Garrett medals at first cross country meet

The Cuero girls and boys cross country teams traveled to the Yoakum Cross Country Invitational for their first meet this past Saturday, Aug. 20. Competing for Cuero were Austen Bixenmann, Nicolas Varela, Eli Garrett, Carmen De Leon, Isabel Lester, Mia Salazar and Emma Timpone.

Freshman, Eli Garrett, placed 16th in the varsity boys' run with a time of 14:02. This is his second year competing in cross country.

“As you can see, Eli placed and medaled today. He’s a freshman, super talented. He is going to go to regionals, I’m confident of that,” said cross country coach Rudy Rocha. “On the girl's varsity side, Isabel Lester ran a 7:34 pace, she just started a week ago. She is one that is probably going to regionals. My goal is to get both of them to regionals. All of our other kids are just grassroots team, we are just trying to get kids to participate and get them to come out and experience the sport.”

Rocha’s love for cross country shows how passionate he truly is. With experience running in state meets at the high school level, and becoming an All-American runner during his college days, the knowledge he brings as a coach can help his athletes take the next step.

“Cross country is a really neat sport to get involved in because it’s all family out here. There is support no matter what place you finish. The families out here, they know how tough it is and they support the kids,” said Rocha on cross country. “Once it starts cooling off, it gets much easier. Texas is very tough with the climate. The kids down here are super tough. I’m just really proud of the kids for coming out here.”

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