Lehman’s Justin Torres is in full sprint mode during a fourth place individual finish at the Lockhart Invitational Cross Country meet on Saturday. The Lobo boys won the event. (Courtesy photo)

by MARK CAUL

The Lehman boys cross country team began the 2010 season in impressive fashion by securing the varsity title at the Lockhart Invitational Meet.

It was the fourth consecutive year that Jay Sansom’s program has opened their campaign with a first-place finish.

“We had one of our top runners out with an illness, which left us at a disadvantage, but we were still able to come out here and accomplish what we needed to,” Sansom said. “We knew we were one of the favorites to win this meet but I was proud of the guys for coming out here and running hard the entire course.

Lehman captured the meet despite the absence of projected top runner and two-time regional representative Ramon Martinez, who was out with an illness.

Nonetheless, the Lobos were still able to place three runners in the top 10 at the event – including senior Justin Torres, who finished just ahead of teammate Eddie Chabarria to secure a fourth place finish (10 minutes, 32 seconds on the 1.86-mile course). Chabarria was 5th (10:33) and Javier Torres was 6th (10:37).

“We always want to try and run together as a unit during each meet,” said Sansom. “Our other goal is to always make sure we have at least five guys in the top 20. When we do that, we’ll usually give ourselves a really good chance to win.”

Rounding out the top finishers for Lehman were sophomore Jose Villarreal (16th, 11:00) along with seniors Jose Rangel (23rd, 11:09) and Ryan Sorenson (24th, 11:10).

Lehman will travel to Moulton this weekend for their second meet of the season.

“We always look forward to competing against programs that are unfamiliar to us,” Sansom said. “There are always different challenges and it’s always interesting to see how the kids respond.”

Meanwhile, the Lehman girls were outstanding as well in their debut at the same meet in Lockhart, finishing third with senior Ashley Morgan finishing 11th overall with a time of 12:48 to lead the Lady Lobos.

Stephanie Favela (17th, 13:05), Amara Smith (18th, 13:11), Olivia Manzullo (19th, 13:14) and Jessica Castro (28th, 13:19) were the other top finishers for the Lady Lobos.

Mayra Zamora, Erika Rangel and Linda Quinonez also competed for Lehman.

The Lady Lobos will also be participating in the Moulton Invitational this weekend.