The Mount Pleasant Tiger cross country team hosted their annual Titus County Fair Invitational Meet last Saturday with over 20 schools competing for the top prize. Mount Pleasant teams performed well as boys’ varsity took 1st place, girls’ varsity 2nd place, girls’ JV 2nd place, boys’ JV 2nd place, junior high girls 8th place, and junior high boys 2nd place.

The varsity boys took the podium finishing 1-2-3 in the 5k race as Geovanni Calderon took his first win of the season with a time of 16:05.6. Lee Davis finished just behind at 16:06.3 and Gilberth Landaverde came in third at 16:37.8. Aidyn Botello notched 7th place at 17:56.4 and Alex Rivera finished just inside the top ten in 9th at 18:10.2. The varsity girls also had all their runners finish inside the top ten but were bested by district foe Texas High. Briana Gonzales paced the Lady Tigers finishing 5th overall with a time of 22:22.3 while Abigail Retana came in 6th at 22:38.5. Marlyne Mendez finished 7th at 22:56, Karen Hernandez 8th at 22:59.8, and Lizbeth Alvarez 10th at 23:05.8.

Both JV teams took the silver with Jasmine Landaverde leading the girls’ team and David Buendia leading the boys. Landaverde finished in 5th place at 16:14.5 and Buendia took the gold at 19:00.1. The rest of the JV girls finishers were Jennifer Luna (6th – 16:18), Audrie Mendoza (16th – 17:21.6), Serenity Goss (22nd – 18:19.4), Ashley Rosales (24th – 18:39.5), and Atalee Gonzalez (29th – 19:56). The JV boys finishers were Andrew Gonzalez (10th – 20:12.8), Oscar Otero (18th – 21:05.4), Axel Contreras (20th – 21:09.8), Joaquin Arguello (23rd – 21:28.6), Antonio de la Torre (25th 22:02.8), Christian Vargas (38th – 22:58), Zachary Rodriguez (41st – 23:08.3), Saul Alvarado (45th – 23:26.3), Noah Trimm (46th – 23:34), Gabriel Garza (47th – 23:36.2), and Joey Dunn (58th – 27:02.7).

In the junior high division, Mount Pleasant’s Alexia Hawkins brought home the girls’ title posting a time of 13:57. Marybeth Snyder finished in 11th place at 15:37. The rest of the finishers were Diana Ramirez (43rd – 17:04.3), Dalia Balderas (54th – 17:22.3), Ryleigh Mendez (97th – 19:33.8), Lakelah Neal (116th – 21:19.1), Esmeralda Dorantes (119th – 21:28), and Natalie Almazan (124th – 21:50.9).

On the boys’ side, the Tigers also took 1st with Charlie Hernandez crossing the line at 12:53.5. He was followed by Conley Johnson (18th – 14:01.7), Isaac Hernandez (19th – 14:02.5), Alex Luna (20th – 14:09.4), Kevin Alvarez (22nd – 14:13.1), Alex Pena (32nd – 14:42.6), Cesar Alvarez (38th – 15:02.9), Ivan Martinez (45th – 15:14.8), Landry Owens (86th – 17:19.9), Rey Munoz (93rd – 17:44.5), and Evan Vangivault (117th – 22:37.8).

The Tigers will travel to Lindale this Thursday for one more pre-district meet before hosting the district meet at Sam Parker Field October 11-13.

By Drew Barkley
Photos by John Whitten and student photographers Katherine Adame and Jordyn Warren