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WALLIS – The Raiders’ cross-country team has continued their strong start to the season with another quality outing in their most recent competition. The boys’ team finished in second place overall after several runners finished in the top 10. As the reigning district champs look to defend their title, they will also be looking to continue their progress throughout the season.
The Raider boys had some of the best performances on their side of the tournament. Payton Englebrecht led the way for all of the Rice runners, taking a top-five finish with fifth place in the meet. Not far behind was Hayes Dingler who took seventh place after his performance. Jael Valles-Serrano and JD Fitzgerald finished in back-to-back placements after taking ninth and 10th place respectively. The Raiders had another top-20 finisher as Jose Briones took the 20th spot in the tournament. Jake Morales and Noah Lujan were not far behind as they finished in 22nd and 23rd place respectively.
Luke Engelbrecht was the next-highest finisher for Rice, taking 37th place just ahead of teammate Victor Flores who finished in 38th. Joe Luke Morales rounded out the day for the Raiders with a 41st place finish.
The JV teams also competed in this meet with the JV girls taking three of the top four spots in the competition. Taylor Eichelberger finished with the gold medal while Lexi Rangel took second place for the silver. Leilany Toriz took fourth place for the Lady Raiders’ third, top-five finisher. Adela Suarez finished in 28th place while Melanie Guttierez finished in 35th.
The JV boys were led by Lorenzo Castillo who finished as the top-rated Raider in 20th place. Luis Tellez was not far behind in 22nd place with Gus Peacock finishing in 33rd place. James Thompson and Daniel Ibbotson took 37th and 38th place respectively to complete the day for the boys.
Rice moves on to face the Schulenburg hosted meet on Aug. 31.
