Menard's Ruiz Takes Third Place at State Cross Country Meet

ROUND ROCK, TX — Menard’s Danni Ruiz ran to a third-place finish Saturday in the Class 1A girls division at the UIL Cross Country State Championships.

Ruiz had a time of 12 minutes, 6.5 seconds on the two-mile course at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.

The Menard sophomore was 10 seconds behind two seniors battling for the top spot. Roby’s Lilly Benson won the title in 11:56, barely holding off the runner-up, Eula’s Hailie Cauthen, who finished in 11:56.8.

Other Top 10 finishers from our area were Richland Springs’ Rylie Eckert in sixth (12:21.4) and Blackwell’s Kinley Cummings in 10th (12:28.5).

Irion County’s Berkley Calloway was 16th (12:57.3) and Menard’s Taytum Chambless was 29th (13:16.4).

The field included 146 runners and 16 schools.

McMullen County won the team title with 38 points, followed by Eula in second (69), Texline in third (153), Nazareth in fourth (163) and Blackwell in fifth (165).

Other area schools included Garden City in seventh (218) and Richland Springs in 13th (301)

Other finishers for Blackwell included Addison Dove in 36th (13:27.8), Jaquelyn Saxton in 51st (13:46.2), Blakely Pritchard in 83rd (14:07.6), Avery Glenn in 96th (14:23.9), Brynlea Wojtek in 121st (15:03.7) and Marlene Sanchez in 127th (15:22.3).

Garden City’s runners were Claire Eggemeyer in 44th (13:32.8), Sadie Fuchs in 49th (13:43.6), Emy Schwartz in 74th (14:02), Sophia Sullivan in 93rd (14:21.2), Landry Baker in 106th (14:38.2) and Melanie Gomez in 114th (14:51.8).

Other runners for Richland Springs included Emma Bryant in 94th (14:23), Raegan Eckert in 104th (14:31.7), Paige Bailey in 116th (14:55.4), Mallory Okerson in 137th (15:52.9) and Kinzley Daly in 141st (16:12).

In the 1A boys race, Bronte’s Colton Bilyeu was the area’s only representative. He finished in 22nd place out of 147 runners in a time of 18:05.2.

Comstock’s Sebastian Talamantez won the title in 16:10.3, leading his school to the team title with 57 points.

Zephyr was the runner-up with 90, followed by McMullen County (133), Miller Grove (135) and Jayton (157).

Wall Girls Take Sixth Place at State Cross Country Meet

Wall ran to a sixth-place showing as a team Saturday in the 3A girls race at the UIL Cross Country State Championships.

Mckenzie Lopez was the Lady Hawks’ top finisher in 13th place in 12:04.5

Holliday ran away with the team title with 35 points, followed by East Bernard in second (103), Dalhart in third (148), Poth in fourth (171), Eustace in fifth (186) and Wall in sixth (202).

Other finishers for Wall included Emma Reel in 27th (12:21.8), Dailyn Beam in 64th (12:54.1), Kylee Holik in 92nd (13:20.2), Nahla Cardenas in 126th (13:50.5), Ella Barnes in 133rd (14:00.9), Bree Gallant in 135th (14:03.4).

University City Randolph’s Sophia Bendet won the individual title in 10:40.5.

There were no area qualifiers in the 3A boys race.