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The Rice Raiders’ cross-country team began their 2023 season with a home-hosted meet as they attempt to defend their boys’ district title from a season ago. After a strong performance that saw three Raiders finish in consecutive top ten placements, Rice is hoping that they have gotten out to a solid start to their season. The Lady Raiders had two runners representing Rice, while the boys sent a team of 15 runners to compete in the race. The Raiders finished in third place as a team in the boys’ competition, finishing their first meet with a team bronze medal.
The Lady Raiders were led by Lexi Rangel who took the 25th-place spot as the only Lady Raider to finish in the top half of the competition. Adela Suarez finished 25 places later to complete the day for the Lady Raiders.
The Raiders were led by the efforts of some of last year’s impact runners. Payton Engelbrecht, Hayes Dingler and Jael Valles-Serrano each were a part of last year’s district champion team and came away with top ten placements in their opening meet this season. Engelbrecht led all Rice runners with a time of 10 minutes and 12 seconds which helped him finish in seventh place. Dingler came in eighth place with a time of 10 minutes and 29 seconds. Valles-Serrano took ninth place as the final top-10 finisher for the Raiders.
JD Fitzgerald was the next Raider to finish, taking 14th place after his performance. Further down in the standings was another trio of Raiders that finished in consecutive placements. Jose Briones, Jake Morales and Noah Lujan finished in 27th, 28th and 29th place respectively.
Victor Flores finished in 34th place for the Raiders, just a few places in front of Luke Engelbrecht and Joe Luke Morales who finished in 40th and 42nd place respectively.
Kevin Estrada and Luis Tellez finished in backto- back spots at 45th and 46th place respectively. Gus Peacock took 48th place with James Thompson and Daniel Ibbotson rounding out the Raiders’ performance with 51st and 52nd place respectively.
