JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas –
The Randolph High School boys and girls cross country teams
made successful strides this year, including winning a district title at the
sub-varsity level and qualifying a varsity runner for regionals.
Three of the four Randolph cross country teams finished in
the top four of their divisions at the District 26-3A meet Oct. 16 in San
Antonio. The Ro-Hawks boys’ junior varsity team won the district title with 40
points, beating San Antonio Fox Tech by three points. Randolph’s boys’ varsity
team finished fourth.
Kayman Plummer, a junior, led the junior varsity boys squad
with a second place finish, finishing the three-mile course in 19 minutes,
21.58 seconds. He was followed by junior Hunter Noble, who came in fifth in
20:42.51.
Senior Jacob Isler was the Ro-Hawks’ top boys varsity runner
at district, finishing in 17th place in 19:38.99. He was followed by another
Randolph runner, senior Micah Wilson, who finished 18th in 19:42.34.
In the varsity girls division, junior Rachelle Ramirez
finished in eighth place on the two-mile course to qualify for the Region IV-3A
meet held Oct. 26 at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. At regionals,
Ramirez finished 56th out of 175 runners.
Ramirez finished the cross country season placing in the top
10 in four of the races she ran.
Mai Lani Gutierrez won the junior varsity girls race at
district by dominating the competition. Gutierrez, a sophomore, ran her way to
the title in 13:22.77, beating the second place runner by more than two
minutes. She earned her third gold medal of the season and won the last three
races she competed in.
Randolph coach Charlie Phillips said he was proud of the
effort Ramirez gave at the regional meet. Running on a muddy course, Ramirez
finished the two-mile race in 14:12:0, which was close to seven minutes per
mile.
Phillips said Ramirez, the girls’ cross country team
captain, made it to the regional meet in her first year running cross country.
“It’s phenomenal she made it to regionals,” Phillips said.
“She has a never-give-up attitude and she pushes herself. She’s a versatile runner.”
Phillips said both Plummer and Noble and the rest of the
junior varsity boys’ team were determined to win a district title after coming
up short at last year’s district meet in which they placed second.
“They decided they wanted it this year,” Phillips said.
“These boys at the JV level wanted to come together to do something special and
that something special was winning district.”
Phillips said Isler set his goal to be the top runner on the
Randolph boys’ varsity squad at the district meet.
“It was tremendous watching him run,” Phillips said. “It was
awe-inspiring when a kid who has run third or fourth all year on the team
decides he’s going to get first on the team. Mentally, he was ready for this.
He was in prime shape and in prime condition. He was ready.”
There were 37 high school and middle school students who ran
cross country this year. Phillips said he was glad to see a lot of those
students fulfill their goals and expectations.
“We had a season that met the needs of our students and
athletes,” Phillips said. “As a coach, it’s great to win. But when you see a
child do their best and walk up to you and say, ‘I beat my time by a minute
today,’ they have done something.”