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October 23, 2023
Bandera boys cross country gearing up for Tuesday's regional meet
By Brady Keane
The Bandera Prophet
The Bandera boy’s cross country team departed for the Class 4A Region IV meet Monday morning and will compete Tuesday morning at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Dugan Stadium.
The Bulldogs are coming off an impressive showing at the District 27-4A meet where all seven runners posted a season-best or a personal-best time to help the team finish third overall as a team. Bandera placed third behind Davenport and Boerne.
“District went really well for us,” Head Coach Sam Farrell said. “I feel that we are still on an upward trajectory. One of the biggest obstacles to a state appearance is simply getting out of our gauntlet of a district. Now the guys know they have to refocus and go take care of business in Corpus.
Tuesday’s competition will feature some more high-level competition as the Bulldogs look to improve their state-qualifying streak to four consecutive years. Bandera has competed at the regional level in four straight seasons under Farrell.
The Bulldogs enter the race among the teams with a chance to qualify for state alongside La Feria, Boerne, Davenport and Alice. The Bandera team will include Ruben Ruiz-Palacios, Mack Robinson, Mariano Casas, Zach Goodin, Fili Quintero, Nino Martinez and Hudson Jackson.
“This is the strongest Region 4 has looked overall in the last four years in my opinion,” Farrell said. “We’re going to have to put together our best race of the year again to assure we get a top four spot and qualify for the state meet. I believe the guys are ready.”
The Bulldogs will look to finish among the top four teams Tuesday morning to qualify for the Class 4A state cross country meet, which will be held Saturday, Nov. 4, at 12:10 p.m., at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock. In addition to the top four teams, the top 15 individuals not on a qualifying team have the opportunity to advance to state.
Tuesday’s regional 5K race will begin at 11:30 a.m.
“We have three seniors who will be racing, and this will be the third year racing the regional course for them,” Farrell said. “We only have two racing who haven’t run the Corpus course before. The guys definitely seem less nervous than in years past, and more just ready to get after it. I believe their experience will help them out big time on what is typically a very tough course.”
The Bulldogs are coming off an impressive showing at the District 27-4A meet where all seven runners posted a season-best or a personal-best time to help the team finish third overall as a team. Bandera placed third behind Davenport and Boerne.
“District went really well for us,” Head Coach Sam Farrell said. “I feel that we are still on an upward trajectory. One of the biggest obstacles to a state appearance is simply getting out of our gauntlet of a district. Now the guys know they have to refocus and go take care of business in Corpus.
Tuesday’s competition will feature some more high-level competition as the Bulldogs look to improve their state-qualifying streak to four consecutive years. Bandera has competed at the regional level in four straight seasons under Farrell.
The Bulldogs enter the race among the teams with a chance to qualify for state alongside La Feria, Boerne, Davenport and Alice. The Bandera team will include Ruben Ruiz-Palacios, Mack Robinson, Mariano Casas, Zach Goodin, Fili Quintero, Nino Martinez and Hudson Jackson.
“This is the strongest Region 4 has looked overall in the last four years in my opinion,” Farrell said. “We’re going to have to put together our best race of the year again to assure we get a top four spot and qualify for the state meet. I believe the guys are ready.”
The Bulldogs will look to finish among the top four teams Tuesday morning to qualify for the Class 4A state cross country meet, which will be held Saturday, Nov. 4, at 12:10 p.m., at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock. In addition to the top four teams, the top 15 individuals not on a qualifying team have the opportunity to advance to state.
Tuesday’s regional 5K race will begin at 11:30 a.m.
“We have three seniors who will be racing, and this will be the third year racing the regional course for them,” Farrell said. “We only have two racing who haven’t run the Corpus course before. The guys definitely seem less nervous than in years past, and more just ready to get after it. I believe their experience will help them out big time on what is typically a very tough course.”