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CORPUS CHRISTI – The Rice cross-country team took on one of their largest competitions of the season after a long trip to the south on Sept. 16 as the team nears the district meet. With well over 300 varsity runners for the boys and over 200 varsity runners for the girls, Rice had plenty of competition as they took on one of their toughest challenges this season. Despite the increased number of runners from several divisions, Rice still had many runners perform well.
Payton Engelbrecht had the top performance of any Raider runner. He finished the race in 18 minutes and 37 seconds to take 22nd place on the day, Rice’s top placement. Jael Valles Serrano finished in 19 minutes and 36 seconds to take 54th place. Hayes Dingler was not far behind as he took 56th place with a time of 19 minutes and 40 seconds. JD Fitzgerald finished in 85th place after completing the race in 20 minutes and 41 seconds. Jose Briones, Jake Morales and Noah Lujan were all in the top half of varsity runners, finishing in 120th, 123rd and 137th place respectively. Victor Flores finished in the top 200 with 182nd place on the day. Luke Engelbrecht and Joe Luke Morales rounded out the day for the Raiders with 224th place and 261st place.
Taylor Eichelberger was the top finisher for the Rice varsity girls. She took 129th place after finishing in just over 16 minutes. Lexi Rangel took 155th with 16 minutes and 40 seconds.
Gus Peacock and James Thompson finished in 113th place and 128th place respectively for the JV squad.
