Cross country: OHS boys sixth, girls seventh in Round Rock

ROUND ROCK Odessa High School’s boys were sixth out of 43 teams and the girls were seventh out of 47 teams Saturday in the McNeil Invitational at Old Settlers Park.

Both squads were missing runners out of their top five while competing in the Class 4A-5A division of the meet, which is run on the same course as the UIL State Championships.

In the boys portion of the meet, Odessa High senior Hugo Corral finished second in a time of 16 minutes, 51 seconds. The Bronchos scored 271 points and finished ahead of District 3-

5A rival Abilene High (296), which was seventh, while Houston Memorial won the meet with 61 points.

Outside of Corral, Terence Martinez finished 20th, Edwar Zubiate was 58th, Ray Parades was 62nd and Travis Phillips was 129th for the team’s scoring runners.

“We’re going the right direction as far as our times and positioning,” OHS boys coach Randy Thompson said. “We really started pushing forward last week.”

The OHS boys were without Roy Ramos and Ryan Herrera, who normally run in the team’s top five.

In the girls portion of the meet, the Lady Bronchos scored 275 points for their seventh-place showing as Region 3-5A rivals Lubbock Coronado and Abilene High were fourth and fifth, respectively.

Kirsten Taylor was the top OHS finisher in 19th with a time of 12:26 on the two-mile course while Jordann Beason was 50th.

Tiffany Barrera was 65th, Mindy Navarette was 70th and Gabby Valeriano was 71st to round out Odessa High’s scoring runners.

“Our performance is not where it should be,” said OHS girls coach Tracey Borchardt, whose team won the Lubbock Invitational last week but ran Saturday without key runner Lacy McKinney. “We’ll go back at it Monday and go a different route.”

Odessa High will host the Odessa Invitational on Thursday at UTPB Park. The girls varsity race is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. while the boys varsity race is at 6 p.m.