Wall, Irion County, Menard Bring Home State Cross Country Titles

ROUND ROCK, TX — The Concho Valley had a banner day at the UIL Cross Country State Championships on Friday with three of our schools bringing home state titles.

The Wall and Irion County girls each won team titles in their classifications, while Menard senior Danni Ruiz won the Class 1A individual title.

Ruiz’s win was the crowning achievement in a remarkable career that included three previous top 10 finishes at the state meet — eighth place her freshman year, and third place the last two seasons.

Ruiz ran a time of 11 minutes, 35 seconds on the two-mile course at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock to win by 13 seconds over Bellevue’s Mattie Broussard.

It was the first cross country state title in Menard’s history.

Ruiz will now turn her attention to track season, where she has won seven gold medals at the state meet.

Irion County made it a championship sweep for the Concho Valley in Class 1A with its team title.

The Lady Hornets placed five runners in the top 36 in a field of 146 runners. They scored 52 points to run away with the title by 62 points over runner-up McMullen County.

Madeline Skelton led the way with a fourth-place finish in 12:05, followed by Faryn Callaway (6th, 12:06), Presley Parker (12th, 12:30), Reese Rey (20th, 12:50), Natilee Hernandez (36th, 13:05), Harper McDowell (52nd, 13:21) and Bradie Garza (111th, 14:36).

It was the first state title in cross country for the Irion County girls. Irion County’s Tayte Cormier won the boys individual title in 2022.

Menard finished fourth in the team standings. After Ruiz, the Lady Yellow Jackets’ finishers were Taytum Chambless (26th, 12:58), Mackenzie Wright (72nd, 13:39), Channing Chambless (73rd, 13:40), Isabelle Devine (78th, 13:45) and Aerie Meddaugh (128th, 15:14).

The Wall Lady Hawks won the Class 3A team title to bring home the second state championship in program history, joining the 2007 team. Wall also won boys titles in 2006 and 2008, along with an individual title by Blaine Thompson in 2005.

The Lady Hawks had five runners in the top 34 Saturday to win the title with 64 points, which was 22 ahead of runner-up Lorena.

Keller Batla led Wall with a third-place showing in 11:44, followed by Allison Baird (13th, 11:59), Amelia Taylor (23rd, 12:30), Emma Reel (26th, 12:35), Brailey Beam (34th, 12:42), Heaven Jackson (49th, 12:54) and Dailyn Beam (98th, 13:28).

Franklin’s Payton Conn won the individual title in 11:16, which was 23 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Other Concho Valley girls competing at state included Rocksprings’ Saige Shanklin (10th, 12:24), Eden’s Rylinn Robertson (46th, 13:16), Blackwell’s Addison Dove (49th, 13:17) and Sterling City’s Brooklyn Oleksiuk (84th, 13:51).

Irion County’s Kramer Takes 2nd in Boys Race

Irion County sophomore Parker Kramer led the Concho Valley boys’ showing at the state cross country meet with a second-place finish in the 1A race.

Kramer’s time of 16 minutes, 27 seconds was just nine seconds behind Roby senior Camden Lummus on the 5,000-meter course at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.

Kramer led Irion County to a ninth-place finish in the team standings. Other Hornets’ runners included George Sanchez (66th, 18:57), River Braddock (83rd, 19:22), Aiden Aldrete (89th, 19:34), Landen Aldrete (125th, 20:53), Nathan Garcia (133rd, 21:21) and Zane Jackson (142nd, 22:23).

Eden’s Jorge Mendez also had a top 10 finish by taking eighth place in 17:07.

Other highlights included Bronte’s Colton Bilyeu in 12th (17:21) and Garden City’s Thomas Hillger in 19th (17:44).

Garden City was seventh in the team standings. Other Bearkats’ runners included Kannon Flores (37th, 18:10), Korbin Cervantes (60th, 18:46), Cooper Baker (108th, 19:54), Clayton Hillger (130th, 21:06), Cade Baker (142nd, 22:07) and Rene Cano (147th, 22:23).

Rocksprings was 16th in the team standings. The Angoras’ runners were Greg Estrada (82nd, 19:17), Kayson Ortiz (88th, 19:25), Matthew Hernandez (109th, 19:55), Noah Rollins (125th, 20:27), Joshua Montoya (126th, 20:33), Javier Fuentes (141st, 21:54) and Elijah Montoya (144th, 22:16).

Other area runners in the field included Eden’s Joseph Clarke (47th, 18:18) and Veribest’s Michael Beavers (57th, 18:39).