Rice Raiders results from first district meet

The Rice Raiders boys cross country team’s exceptional season continued on Saturday, Sept. 28, in Shiner where they finished 2nd place behind #4 ranked East Bernard in their first district meet in Shiner.

Led by their three-headed monster of Payton Englebrecht, Jael Valles-Serrano and Hayes Dingler the Raiders gave one of the best cross-country teams in the state a run for their money.

They accomplished this by finishing in one of the top 10 spots in the boys’ varsity 5K run. These three have consistently done this all season and have been a constant threat to any teams hoping to claim a gold, silver or bronze medal.

Englebrecht finished with the best time on the boys’ roster, crossing the finish line in 16 minutes and 57 seconds. Valles-Serrano was not too far behind his teammate with a time of 17 minutes and 29 seconds.

Nine seconds later Dingler crossed the finish line for the trio to finish in 1st, 5th and 8th place respectively. The Raiders received another boost in the standings thanks to another trio finishing in the top 25 of the varsity 5K.

Jake Morales continues to improve this season and put up strong numbers in these races and on Saturday he came in 14th place with a time of 18 minutes and 51 seconds. Jose Briones was the next Raider to finish the race, and he came in 21st place with a posted time of 19 minutes and 21 seconds.

33 seconds later his teammate Victor Flores crossed the finish line to claim 24th place for the Raiders. This led the Raiders to earn a silver medal as a team at the first district meet of the year and kept them as the #8 ranked cross country team in class 3A.

As for the girls, their improvement this season cannot be understated, they have been putting in the work at practices and every meet this season to improve. Saturday, they had four runners finish in the top 50 out of 68 runners.

Lexi Rangel was the first of the Lady Raiders to finish the race with a time of 13 minutes and 33 seconds to come in 16th place. Taylor Eichelberger was not too far behind her teammate in 30th place, finishing only 43 seconds later with a time of 14 minutes and 16 seconds.

Priscilla Morales and Fallan Wied were the next pair of Lady Raiders across the finish line in 36th and 42nd place. Morales posted a time of 14 minutes and 43 seconds while Wied was 15 seconds behind her teammate with a time of 14 minutes and 58 seconds.

The Raiders district schedule will continue on Monday, Oct. 7, when they travel to Yoakum looking to make another big impact.