This past Tuesday morning, junior Saul Hernandez and freshman Valeria Villareal competed for Levelland cross country in the UIL 4A Region 1 Cross Country Championships at Mae Simmons Park in Lubbock.
Hernandez made the most of the postseason race, finishing 15th in the boy’s 5K race with a personal-best time of 16:10. That performance earned Hernandez an individual qualifier bid to the 4A Texas state meet next week, which made Levelland Head Cross Country Coach Justin Turner proud.
“Saul Hernandez ran a great race. He was a little bit under the weather, but he PR’d to qualify for state. I’m so happy for Saul to see all the work that he has put into the sport pay off,” Coach Turner said. “Everyone talks about how they see him running throughout Levelland all the time and just to see the extra work that he has done paying off is a blessing to see.”
To achieve what he did without being at full strength is quite impressive, and it’s a performance Hernandez can be proud of.
And while his teammate Valeria Villareal didn’t qualify for the state meet, she still delivered a noteworthy performance.
Villareal finished 61st in the girl’s two-mile race with a personalbest time of 13:20.30.
“As a freshman, that’s really good. It was a great learning experience for her,” Coach Turner said. “Throughout the year, we had a plan, and our goal was to get to the regional meet and state meet as a freshman. We fell short of a state berth, but she gained a lot of experience, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for her.”
She can walk away from this season with her head held high because to achieve so much as a freshman against varsity competition is no small feat.
While Villareal begins to reflect on and learn from this season, Hernandez still has a job to finish.
He’ll close his season out on November 1 at the UIL 4A Cross Country State Championship, running the boy’s 5K at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock, Texas, at 8:45 a.m.
Hernandez will have his work cut out for him going up against some of the best runners in Texas, but as the competition has improved this season, so have his times and there’s no reason he can’t keep that trend going.