Hays’ Bobby Limon finished seventh overall to help lead the Rebel boys to a team victory at the Temple Invitational last weekend. (Courtesy photo)
by JASON GORDON
Paced by Johnathan Gabriel’s gold-medal winning individual performance, the Hays boys cross-country squad won the team title at the Temple Invitational over the weekend.
The Rebels had six runners finish inside the top 20 individual finishers at the meet.
“The boys ran very well,” Hays head coach Cliff Buckley said. “This is a very challenging course with a very steep hill that’s more than 600-meters long. But we’ve had a lot of success in Temple over the years so I think that definitely helped us. They basically took the attitude that they own that hill and attacked it instead of being timid. I was very proud of their effort.”
Gabriel finished the three-mile course in 17 minutes, 17 seconds.
“Johnathan ran a very smart race,” Buckley said. “He was in control from the first half mile and he never let up.”
Other top Hays finishers were Ryan McSpadden (fourth place individually, 17:51), Bobby Limon (7th, 18:03), Chris Ovalle (11th, 18:33), Jaren Rodriguez (14th, 18:37), Tom Ayres (20th, 18:56), Dante Martinez (22nd, 18:59), Isaiah Williams (35th, 19:25) and Michael Normand (60th, 20:43).
“I was glad to see my kids wanted to run hard this week,” Buckley said. “This is a huge morale booster coming into the last month of training before district.”
The Lady Rebels were forced to run without last year’s individual district champion Lena New, who was out with an injury.
The Hays girls finished seventh overall at Temple.
Mariana Sigala was the top Lady Rebel finisher, completing the two-mile course in 13:20, good for a ninth-place overall finish.
Other Lady Rebel competitors in Temple were Emily Crowell, Nicole Alcantara, Grace Ortiz and Marissa Roman.
“Mariana Sigala ran a great race,” Buckley said. “She has been slowly improving and I hope she is saving her best for last. The rest of the team still has some work to do. They need to gain more confidence in their ability. I think the girls will make a run at the district meet, but we have a lot of work to do at the moment.”
