'm going to place her on the home page with a big link.

Good luck to her and all the RGV participants.

[J Manrrique]

Our very own Samantha Fish came in an impressive 27th out of 170 runners in the Texas 5A Girls Cross Country State Meet in Round Rock on November 11th.. She was the only freshman in the group that showed up in the top 30. she is already looking to better her ranking next year. I expect a state championship within the next three years from her. GREAT JOB SAM!

[lilbirdie]

Our Lady Falcon Cross Country Team has started off the season by winning first place in their first 3 tournaments held at San Benito, Donna and Edcouch Elsa. As a group, the team has some very talented and dedicated runners and great coaches in Coach Gantt and Coach Falcon. Stay tuned for more details as the season continues. Go Lady Falcons!

[TEAM FALCON]

Lady Falcons Win BIG!


Local teams shine in cross country meets
By ROY HESS/The Brownsville Herald
September 11, 2007 - 12:34AM
By BRAD DOHERTY, The Brownsville Herald
The Hanna boys and the Los Fresnos girls earned team championships at separate cross country meets on Saturday.

The Hanna boys won the Edinburg High Invitational with 65 points. Sharyland was second with 83 and Edinburg North was third, also with 83 points. It was Hanna’s second meet title of the season.

Luis Serrano of Edinburg North was the individual winner in the boys varsity race followed by Michael Medrano of Sharyland. Brandon Broden of Hanna came in third.

Also for Hanna, Javier Zamora was eighth and Arturo Ibarra was 12th. Rounding out the top finishers for Hanna, it was Kevin Vasquez 19th, Chris Perez 23rd, Freddy Troncoso 35th and Christian Rodriguez 45th.

St. Joseph’s Andres Delgado and Louie Tijerina finished fourth and seventh, respectively.

"It was a good day for us," Hanna boys cross country coach Jaime Vasquez said. "We beat an up-and-coming Sharyland team and Edinburg North, which is ranked No. 8 in the state."

Meanwhile, at the Edcouch-Elsa Invitational, the Los Fresnos girls captured their third straight team title of the season by winning decisively with 43 points. La Feria was the runner-up with 100 points and PSJA Memorial was third with 119.

Gabriella Salazar of PSJA Memorial won the girls varsity race, while Samantha Fish of Los Fresnos was second and Venessa Garcia of Lopez finished third.

Also for Los Fresnos, Elia Santamaria was fourth, Carolyn Urbis eighth, Alice Ross 10th, Cora Gonzalez 19th and Nancy Hernandez 20th.

Other top finishers from Brownsville included Pace’s Karla Lozano 11th and Rivera’s Idalia Retta 17th.

The Los Fresnos girls and Hanna boys are scheduled to run at the Knights of Columbus Meet in Mercedes on Saturday. The other meet in the Rio Grande Valley on Saturday will be hosted by Mission High.

[lilbirdie]

What's up with Cross Country this year?

[origfalcon]

Falcon cross country is still alive and kicking. Our first meet of the 2010-2011 season is tomorrow in San Benito. Both teams should be stronger than last year. People are going to be surprised.

[origfalcon]

Aug 21, 2010 6:29:00 GMT 3 @origfalcon said:

Falcon cross country is still alive and kicking. The first meet of the 2010-2011 season is tomorrow in San Benito. Both teams should be stronger than last year. People are going to be surprised.