Madisonville Cross Country 2016
Mustangs Looking Forward To Next Step
By Chris Boothe
Messenger Sports
MADISONVILLE – While excelling in several sports in 2015, the one where the Madisonville Mustangs stumbled the most was in cross country. The Mustangs and Lady Mustangs finished second to last and last respectively at the District Championships, and neither team was able to advance any runners to the Region III Championships.
That was a year ago, as now the teams have had a year to grow and train. The offseason work put in is looking to pay dividends in 2016 with both teams hungry for postseason action.
Last season, the highest finisher for the Mustangs was Thomas Hudson, who played 13th overall. Not a bad finish, and for the Mustangs, it wasn’t a terrible showing. None of their scoring runners finished further out than 23rd individually, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with Fairfield, who had all five scoring runners finish inside the top 10.
Jose Ibarra, Gabriel Coleman, Antonio Penaloza, and Gerardo Garcia all helped pace the Mustangs squad, who averaged a time of 18:59 on the 5,000 meter run. With several returning runners, the Mustangs look to be in a good place entering the 2016 season.
Much like the boys, the Lady Mustangs had a top finisher place 13th overall. Odalys Hernandez took the lead for the Lady Mustangs, and helped push the team average on the afternoon. Unfortunately, the Lady Mustangs were unable to finish in a close back like the Mustangs squad.
Charlotte McQueen placed 18th overall, but was the only other Madisonville runner outside of Hernandez to place inside the top 20. Cielo Torres finished 25 with Jai Serguff and Tanera Holiday rounding out the scoring squad.
Overall, with many returning runners, the Mustangs and Lady Mustangs look to be more competitive in 2016. The extra year of experience should pay off and send at least one runner from each squad to the Region III Championships in late October.
