Cross Country participates in opening meet

 y Melissa McCaghren

Slatonite GM

The Slaton Tiger Cross Country Teams participated in the LCU Rust Buster Relays Saturday (Aug. 31) to open their season.

Coach Landon Sims, who is in his first year as Cross Country coach, said the meet was done in a relay race format.

“We paired the runners up into pairs, one runner would start and would tag the second runner,” he said. “The girls each did a 1.5 (mile course) once while the boys did the 1.5 course twice each.”

In the High School Girls race, the teams of Mary Jo Parker and Alice Cogburn finished with a time of  18:53 for sixth place; Emma Muniz and Kathryn Castillo,  21:24 for 34th place; and  Kristen Chavarin and Emily Herrera  22:04 for 44th place.

For the High School Boys, Ty Kinch and Zach Gonzales- finished with a time of 31:43 for third place; Elijah Culver and Ishmael Gonzales,  35:09 for 22nd place; and Curtis Holland, Isiah Chapa and Ivan Venzor – 39:13 for 50th place.

Sims said the teams did well over all. “I thought that we competed very well . Zach and Ty finishing overall was outstanding, Mary Jo and Alice certainly held their own,” he said. “They were however having to contend with larger schools such as Monterrey and Plainview who are used to racing three miles weekly.

“This is exactly what it’s called it’s a rust buster. It is not a traditional cross country meet due to the fact that it’s in relay format,” he added.

Sims said he thinks next week will only improve on this past week’s results. “Next week when we go to the Pre Lubbock Invitational, we will be able to get a better since where we are as a team and where each individual runner stands,” he said.